The new Citizen Attesa Platinum Shine collection leans into the brand’s two greatest strengths: cutting-edge quartz technology and mastery of titanium. With three limited edition references in a new platinum-coloured hue, Citizen demonstrates why it’s still the leader in titanium watches, 55 years after making the first one.

Thanks to a decadent recrystallised titanium bracelet and nearly scratch-proof Duratect coating, the new Attesa proves that quartz can still feel luxurious.

Initial thoughts

Almost as soon as quartz timekeeping technology began to mature and prices began to fall in the 1980s, makers of quartz watches began to cede the luxury end of market to brands that focused on mechanical watches. But that never stopped a few brands, Citizen and Seiko chief among them, from pursuing the development of ever-better quartz technology and bringing it to market in a premium format. The ultimate expression of this focus is probably the Citizen cal. 0100, the most accurate wristwatch in the world.

The Citizen 0100 – the world’s most accurate wristwatch.

But quartz is just one part of the equation for Citizen, which has also achieved a leading market position in two specific fields. The first is solar power.

Light-powered watches is nothing new, dating back to 1972, but it was Citizen’s advances in the late 1970s that propelled this technology forward. In 1995, the brand debuted Eco-Drive, which remains the leading light in solar-powered timekeeping. In fact, Tag Heuer licenses Citizen technology for its own Solargraph watches.

The Citizen X8 – the first titanium watch.

Another field that Citizen pioneered is titanium, creating the first titanium-cased wristwatch in 1970 and paving the way for the preponderance of titanium watches we see today. Interestingly, Citizen never really stopped being at the forefront of titanium development, and in recent years has developed a wide range of ultra-hard coatings that make the brand’s titanium watches nearly as scratch-resistant as ceramic.

A demonstration of Super Titanium’s robustness – untreated on the left, Duratect-treated on the right.

The Attesa Platinum Shine collection merges these strengths. On one hand the watches feature some of the most innovative multi-function solar-powered quartz movements in the industry, and on the other they’re cased up a new silvery hue of recrystallised titanium, one of the brand’s most appealing Super Titanium offerings.

The watches are not cheap; the three-hand ref. CB0284-66A costs more than US$1,000, and the top-of-the-line ref. CC4076-65A costs nearly US$2,500. But the product quality, with the possible exception of the stamped clasp, is obvious. With network time-synchronised movements that will never require a new battery and cases and bracelets that will still look new after years of wear, the Attesa manages to be an expensive quartz watch that feels like a good value.

A timely trio

The biggest and baddest watch in the Platinum Shine collection is the ref. CC4076-65A, identifiable by its 3-6-9 sub-dial layout, which is 44.6 mm in diameter and over 15 mm thick.

But the case volume is put to good use, housing the satellite-linked F950 movement, claimed to offer the world’s fastest time-only signal reception, pulling down the current time from GPS satellites in as little as three seconds. The F950 also the most accurate of the three, rated to +/- 5 seconds per month if not satellite updated.

The other chronograph in the mix is the slightly smaller ref. AT8284-61A, distinguished by its 6-9-12 sub-dial configuration. Finally, the least expensive model, which also happens to be the most wearable at just 40 mm, is the three-hand ref. CB0284-66A.

All three models share the same engraved dial motif inspired by the texture of the recrystallised titanium bracelet that is transparent enough to allow for highly efficient solar charging.

Unlike the satellite-linked F950, the H800 and H145 in the smaller watches update themselves the old fashioned way, via radio signal from one of the various official public time signals around the world.

Seemingly simple, they offer a novel travel complication: Direct Flight. This feature enables the user to adjust to local time (and date) in any of 26 global time zones quickly via the crown. It’s more impressive than it sounds, with the central seconds hand momentarily transforming into a time zone pointer, read against the DLC-coated bezel.

Super Titanium

What the three watches have in common is also the main thing that makes them appealing: their Super Titanium cases and bracelets with recrystallised titanium center links. Citizen uses pure titanium, known as grade 2, as the base material for these components. Known for its softness, grade 2 titanium is prone to pick up scratches with a Vickers rating of about 150 Hv. For the purposes of comparison, 316L stainless steel, used by everyone from Omega to Patek Philippe, is rated to about 220 Hv.

