Seiko is often compared against brands like Tissot, Hamilton, and Bulova. But, what about Seiko vs. Citizen? Citizen is a world-renowned name after all, famous for innovations like their Eco-Drive technology and Air Nighthawk line. When you put both brands to the light, is there one name that is far better than the other?
To answer your questions, we’ll be comparing Seiko to Citizen, matching each brand’s models, prices, and functionalities up with one another to see if there’s a definite winner. Let’s get started!
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Seiko History
Seiko has a rich history of watchmaking. Started in 1881 by 21-year-old Kintaro Hattori, this Japanese watch brand has been a pinnacle of Japanese watches since the late 1800s. In 1969, Seiko introduced the first quartz watch with the Seiko Quartz Astron.
The watch itself was unprecedented in terms of performance, holding accuracy within 5 seconds per month. At this time, an accuracy within 5 seconds per month was 100X more accurate than any other watch, proving Seiko’s dominance as a watchmaker.
Then, in 1973, Seiko introduced the world’s first six-digit LCD quartz watch. If you’re familiar with the Casio G-Shock watch, then you’ll like what Seiko had to offer with this watch. This fully-electronic watch had the first six-digit liquid-crystal display and was able to continuously display the hours, minutes, and seconds throughout the day.
They’ve even had their success in the dive watch industry, creating the first dive watch with a titanium case. Their Professional Diver’s 600m was legible at great depths and with the introduction of titanium casing, this watch held up far better than previous dive watches.
However, perhaps one of their greatest accomplishments in Seiko history is the introduction of the Spring Drive in 1999. Unique to Seiko, the Spring Drive provided luxury mechanical movement with quartz accuracy so as to ensure that minimum seconds were lost each month.
To this day, the Spring Drive is still incorporated within their watches. However, this type of movement is usually only used for their luxury end watches which go under a different moniker, Grand Seiko.
It’s no surprise that Seiko has contributed quite a bit in its 100+ years as a leading watchmaker. You can find many fashion enthusiasts touting their watches, whether it’s in the office or on the streets. And if you happen to wear a watch that’s quartz movement, regardless of brand, you have Seiko to thank for that.
Citizen History
Despite Seiko’s packed resume of accomplishments, Citizen also holds some of their own monumental moments in history. Also started in Tokyo, the story begins in 1918 when jeweler Kamekichi Yakamazi began creating pocket watches. However, the first commercial model wasn’t created until 1924 and the brand name, Citizen, was then founded.
While Citizen quickly became a major watch producer, its progress was halted by World War II. However, after the war, the brand came under a new president, Eiichi Yamada, who expanded Citizen past Japan’s borders and into the global market.
This quickly helped Citizen cement itself as a global powerhouse in the watchmaking business. While Seiko was known for creating the first quartz watch, Citizen was instrumental in helping make it a movement that could compete against Swiss watchmakers.
However, perhaps their most important accomplishment in Citizen history is the introduction of the Eco-Drive. Citizen’s Eco-Drive technology allowed quartz batteries to be recharged by a solar panel hidden underneath the watch face.
This meant that, as long as your watch was under sunlight for a minimum amount of time each day, your battery would never lose power. And with batteries losing power being one of the main weaknesses of quartz watches, Citizen seemingly created the solution that would make quartz watches a direct competitor against automatic and mechanical watches.
Seiko Pricing
In my experience, Seiko is on the more expensive side with most of their products ranging from $150 to upwards of $450+. However, this doesn’t mean that Seiko doesn’t have affordable options.
In fact, one of my favorite models from Seiko is only in the $50-$80 range, depending on where you buy it from! We’ll get more into this later.
If you want to get into their luxury line, Grand Seiko, then it’s not going to be uncommon for you to drop $2,000-$10,000 for a watch. However, what Seiko can guarantee you is quality for your price.
For example, some of the standout features of the Grand Seiko line are the quality of materials that they use and the Spring Drive. For one, Seiko is constantly releasing new products every year, meaning that each watch only gets a limited amount of development time.
However, since the number of Grand Seikos released is quite low each year, you can expect that the watchmakers will put their maximum attention on each watch that is made. It’s not uncommon for each Grand Seiko watch to be built by hand, polished, and then manually inspected before being approved to be shipped out.
But does this mean that Seiko is just streamlining their products? No! Seiko also puts a considerable amount of time into ensuring that each watch is providing the wearer the most value for its price. And you’ll definitely see this when we take a look at some Seiko models.
