In what has turned out to be a big week for space, with one of the world?s richest men launching himself just past the bounds of the Kármán line, and the 52nd anniversary of Apollo 11?s successful moon landing, Citizen has introduced a pair of new watches that highlight their own next-gen space ventures. You might recall that Citizen launched a high end, GPS enabled watch in partnership with a Japanese startup called ispace last year. These new watches continue the partnership, specifically highlighting Citizen?s contribution to ispace?s Hakuto-R spacecraft, which uses the same Super Titanium technology in some of its components that Citizen uses in their premier titanium watches. The Hakuto-R program is a lunar exploration endeavor consisting of two missions, and there are two watches in this mini collection, one representing the dark side of the moon, the other the light. Both make the most of Citizen?s latest materials technology, feature modern GPS equipped or radio controlled calibers, and have some unexpected aesthetic quirks that you don?t typically see on watches in this genre. 
The CC4016-75LE Limited Edition features prominent gold toned accents throughout the case and bracelet, and is meant to evoke the light side of the moon. The gold is Citizen?s Duratect MRK Gold coating, which according to Citizen provides a measure of surface hardening in addition to offering a modern two-tone aesthetic. The AT8185-71E Limited Edition is the literal flipside to ...