Inhorgenta Spotlight: Citizen x seconde/seconde/
Citizen caused and continues to cause quite a stir—both at Inhorgenta and on social media—with a very special limited edition model in collaboration with seconde/seconde/ from the Tsuyosa collection.
Citizen’s Tsuyosa automatic line, launched four years ago, impressed right from the start with its colorful designs and affordable mechanics. Now, in collaboration with French creative agency seconde/seconde/, the Japanese watchmaker has unveiled a model with an azure blue dial.
The immediate rush surprised even Citizen. Anyone who still wants to get their hands on one of the 3,600 limited-edition Tsuyosa watches will have to hurry. Barely released, the models are already being traded on various second-hand platforms—above the RRP of €449, of course.
Citizen Tsuyosa x seconde/seconde/
The term Tsuyosa means strength in Japanese. Indeed, the Citizen collection of the same name has made a strong impression since its market launch in 2022 and regularly surprises with new variations.
With Tsuyosa x seconde/seconde/, Citizen shows that it is not slacking in this regard. The brand enlisted the help of French artist Romaric André, alias seconde/seconde/. The self-proclaimed “vandal” of the Swiss watch industry prefers to target hands, replacing them with motifs that always elicit at least a smile.
With success: since 2020, he has been collaborating with various brands, whose collections he has “vandalized”—always with his ironic and seemingly irreverent style.
The Parisian, who does not necessarily see himself as a traditional artist, began his career in the watch industry by developing 8-bit style hands. These depicted a wide variety of motifs such as swords, spaceships, and bees, and replaced the hands on some vintage watches.
Romaric André, alias seconde/seconde/, explains:
“As a creative person who always tries to combine opposites to create an effective contrast, it is an exciting undertaking to work with a brand like Citizen. On the one hand, there is a simple Frenchman, and on the other, a large Japanese brand steeped in tradition. The best collaborations are usually those that bring together parties that initially appear to be opposites.”
Small versus large: Minute sword splits indices
It was obvious that a sharp Japanese sword—the katana—would play a central role in the seconde/seconde special model with the Japanese brand Citizen. This traditional long weapon was primarily carried by samurai.
Now it circles like a minute hand in front of the bright azure blue dial of the limited edition Tsuyosa. The katana is designed in pixel art style – a reference to Japanese retro video games, which are known and loved around the world.
The circling of this special minute hand does not remain without consequences: with a humorous touch, the razor-sharp sword appears to have split the indices in two. This creates an unusual dial design with an astonishingly logical insight, the message of which can be read on the case back.
Being smaller has never stopped Minutes from slicing Hours into pieces.
Translated: “Her smaller size has never stopped her from cutting hours into minutes.”
The message behind it: even someone who appears small and weak at first glance has the strength to overcome enormous obstacles. “Better starts now” – the Citizen motto thus becomes a call to face every challenge without hesitation and with courage.
And all this without pointing fingers, but with humor and a wink. seconde/seconde/ and Citizen have also struck a skillful balance in terms of design. Under the sapphire crystal with date magnifier, the dial looks almost “normal” at first glance—not at all like a comic book motif. The Tsuyosa x seconde/seconde/ is thus a wearable, modern watch with a bright blue dial and a tongue-in-cheek message.
Incidentally, the limit of 3,600 also alludes to our measurement of time. As we know, there are 3,600 seconds in an hour.
The watch offers the usual reliable Citizen quality. The 40 x 11.7 mm stainless steel case is water-resistant to five bar and houses the caliber 8210 with a 42-hour power reserve from Citizen’s movement manufacturer Miyota. It is visible through the transparent case back.
(RRP €449)
