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Citizen or Seiko?

When people say Japanese watches, I immediately think Citizen and Seiko. Of course Seiko was established first and had it's foot through the door before Citizen could walk. However, Citizen also has a very interesting history and in my opinion it has made watches that rivals Seiko in form and function.

Here in the Philippines, both Seiko and Citizen are popular watch brands. However, of the two, Seiko is more popular. It is probably because of the unlimited options the Seiko 5 line offers and the reasonably affordable diver's watches that have now become very iconic. Citizen is not very far behind with their Citizen Eagle 7 line that rivals the Seiko 5, but I think the Citizen 7 is not as extensive. In general, most people here who like automatic watches go for Seiko.

It is probably an unfair comparison if you compared the brands in terms of their history and popularity since Seiko would take the cake. Citizen has mostly been an alternative to Seiko in terms of how its watches are viewed by the public. In the 90's if you wanted to be different from everyone else, you got a Citizen since most people then wore a Seiko. Citizen is a very underrated brand in my opinion and it deserves more recognition than it is given.

I own two Seiko 5's and one Citizen Eagle 7, but the Seiko 5's were hand me downs, but I bought my only Citizen 7 on purpose. Of course the Seiko 5's have more wrist time since I have owned them for over 20 years. I like the Seiko 5's very much, but if there is one thing I don't like about the modern Seiko 5's, with the 7S26 movement, is that it's not hand winding. Which is the thing that I like about the Citizen Eagle 7 that uses the 8200 movement, it hand winds. For me that's a big one up...a major one up.

I love Seiko for the sheer amount of choices from their Seiko 5 line, but technically, I like Citizen more because their watches feature hand winding. Once the Seiko 5's magic lever fails, its over. The watch is practically dead. For the Citizen Eagle 7, if the rotor (automatic winder) fails, you can still wind up the watch and use it.

In the end it's just a matter of preference. You may argue that the Citizen 7 is a better watch and I may agree with you, but you can't deny that the Seiko 5 is an icon. Seiko is still shelling out Seiko 5's, but I think Citizen has stopped making the Eagle 7.

So, is it Citizen or Seiko? For me, it will always be Seiko then Citizen. It wouldn't be fair to me if I just picked one.

Enjoy!

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