Super Titanium is Citizen’s name for grade 2 titanium treated with an ultra-hard coating, known as Duratect. Depending on the colour, Duratect can boost hardness beyond 2,000 Hv, besting tungsten carbide and rivaling ceramic and sapphire crystal. Citizen developed these processes and continues to manage them in-house.

The properties of Super Titanium make it an almost ideal material for a watch case. It’s extremely lightweight, hypoallergenic, nearly scratch-proof, and won’t crack under tension like ceramic. There are just two downsides. First, the production of Super Titanium is costly, several times that of untreated titanium. Second, the cases can’t effectively be refinished in the event that something does manage to scratch the surface.

In practice, neither of these downsides are significant. Citizen has achieved the scale to produce these components relatively economically, meaning replacement is possible even if refinishing is not.

Super Titanium under the microscope.

Citizen also makes what is known as recrystallised titanium, in which grade 2 titanium is heat-treated at extremely high temperatures in conjunction with a controlled cooling process. This process results in a surface pattern that is unique to every piece, since the crystals form naturally, similar to the way in which Widmanstätten patterns form in meteorite.

Previously offered with a black coating, the recrystallised titanium bracelet center links in the Platinum Shine collection get a brighter look that brings out the crystalline surface. With its nearly scratch-proof Duratect coating, likely in the neighborhood of 1,400 Hv, the recrystallised titanium is an appealing accent, managing to be both beautiful and hard-wearing.

Recrystallised titanium under the microscope.

Key Facts and Price

Diameter: 44.6 mm
Height: 15.4 mm
Material: Super Titanium with Duratect Platinum DLC coating and Recrystallised Titanium
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 100 m

Movement: F950
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, second time zone, chronograph, alarm, and satellite wave GPS; accuracy of ±5 seconds per month without GPS sync
Winding: Eco-Drive
Power reserve: Five years

Strap: Super Titanium and Recrystallised Titanium

Limited edition: 2,200 pieces
Availability: At Citizen retailers and boutiques from November 2025
Price: US$2,437 excluding taxes

Diameter: 42 mm
Height: 10.8 mm
Material: Super Titanium with Duratect Platinum DLC coating and Recrystallised Titanium
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 100 m

Movement: H800
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, second time zone, chronograph, and world time; accuracy of ±15 seconds per month without radio sync
Winding: Eco-Drive
Power reserve: 10 months

Strap: Super Titanium and Recrystallised Titanium

Limited edition: 2,500 pieces
Availability: At Citizen retailers and boutiques from November 2025
Price: US$1,319 excluding taxes

Diameter: 40.6 mm
Height: 10.6 mm
Material: Super Titanium with Duratect Platinum DLC coating and Recrystallised Titanium
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 100 m

Movement: H145
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, and world time; accuracy of ±15 seconds per month without radio sync
Winding: Eco-Drive
Power reserve: Two years

Strap: Super Titanium and Recrystallised Titanium

Limited edition: 1,400 pieces
Availability: At Citizen retailers and boutiques from November 2025
Price: US$1,220 excluding taxes

For more, visit Citizenwatch-global.com.

Vacheron Constantin (VC) marks its 270th anniversary this year in grand style with La Quête Du Temps, a monumental, multi-complication clock weighing over 150 kg. A little more wearable is the Métiers d’Art Tribute to The Quest of Time, also a 270th anniversary edition but in wristwatch format.

Like many of VC’s high complicated watches, Tribute to the Quest of Time is a double-faced wristwatch. On the front is a double retrograde time display that’s either on demand or en passant, which takes the form of a human figure whose arms tell the time. Also on the front is a spherical moon phase, while the back is home to an astronomical display comprising a sky chart and sidereal day indicator.

Initial thoughts

Tribute to the Quest of Time is a big complicated watch, and it looks and feels the part. In terms of dimensions and feel, it reminds me a little of the Lange Repeater Perpetual Calendar that was also launched this year. Even though small watches are on trend now, complicated watches like this should be large. This succeeds in that respect, and feels good on the wrist.

Despite the mechanical complexity, the time is easy to read, though it takes a moment to get used to the twin scales for the time. The symmetrical dial on the front is straightforward and legible.

The dial is tinted sapphire and etched with the constellations in the night sky over Geneva on the day VC was established, September 17, 1755. This is not obvious at a distance but reveals itself up close. This leaves the constellations superimposed over the under-dial mechanism for an appealing visual effect.