Citizen Pricing
Citizen is on the more affordable side when compared to Seiko. Since Citizen doesn’t have a luxury line like Seiko, their watches usually range from $80-$250. However, you can find the rare exception with a few highly-coveted Citizens in the $1,000-$2,000 range.
The reason being for Citizen’s affordability is that they don’t have to put as much time into developing other movements. Citizen specializes specifically in quartz movement watches and it shows.
And while Citizen may only offer mostly quartz watches, their durability, materials, and finish are on about the same level as Seiko. You’ll find that both use stainless steel for their watches with similar crystal quality.
Main Differences Between Seiko and Citizen
When it comes to the battle between Seiko vs. Citizen, a few things stand out more than others so we thought it’d be worth covering the main differences you’ll find between a Seiko watch and a Citizen watch.
Watch Movement
We’ve already mentioned this before but Seiko and Citizen offer different watch movements for the most part. Citizen likes to offer mainly quartz movement and Eco-Drive watches while Seiko likes to offer quartz, automatic, and even Spring Drive watches.
This means that Seiko offers a more holistic range of watches whereas Citizen has narrowed down on a specific movement and mastered it. Our recommendation is that if you’re looking for a quartz movement watch, you might want to consider Citizen since they’ve spent the majority of their years selling quartz movements.
Watch Crystal
There are some watch models that differ in terms of crystal between Seiko and Citizen. For most Citizen models, you’ll notice that their watches have mineral crystal and for some of the rarer high-end watches, sapphire.
The same goes for Seiko. However, Seiko has their own patented crystal technology called Hardlex which can be found on some of their most reputable models.
While Seiko has their own patented crystal, the durability of Hardlex is about the same as mineral. However, it might feel nice knowing that Seiko put a little bit of extra time into perfecting their own crystal for their wearers.
Watch Style
Furthermore, Seiko and Citizen also differ when it comes to watch style. Seiko is known for creating more traditional, classic watches while Citizen likes to utilize modern technology to create more disruptions within the market with their offerings.
As we’ve mentioned before, you’ll notice that Citizen specializes mainly in quartz watches. However, they’ve added many new types of technology to their watches which constantly help them innovate and saturate the market.
On the other other hand, Seiko likes to stick to more traditional watch models. For instance, their dive and dress watches will contain everything a dive or dress watch needs but usually nothing more.
However, the adherence to tradition has allowed them to specialize in specific watches and you’ll notice that some of their best watches come from years of designing previous watch styles over and over again.
Our recommendation is that if you want a classic watch, like a dress watch or a beater watch, go for Seiko. However, if you want to experiment a little bit and see what the watch market has to offer, check out some of Citizen’s models.
Best Seiko Watches
After reviewing Seiko’s history, pricing, watch technology, and even their crystal, it’s only right that we introduce you to some of Seiko’s best watches. Let’s get started!
Seiko SKX007
The Seiko SKX007 is a classic and by far my favorite Seiko watch to boast on my wrist. This dive watch has many of the components that we mentioned make Seiko a top watchmaker. Seiko
The dive watch utilizes Automatic movement which is accurate to around 20 seconds a day. However, the movement can be adjusted to attain better accuracy. The lens is made up of Hardlex crystal and the lume of the watch utilizes Seiko-patented Lumibrite to keep the watch shining when it’s in dark environments.
The dial also displays a day-date calendar and the case is stainless steel which helps it hold up against tough environments. If you plan on going swimming, this watch can also accompany you since the watch has water resistance of up to 200 meters!
For a price of around $150-$200, you’re getting a great combination of features that you won’t find on most watches priced around $500+.
Seiko 5 SNK809
The Seiko 5 SNK809 is probably your best bang-for-your-buck watch that Seiko offers. For about $100, you get an automatic movement watch that has a day-date window, water resistance, a durable stainless steel case, and a mineral crystal window.
The Seiko 5 SNK809 is the definition of a beater watch. You can take this watch just about anywhere whether it’s out to sea, to go camping, or even to the workplace. At the price which the Seiko 5 is sold at, most watches would only contain one or two special features. The Seiko 5 has five, making it a great budget option if you don’t want to invest more into a watch at the moment.
Seiko Presage SRPB46
The Seiko Presage is Seiko’s line of dress watches which you can find around the $300-$600 price range. The SRPB46 model itself has a brown rose-gold color scheme and keeps things on the dial to a minimum.
However, the design of the dial is quite unique with dark streaks expanding outwards from the center of the watch. Contrast this with the coffee-brown background and its rose gold markings and you have a dial that you can’t take your eyes off of.
