Watches with ties to the automotive world are nothing new. In fact, many would say that watches inspired by cars are one of the most overdone tropes in contemporary watchmaking. They are seemingly everywhere, and produced in a range of styles that run the gamut from ?extremely on the nose? to ?wait, what?s a car"? A new watch from Citizen in two variants sits somewhere in the middle of this very wide spectrum, with subtle details that pull from the car the watches are inspired by, and very obvious branding hidden away in spots that are likely only to be seen by the owner. It?s perhaps a happy middle ground that can be enjoyed both by serious car enthusiasts who dabble in watches, and watch nerds who are after a tech forward timepiece with a very specific use case in colorways that are objectively interesting.
The new watches in question are the first ever collaboration between Citizen and Nissan, and take the Nissan Z (the Nissan Fairlady in Japan) as a starting point. The Z is a sleek and modern sports car, and Citizen claims to be inspired by the Z?s advanced sports car tech in building out this collaborative watch. More on that in a minute, but let?s tackle the design links to the Z first. Most notably, each watch uses an accent color that is matched precisely to a Nissan Z. The reference AT8185-89E features accents in ?Ikazuchi Yellow,? while the reference AT8185-97E uses Nissan?s ?Seiran Blue.? The dial on the AT8185-89E features a pattern that pulls fro...