Apart from the post-purchase domestic brawls, it’s also a sudden interest on the Hawk family that occurred. It started from the Nighthawk.
There are the U.S version Nighthawk and the so-called Euro-Nighthawk and its Asian variants and also the JDM. The last two have case-backs that are plain lusty.
Many of the Seiko collectors fell towards the Nighthawk and for a considerable number it was their first Citizen purchase. They sell largely for their large sunken dials, the retrograde-GMT hour-scale (supposedly) and an extremely detailed and accurate, internally rotating flight-rule (E6B) bezel. Some also found the blue lume bringing a refreshing change to all-green Lumibrite rows.
The U.S. Nighthawks are arguably the most common wrist adorner in the North American market. This holds true for U.K. as well, to an extent. These – and only these – have the Nighthawk text on the dial and framed Arabic numerals. The Non-U.S. Nighthawks will miss these texts as much as the sports-styled full-lume indices.
The only glitch with the U.S. Nighthawk is the case-back is plain vanilla, honestly. It’s highly polished, with laser-etched text yet doesn’t compare to the highly detailed and engraved case-backs of the Euro and Asian versions. The whole thing is satin-finished. Besides, the Euro Nighthawks are radio-controlled.
The Asian Nighthawks have partly-lumed metal indices but somehow it makes the dial look classier. The 12 and 6 are also flatter. In U.S. versions, it’s raised. The most recent versions of the Asian Nighthawks come with Citizen’s deployment leather straps.
While all that makes the Nighthawk sound very much desirable, hold on till the Japan domestic market versions are covered. These have the Made in Japan text on the dial (@ 8o’clock), pretty small to be detected fast. Some JDM Nighthawks feature radio-controlled timekeeping, synchronizing with low-frequency, long-wave signals. Sounds too good? Well, you don’t get the 24-hr GMT scale with it. That’s one way you detect a JDM Nighthawk. Else, look for the WR 20 Bar text on the dial. If it reads Sapphire instead of the WR20 Bar text, it’s a Euro-version. The model number should start with AS.
These too come with richly-detailed case-backs but it’s only the JDM titanium versions that get the Duratect, Citizen’s famous plating technology.
But exotic Nighthawks shall always be the PMP56 series. They come with all the bells and whistles a complex-watch connoisseur will like to see and hence, are most expensive in the class. These have the dedicated GMT subdial, three city-times (London, Paris, NY), perpetual calendar and alarm. Both the 2901 and 2902 are good.
