The Citizen Urban Military NJ0190 Series, a Sub-250-Euros Bargain Sports Watch

It’s now widely known that Citizen can be pretty aggressive when it comes to its price policy. Whatever the range of watches you’re looking at, you’ll always end up with great value for your money – the EUR 299 Tsuyosa is a great example, but so are the Promaster Automatic Diver or the Challenge Diver Automatic. When it comes to well-built, stylish automatic sports watches, there’s not much to fault with entry-level Citizen models. Applying the same recipe as the aforementioned models, the Japanese watchmaker has just released a trio of military-inspired models, the new Urban Military NJ0190 Series… And once again, it redefines the concept of bargain watches.

Besides being extraordinarily affordable, all the watches we’ve mentioned in the introduction have in common their technical architecture. They all rely on one of the 82xx automatic movements – entry-level, simple 3Hz calibres – with relatively mundane cases that are nothing fancy but yet surprisingly detailed, simple time-and-date displays and mineral crystal on top (some even come with sapphire). Sure, there’s nothing here that, at first, will make you jump to the roof but you have to keep in mind that we’re talking about timepieces ranging from the low-200s to the mid-300s euros. So yes, there might be a few shortcuts in the quality of some parts but at a certain point, realistically, you can’t have it all and ask for more.

But look around… Find me a watch produced by a long-established, respected watch manufacturer, made almost entirely in-house, with enough track record to be sure that you’ll be able to service it in 10 years, with all the basic features you actually need, and on top of that with cool designs that are timeless and fun? I’ll wait! Whether you’re in the market for a sporty-chic watch with integrated bracelet, a capable diver with vintage look, an iconic instrument dive watch in titanium, or an elegant all-rounder, there’ll be one for you. Perfect if you’re not willing to spend all your savings on a watch, a great option for aspiring watch enthusiasts, and equally brilliant for youngsters who want to enter the horology rabbit hole…

Citizen now expands its entry-level collection with a new series of watches said to be “Urban Military” models. Not sure exactly what it means, but let’s not spend too much time on this, shall we? Dubbed the NJ0190 series, we’re looking at the classic Citizen recipe explained above, just in a new style that was missing in the collection. The overall inspiration of these new Urban Military NJ0190 models is a mix of pilot’s watch design codes and military elements of style, all merged together in a sporty steel watch with reasonable dimensions and very decent specs.

The case is classic brushed stainless steel with several polished accents. The NJ0190 watches measure 40mm in diameter – a.k.a the perfect width – with a thickness of about 12mm. It’s not the thinnest watch you’ll encounter, but once again, such entry-level models do come with a couple of concessions. The lug-to-lug measurement is approximately 46.5mm, again reasonable and adding to the overall comfort on the wrist. Design-wise, the case is fairly classic with a pilot-ish diamond-shaped crown and an almost non-existent bezel. As you can expect from such affordable models, the crystal is mineral and not sapphire, but there are some good points too; the water-resistance is rated at 100m, the caseback is screwed and it features a see-through crystal – I know, posh guys like me prefer not to see such movements, but it’s good for newcomers to learn about mechanical watchmaking.

The military-pilot inspiration is more clear on the dial, which is available in 3 different tastes – in addition to the silvery-white (ref. NJ0190-51A) and black (ref. NJ0190-51E) models you can see here, Citizen also produces a dark green version (ref. NJ0190-51X). The base of the dial is, on all colours, lightly brushed, adding nice reflections and depth to the display. The hands are large, very legible and done in contrasting colours (blackened on the silver model, polished metal on the two dark dials). Applied hour markers are visible all around and there’s an oversized applied 12 o’clock marker too. As you can see, either the black or white versions are brilliant when it comes to legibility and contrast, and all elements of the display are generously coated with luminescent material.

Moving to the periphery of the dial, you’ll see an angled rehaut. The slopped face features a simple 60-minute scale with numerals every 5-minute mark. The flat section of the flange sitting underneath the crystal is, however, more funky and has a certain slide-rule bezel style, even though it’s fixed and, in reality, is just a 60-second scale. I know it’s just a design trick and doesn’t serve any specific purpose, but it simply looks cool and adds depth to an otherwise relatively classic and simple watch.

Inside the case is the Calibre 8210-C0A. Made in-house by Citizen, this automatic mechanical movement is wound by a central rotor and runs at a slightly slow frequency of 3Hz – which isn’t the case on the more advanced 9xxx series, running at 4Hz. Nevertheless, the movement offers a decent 40-hour power reserve and even features a stop-seconds mechanism and can be hand-wound. The back reveals a non-decorated movement, but that’s what you’d expect in this price range.

Adding to the sporty attire of this Urban Military NJ0190 collection, the watches come secured to the wrist by a brushed stainless steel bracelet, closed by a folding clasp. The latter is equipped with safety pushers and has 3 holes for fine adjustment. Despite being simple in its construction, the bracelet is fairly interesting in its design, with links that have an almost pyramidal profile – adding another layer of visual depth to the watch.

Altogether, Citizen here adds yet another winner to its entry-level collection. I know you can find elements of this watch that aren’t perfect, but keep in mind that these retail for EUR 229… A good-looking, well-equipped, nicely-built mechanical watch, made in-house by a respected brand, for the price of a rubber strap from any luxury Swiss brand… Yes, that’s what I call a bargain. Now available from Citizen and authorized retailers.

For more details, please visit CitizenWatch.eu or CitizenWatch-Global.com.