The back is equally straightforward but more difficult to understand as some knowledge of astronomy is required to decipher (and also set) the sky chart display. But whether or not you understand the sky chart, it looks cool, especially suspended over the movement.

The cal. 3670 is only partially visible through the back, but worth a second look. For one, the movement decoration is evidently better than VC’s run-of-the-mill watches, as it should be.

And besides the obvious complications, the cal. 3670 is also an interesting construction. It’s a large calibre with a six-day power reserve and a high-frequency balance running at 36,000 beats per hour (5 Hz). Together they are an unusual combination of features but make for a logical pairing in terms of chronometry, especially for an energy-intensive set of functions like these.

Overall, I like the Tribute to the Quest of Time, and I rate it highly in terms of mechanics and execution. Beyond the tangible appeal, this has the appeal of rarity as it’s a limited edition of just 20 pieces, a small run even in the rarefied world of such timepieces. It does cost over CHF400,000, which is substantial, but not outrageous in today’s market that is richly valued.

Time-telling hands

Pocket watches with a figure indicating the time with its arms date as far back as the late 18th century, and a little bit further back for clocks. Various makers produced such watches, known as bras en l’air, French for “arms in the air”, but VC made it something of a specialty starting in the late 1920s. With the help of a Le Locle specialist, VC produced a series of bras en l’air watches and movements, both under its own name and for others, most notably Paris jeweller Verger Frères. The dial motifs were diverse, ranging from a snake charmer to an eagle.

These bras en l’air watches contained on-demand, bi-retrograde displays. One arm indicated the minutes, and the other, the hours, each on a retrograde scale. But these were strictly on demand – depressing a pusher on the case band or crown caused the arms to jump to show the time, and then releasing the pusher sent the hands back to the zero position.

The Mercator (left), and a 1930 bras en l’air pocket watch made for Verger Frères. Images – Vacheron Constantin

Bras en l’air watches went out of fashion by the 1940s, and VC only returned to the bi-retrograde concept in 1994 with the Mercator. Inspired by historical maps, the Mercator indicated the time with a pair of retrograde hands, continuously and without an on-demand function.

The Tribute to The Quest of Time is the ultimate evolution of the concept. It is a bi-retrograde time display that is both on demand an en passant. In other words, the display can be reset to zero with the push of a button, placing the arms by the figure’s sides, or left to run to show the time as it passes. The combination of the two display types, on-demand and en passant, makes the Tribute more complex than either of its historical predecessors.

The time display is straightforward and legible, though the format takes some getting used to. Hours are indicated on the leftmost scale with Roman numerals, while minutes are in Arabic numerals on the right. The figure, christened “The Astronomer”, indicates the time with both its hands.

Both the scales and numerals are solid 18k gold – the scales are white gold while the numerals are yellow gold. But the Astronomer is in  gold-coated titanium; the motion of both arms require maximum lightness hence the choice of material.

Similarly, the spherical moon is also titanium made up of two halves: one half is hand engraved and gold-plated while the other is coated blue. Both halves, however, are hand engraved to create a “cratered” finish modelled on the actual lunar surface.

The moon phase display has a conventional accuracy of one day in 122.5 years, so it is more performative than a substantial complication. I don’t think it is a weakness, but a more complex astronomical display, like an equation of time or ultra-accurate moon phase of the one-day-in-1,000-years type, would be a bonus.

On either side of the figure’s legs are the power reserve displays. Though they are separate, the two displays run sequentially to indicate the total power reserve of the watch. Functionally, the two scales offer the same information as a single conventional display, but here they serve to preserve the symmetry of the dial.

The righthand indicator shows the first three days of power reserve, and the lefthand displays the balance of three days. As the movement winds down, the lefthand indicator drops to “3”, followed by the righthand display going to “0”.

The backdrop for the elaborate display is a tinted sapphire dial that is clear in the centre and gradually darker blue towards its edges. Though not evident initially, the dial bears a “celestial vault”, essentially a star chart that reproduces the night sky over Geneva on September 17, 1755, the day VC was founded. (Or more specifically, the date Jean-Marc Vacheron hired his first apprentice watchmaker; the “Vacheron et Constantin” was formally established in 1819.)

The star chart is the result of metallisation – a chemical process that deposits metal vapour onto the underside of the sapphire dial to create the motif. The same technique is used for the gradient blue finish.