The watch utilizes self-winding automatic movement and has Seiko’s Hardlex crystal for the window. The stainless steel case helps protect against most unforgiving environments and should you have to take this watch into the water (which you shouldn’t), the watch is water resistant up to 50 meters.
We’ve covered three watches from Seiko, each in a different category of its own. One was a diver watch, designed to take on tough environments other than the deep sea. The next was an affordable field watch, designed to be your go-to daily handyman. And our final watch was a dress watch, designed for the ballroom and late-night dinners.
All of these watches have been designed in a more traditional style. However, with Seiko’s expertise and 100+ years of experience in watchmaking, these are some of Seiko’s finest pieces.
Best Citizen Watches
We’ve also taken a deep dive into Citizen’s brand, history, and technology. It’s only right that we also take a look at some of the best Citizen watches you can wear.
Citizen Eco-Drive Nighthawk
When you first lay eyes on the Nighthawk, you can’t help but notice the intricate design that goes into the watch. This pilot watch boasts dual time display, large lump-filled Arabic numbers and markings, and a sliding scale function which can be used to calculate things like air speed and fuel consumption.
However, the best part of the Citizen Nighthawk is its GMT function. The Nighthawk’s GMT index is the sweeping arc on the dial that goes from 6-12. There are two of these arcs, one in red and one in white.
There are also two pointers, one in red and one in white. Whichever pointer is hovering over their respective colored arc is the one which tells the GMT time, allowing for dual-time function.
In our opinion, this is probably the most impressive part of Citizen’s Nighthawk watch. It takes all the standard features that Citizen offers such as powerful Eco-Drive movement, stainless steel casing, and 200 meter water resistance and combines it with an intricately decorated dial.
I’d say that this watch is very close to the Seiko SKX007 since its price, which usually goes for around $280-$390, does not match the level of value that you get with the Citizen Nighthawk.
Citizen Eco-Drive AO9020-84E Dress Watch
Believe it or not, Citizen can tout a well-designed dress watch at a pretty affordable price. This Citizen dress watch has a black dial, stainless steel casing, and a chronograph design which can display both the day and the date.
Most standard dress watches like to use a leather strap. However, with this dress watch, you’ll find yourself wearing a stainless steel bracelet. This means that you can wear the AO9020-84E in multiple environments aside from the ballroom or the dinner table, making it a versatile timepiece for any occasion.
Citizen Eco-Drive Quartz Titanium
The Citizen Eco-Drive Quartz Titanium is a Brycen model which is 40% lighter than stainless steel but five times stronger and more scratch-resistant. The result is a lightweight, extremely sturdy that will never break on you from the outside.
The watch has titanium casing which is much stronger than your standard stainless steel casing. However, just as impressive is the lightness of titanium. This is what gives the Citizen Eco-Drive Quartz Titanium its feathery touch.
You’ll also find that this watch possesses water resistance of up to 100 meters and has a mineral crystal, further ensuring the durability of the watch.
If you’re in the market for a beater watch and are willing to spend around $250-$500, we highly recommend you check out the Citizen Eco-Drive Quartz Titanium. It’s easy on the wrists and thanks to its titanium casing, there are few things in the world which will ever be able to damage this watch from the outside.
Should You Buy Seiko or Citizen?
When it comes to Seiko vs. Citizen, which should you buy? Good question! While we think that Seiko and Citizen are both great brands to buy from, choosing which brand to buy largely comes down to your preference and the situation. As we’ve mentioned before, Seiko and Citizen specialize in different areas.
Seiko prefers to stick to more traditional watches, creating quartz, mechanical, and automatic movement watches. Meanwhile, Citizen likes to specialize in quartz movement thanks to its Eco-Drive technology, allowing more innovative models within the market.
We’d say that if you’re looking for new and exciting models, you should definitely check out what Citizen has to offer. From titanium-cased watches to a watch which can track both GMT time and fuel consumption, Citizen has no shortage of finely-tuned, novel watches that you can look through.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a watchmaker who has perfected their watchmaking with time-tested methods, you might want to check out Seiko. They have had their fair share of innovations within the watchmaking world. However, some of their most famous watches are due to the fact that Seiko knows how to build watches extremely well.
But you shouldn’t just base your purchase on a preference. At the end of the day, both Seiko and Citizen are experts in their craft so you should buy a watch which you think will fit your style and way of life. The result will be a watch that stays with you for years to come.