Lazlo would be proud…

Lazlo Delgrande…

…Citizen’s global Everyman from the 1980s. Women love him, men want to be him. He had the slimmest, sleekest quartz dress watches adorning his wrist whilst he powered through lunch and coffee, securing the deals and charming the clientele.

I do feel that Citizen keep him in mind when they drop new watches. I imagine if he had an heir, an equally high-flying, Ivy League graduate, let’s call them Timothee or Sebastian, he would also be rocking a Citizen like his dear old Dad.

Look at the options good old Lazlo Jnr could pick from. RC-controlled, EcoDrive, Perpetual Calendars, Moonphases…

I’ll admit, 3 years ago I wouldn’t even consider a Citizen. Then I started modding…

As the prices of NH35s and 36s rocketed skywards into £60-80 (and screw you if you wanted the NH34 for a GMT), the humble Miyota 8215 remained at the £40 mark. The majority of my modding therefore centred around the Miyota standard, and I found them pretty solid when compared with the NH. I could choose and switch up with ease, but my Miyota’s were equally easy to play with. I even had to strip one and rebuild it to fix the date wheel mechanism… fun.

Anyway, I was enjoying my time with the 8xxx series, I also strayed into quartz 2315 territory, because I had a Duro that needed a fix. Whilst I was fixing Seiko divers with ‘90s quartz movements and bags of operational history, I also found 2315s propping-up tons of similar watches. I soon began relying on the quartz movements for mods and repairs for vintage stuff as well.

EcoDrive was a natural progression… it just needs a rechargeable battery if they die (not a capacitor, despite what they are referred to online). I bought a £30 dead chronograph, very sketchy, and repaired it in 2 mins and £12 later (thanks Cousins UK).

EcoDrive then became an easy treasure trove of bargains. Dead “capacitor” = 75% RRP and a two minute fix. Missing gasket = spares and repairs and parts for new repairs. Complete movement swaps and donors means £600 RC bastards get fixed for £150 and change. I got good at this. The hardest movement to fix, i.e. the one I’ve fucked up more than once, is the Calibre 6851 moonphase. Tricky screwed-on battery backplate and a precarious circular circuit board equals absolute carnage if I’m not careful, which is usually what happens on my first expedition into a new calibre. I’ve also wrecked a number of older Citizen’s by just being a little too vicious with a screwdriver, it’s not just limited to EcoDrives.

So, why the long diatribe about Citizen, what is this all about?

I guess, I’m confused. I don’t know why the sudden love affair with EcoDrive, but with constant increases in price and diminishing returns in terms of service and QC with other brands I find it particularly refreshing that I can find things that don’t cost too much, whilst also delivering something interesting. They are 90% of what I buy now. I am totally, and utterly, invested in the brand.

I also appreciate that I can get parts relatively easily, even years after they have discontinued some of the movements. In an age where certain companies try and throttle the parts market to control the repair and restoration money as well, as if they don’t have enough already. It seems to align with my concerns with future-proofing my watches, and sustainability concerns. If my watch dies, can I fix it? Seiko and Citizen, yes. Swiss… er? Maybe?

Then again, I’m also starting to appreciate that there are a lot of things we are being forced to forget when it comes to watches. Erebus and their HAQ version of the Ascent was a recent rabbit hole I dived down… it’s a nice watch, but it’s way too expensive, especially when you can get the same movement in a WatchDives for less than half the price (sure it’s a Nautilus clone, but it’s accurate). +/- 10 seconds a year is pretty impressive, but it’s not new, or that groundbreaking. Seiko and Longines were achieving that with their 8J41/8J81 and VHP lines back in the late 80s, early 90s. The VHP was reintroduced and quietly killed off a few years back, but the older Seiko lines with HAQ movements, these have largely been forgotten except by those who live in the darkest corners of the internet and actually measure their quartz clocks for accuracy. The Seiko Dolce, and some of the Credor lines have these lovely watches with thermo-compensated quartz movements that keep +/- 10 seconds a year, and Seiko seems to want you to forget about them. They even found their way into 11 of the earlier Grand Seiko models. Sure, the 9F is younger, flashier, and easier to try and regulate, but the 8J is equally brilliant if you are happy to “cut patterns”. The problem, I’m guessing from a 2020s perspective, is that these movements are found in sub-36mm, 5mm thick dressy options. It’s not what the watchbros want…

…but I suspect old Lazlo would rock this. I paid £110 for this, from Japan, and it’s also not dropped a second in two months. I’m not gatekeeping here, you can get a Credor for under £300 with a HAQ.

Then again, you could find a Citizen Exceed with a E510, a little more modern, for under £250. Also +/- 10 seconds a year, but harder to get regulated. I imagine you’d probably find them very reliable.

Which kind of brings me a little full-circle. Lazlo Snr would still be at the forefront of the quartz technology with his Citizen Quartz. He’d probably have easily graduated to EcoDrive, then radio-control, and then possible GPS Wave. As an international man of mystery, he’d need the accuracy, and the ability to switch from plane, to boardroom, to function without losing his edge. He is still the man, and he is a Citizen man.

He’s the hero we need, but not necessarily deserve.