Notably, the sapphire dial is actually two pieces of sapphire superimposed one on top of the other. The upper dial carries the metallised finish on its underside, while the lower dial is clear and simply serves to protect the metallised decoration, which might otherwise be damaged during servicing when the dial is removed.

Even though the tinted finish of the dial obscures the edges of the under-dial works, much of the mechanism that drives the time display is visible. Under magnification, the movement reveals a high standard of decoration that is finer than that found on the average VC movement – as is expected given the price and limited number of the Tribute.

Novel presentation

The Tribute to the Quest of Time has a unique case design to match the movement. The watch employs a case that is distinct from those found in the regular production line-up (think Traditionelle, Patrimony, and so on), though a similar but not identical case design can be found on some Les Cabinotiers watches.

The white gold case is simple in form, with flared flanks and a sloped bezel that actually make the watch look larger than it is. And it is already a large watch at 43 mm in diameter and almost 14 mm thick.

This is either a pro or a con depending on how much you like the size. I think the case works well, though if I had free rein, I’d dress up the case with gem setting or engraving (which I am also sure VC will do at a price).

One astronomer, two hands, three barrels

In the tradition of complicated astronomical watches, the Tribute is a double-faced watch. The back reveals both the movement and a sky chart, along with a sidereal day indicator on a scale around the movement marked with dates and months.

The sky chart shows the night sky and constellations as seen from Geneva, though it can presumably be customised to the owner’s location as is usually the case for this complication. According to VC, the sky chart will accumulate a day’s error only after 9,130 years.

Below the sky chart display is the cal. 3670. VC borrowed from the architecture of the innovative Twin Beat of 2019 (that had twin barrels and twin going trains) for the cal. 3670 (that has a single going train). The movement explains the size of the watch; the calibre is large to accommodate three barrels that give it a six day power reserve and optimal amplitude throughout – that’s six days even with the retrograde display running.

Moreover, the movement beats at 36,000 beats per hour, or 5 Hz, which is regarded as high frequency and unusual for this type of highly complicated watch. The high beat balance helps to maintain amplitude over the long power reserve. And the long power reserve is even more of an achievement with the retrograde display and balance, both of which are energy-intensive.

The sky chart covers part of the movement, which is a shame as it’s a good looking movement. It has the typical layout of a calibre with a long power reserve, namely oversized barrels plus a comparatively small balance wheel. Though the size of the balance would ordinarily mean its inertia is lower, the high frequency of its oscillation compensates. The combination of large mainsprings and a small, but high beat, balance promises good chronometry over time.

The movement as seen from the back. Image – Vacheron Constantin

Another notable element of the construction is the barrel arrangement. Two larger barrels are stacked, and power most of the movement, including timekeeping, sky chart, and moon orb. The single, adjacent barrel is slightly smaller in diameter, and is responsible only for the retrograde time display. This division-of-labour approach is a common, historical solution to energy intensive complications that are constantly running, including the grande et petite sonnerie.

The three barrels, one on its own and the pair stacked. Image – Vacheron Constantin

The movement architecture also evokes classical pocket watch movements with the flowing outlines of the bridges, which incorporate enough corners and sharp points to satisfy the finishing fanatics.

The decoration is excellent, though seemingly simple on its face. This is largely due to the circular graining on the flat surfaces of the bridges, a motif found across the brand’s movements inside the 270th anniversary watches. Inspired by similar decoration on historical pocket watches, the grained finish doesn’t have the brightness of Cotes de Geneve or baroque style of engraving, but it done well. And the decoration is also applied by hand according to VC, though presumably with a mechanical tool.

The architecture of the movement with its long power reserve, and presumably robust torque to support energy-intensive complications, makes it an interesting platform for future calibres. I am sure that the team at VC likely has the same thought, so I expect to see more notable movements based on this construction in the future.

Key facts and price

Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art “Tribute to The Quest of Time”
Ref. 7200A-000G-H103

Diameter: 43 mm
Height: 13.58 mm
Material: 18k white gold
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 30 m

Movement: Cal. 3670 
Functions: Retrograde hours and minutes (en passant or on-demand), moon phase, sky chart, sidereal day, and power reserve
Winding: Hand wind
Frequency: 36,000 beats per hour (5 Hz)
Power reserve: 144 hours

Strap: Alligator with matching folding clasp

Limited edition: 20 pieces
Availability: Only at Vacheron Constantin boutiques
Price: Approximately CHF400,000

For more information, visit vacheron-constantin.com.