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Citizen’s Affordable Datejust Homage Looks More Like a Rolex Than Ever

The latest Tsuyosa gets a Crown-inspired makeover and a fancy new automatic movement.

Close-up of a Citizen wristwatch featuring a green textured dial with gold hour markers and hands. The watch has a gold bezel and a two-tone metal bracelet with gold and silver links. The word "AUTOMATIC" is visible on the dial, and there is a magnified date window. The crown is gold-toned with ridged edges.Citizen

By Johnny Brayson

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Citizen remade its entire image when it launched the Tsuyosa sports watch in 2022.

The watch featured an automatic movement — a rarity at the time for the brand most associated with solar-powered quartz watches, a stylish design that merged classic Rolex aesthetics with the white-hot integrated sports genre and, perhaps best of all, came in at an absurdly low price point below $500.

a steel watch with a green dial on a man's wrist
The Tsuyosa has been a runaway success for Citizen.
Citizen

In the three years since its debut, the Tsuyosa has become a flagship watch for Citizen and a symbol of the Japanese brand’s enthusiast-driven resurgence. Global sales for the brand have been increasing even as much of the rest of the watch industry has slumped, and Citizen even saw record profits in the UK for its most recent fiscal year.

I don’t foresee the fortunes of Citizen or the Tsuyosa changing for the worse any time soon, especially with Citizen’s launch of the new Tsuyosa 60. It’s a souped-up version of the sports watch that introduces fancier finishes, a more premium movement and more Rolex vibes than ever.

Jubilee celebration

Two-tone Citizen wristwatch with a green textured dial, gold bezel, and gold and silver metal bracelet. The watch features white hour markers, gold hands, and a date window with a magnifier at the 3 o'clock position. The background is a glossy dark green surface with a gold pen, a gold chain, and a decorative gold frame partially visible.
Citizen’s Tsuyosa is doubling down on its Rolex-inspired looks.
Citizen

The Tsuyosa 60 makes several significant updates over the standard model. For starters, the dial trades in the more plain sunburst finish for a radial, textured pattern that imitates guilloché. This appears identical to the dial texture that was previously only available on the small-seconds version of the watch and adds a more dynamic, classier look.

Speaking of classy, the Tsuyosa’s signature three-link bracelet has been swapped out here for a Jubilee-style bracelet, which, when combined with the carried-over Datejust-inspired baton hands, indices and cyclops date window, serves up a very Rolex-adjacent look. As with a Rolex Jubilee, the three center links of the bracelet are polished while the outer links are brushed. It’s secured via a butterfly clasp.

Gold-tone Citizen wristwatch with a textured blue dial, featuring gold hour markers and hands, a date window at the 3 o'clock position with a magnifier, and a matching gold metal bracelet.
The Tsuyosa 60 is the most premium Tsuyosa yet.
Citizen

Powering the watches is a new movement for the line, the Citizen Cal. 8310. It’s essentially an upgraded version of the 8210 automatic in the regular Tsuyosa, with the power reserve jacked up by 50 percent from 40 to 60 hours, hence the name Tsuyosa 60. (It’s worth noting that the Cal. 8322 inside the Tsuyosa Small Second also has a 60-hour power reserve).

With this upgrade, Citizen’s sports watch is now better equipped to take on its most natural rival: the Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 and its 80 hours of power. The new movement is visible behind a display caseback and is a good deal better looking than the 8210; it even has some blued screws and a Côtes de Genève finish.

Back view of a Citizen wristwatch with a stainless steel and gold-tone metal bracelet. The watch features a transparent case back revealing the mechanical movement inside. The case back is marked with details including "Citizen," "Stainless Steel," "Sapphire Crystal-Top," "Japan Mov't," and water resistance of 5 bar. The crown is gold-toned, matching the gold links in the bracelet.
The Cal. 8310 movement boasts a 60-hour power reserve and leveled-up finishing.
Citizen

There are three versions of the Tsuyosa 60 at launch. The most low-key is in plain stainless steel with a black dial. Then there’s a two-tone version with a yellow gold-tone finish on the bezel, crown and center links of the bracelet. That one features a handsome dark green dial and is, by far, the most Rolex-like of the trio.

Lastly, we have my favorite of the bunch: a version in full rose gold-tone stainless steel and a very attractive “Ash Blue” dial. It gives me a bit of a Czapek Antarctique Mount Erebus vibe, which is not something I ever expected to say about a Citizen.

Three Citizen automatic wristwatches with metal link bracelets are displayed on a marble surface. The left watch has a green textured dial with gold and silver two-tone bracelet and gold bezel. The middle watch features a blue textured dial with a rose gold bracelet and matching bezel. The right watch has a black textured dial with a silver bracelet and bezel. All watches have white hour markers, a date window at 3 o'clock, and three hands.
The three versions of the Tsuyosa 60.
Citizen

With the upgraded movement and the more complex bracelet, the Tsuyosa 60 understandably costs more than the standard Tsuyosa. But don’t worry, it’s still plenty affordable. All three references are priced at $625, meaning the Tsuyosa’s top model remains well below that crucial $1,000 mark.

Gold-tone Citizen wristwatch with a textured blue dial, gold hour markers, and hands. The watch features a date window at the 3 o'clock position with a magnifier, and a gold link bracelet. The dial is marked with "CITIZEN" and "AUTOMATIC.Citizen

Citizen Tsuyosa 60

Specs

Case Size 40mm
Movement Citizen Cal. 8310 automatic
Water Resistance 50m
About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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