Citizen as we don’t know
Standing just over 100 years, Citizen is a forceful phenomenon in the watch world. They are innovative with watch making technology and deft at making affordable timepieces. The fun is: You get a Citizen watch under many different brand names. They are often costlier and many are offshoot.
These are vastly different from what Citizen is famous for – the Eco-Drive! These watches are not powered by light; may or may not stay involved in a host of activities; but you can wear them around the world, in tennis courts and figure-skating rings.
Brands the Citizen Group owns
- 2008: Citizen bought the Bulova Watch Company for $250 million (reportedly), turning into the world’s largest watch manufacturer.
- 2012: Prothor, the holding company for La Joux-Perret (movement and module manufacturers supplying for Hublot, Panerai and Tag Heuer), Prototec (components and parts makers) and Arnold & Son (brand of luxury watches), three large Swiss brands came under Citizen Holding at CHF 64 million.
- 2015: Angelus, a brand resurrected by Arnold & Son fell under the Citizen umbrella.
- 2016: Frederique Constant Group, including Alpina and Ateliers de Monaco.
Little about the brands Citizen owns
- Bulova: Born American (New York), year 1875. Founder: Joseph Bulova. Most popular watch model: Accutron. Other establishments: Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking.
- La Joux-Perret: High-end movements- and module-makers; late 20th century. Founded: As Jaquet S.A, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Name changed to La Joux-Perret in 2004, under Prothor Holding. Area of expertise: Tourbillons. Found in: Citizen’s Campanola Mechanical Collection.
- Prototec SA: Founded 1989, manufactures watches, clocks, watchcases and parts for the watch industry. The cutting, rolling and stamping of metal are done in-house.
- Arnold & Son: Born English; year 1764. Founder: John Arnold. Expertise: Repeaters, chronometer-grade movements. Reborn: Specialty: Limited edition classic and elegant high-horology with unusual complications (e.g. wandering hour or the true-beats seconds) that are technically advanced in their architectural designs.
- Angelus: Founded 1891; as Stolz Freres SA, going defunct during quartz crises. Reborn: 2015, as the incredibly complex U10 Tourbillon Lumiere, the first among its highly technical haute horlogerie timepieces.
- Frederique Constant: Founded 1988, in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. As Wikipedia mentions it: Before the sale to Citizen, Frédérique Constant SA was owned by Union Horlogère Holding B.V., which also owned Alpina Watches International SA, and Ateliers deMonaco SA, and was, in turn, owned by Frédérique Constant Holding SA’.
Citizen: The truths
- Citizen was founded in 1930 but was registered in Switzerland (Schmid; 1918).
- The brand Citizen supported Count Gotō Shinpei in the 1920s about his dreams of affordable watches to the general public.
- Till WWII started, Citizen used Swiss technology.
Below is the link to some of the watches mentioned above. Click to see and buy them.
