This time round, I had the opportunity to handle a sports diver watch made by Citizen. This watch was released more than a year ago and came in several colour variants. It has a rotating bezel and is rated 10 bar in water resistance, making it similar to the Seiko 5 Sports models (Sea Urchin, Mini Monster, etc) in terms of specs.

The first thing I like about this watch is the brushed case. It has brushed finishing on almost everywhere including the bezel, lugs, crown guard area, both sides of the case, case back and even the space between the lugs. The only places that are not brushed are the rim of the case back cover and the crown.

I always like the design of Citizen’s sports watches such as those in the Promaster line and the discontinued Aqualand line. They are usually hefty and very well designed. Although this is not a Promaster model, it is also a big watch at a diameter of 46mm (excluding crown). It may not have as much attention to details as the Promaster models but it does have some characteristics of the Promaster line in its overall look and feel. I like the case design, especially crown at 4 o’clock position and the use of bezel insert that gives it a traditional diver look.

This variant I have here has a matte black dial. The layout of the dial is quite standard but nice. The hour markers are round except for 3,6,9 and 12 which are larger to make them stand out. It is powered by the Miyota 8200 movement which has a day/date window at the 3 o’clock position. This is balanced off by the longer 9 o’clock marker.

Legibility of the dial is very good, especially with the orange tipped second hand and the orange outline on the hour hand. The hour hand is wide but I feel should have silver outline instead of white to be consistent with the hour markers.

The bezel rotates anti-clockwise with 120 clicks per round. Rotating it is easy due to the big rim that provides better grip and the teeth which are beautifully cut and very practical to use.

The crown does not screw in but should not be an issue since it is rated 10 bar.

The watch comes on a synthetic rubber strap as indicated on the manufacturer’s website. There is another model that comes on metal bracelet but it has a dial design.

Diameter: 46mm excluding crown
Lug width: 24mm
Lug to lug: 48mm
Water Resistance: 10 Bar

Final thoughts:
The Citizen NH8380-15E is a very well made watch for its price point and can easily rival Seiko in the sports 100m category. The Miyota 8200 movement compares less favourably to Seiko’s 4R movement due to lack of hack function and bi-directional winding but Citizen makes up for it in the design department. Personally, I like the design of this watch more than any Seiko 5 100m model. Unfortunately, Citizen does not put enough focus on the mechanical watch market in this part of the world and therefore the Citizen NH8380-15E may not get as much attention as it deserves from watch buyers compared to the Seiko sports models.

---

Polished rim on the cover.

The crown has polished finishing.

Citizen NH8380-15E featured in this post is provided by K2 Watch Co.

845 Geylang Road, Tanjong Katong Complex, #03-K1.

Singapore 400845.

Tel: 6746 0270

---

---