A world-class watch! The Citizen Mechanical Cal. 0200, a masterpiece featuring a new automatic movement!

On March 4, 2021, Citizen announced the "Citizen Mechanical Cal. 0200," featuring a newly designed automatic movement. The Cal. 0200 movement is a new generation of automatic movement, completely different from the existing 90 series. With this latest automatic movement, Citizen has returned to the world of mechanical watches!

The long-awaited luxury mechanical movement, Cal.0200

　Citizen has been working for many years to revive mechanical watches. However, while the 90 series automatic watches used in high-end models have high winding efficiency, they have a weakness: their diameter is only 25.6mm, resulting in a power reserve of only about 42 hours. In response, the company began developing an entirely new automatic movement, and finally completed the first-class performance automatic movement, the Cal. 0200.

　Furthermore, the development of this movement was carried out with the cooperation of La Joux-Perret, a Swiss group company of Citizen. Specifically, the design and manufacture of the main gear train components and balance wheel were handled by Citizen, while the manufacture of the main plate and bridges was handled by La Joux-Perret. The unusual appearance of a Japanese-made watch certainly shows the Swiss influence. The main features of the Caliber 0200 are as follows:

Caliber 0200 Features

・Unidirectional automatic movement with small seconds at 6 o'clock
・The balance wheel is free-sprung, with no regulator.
・Accuracy tested for 17 days in 6 positions and at 3 temperatures. Static accuracy is -3 to +5 seconds per day.
・Power reserve is approximately 60 hours
・LIGA molded escapement (probably nickel-phosphorus)
・Highly versatile size with a diameter of 30mm or less

A safe and classic design

　With its large diameter (though not as large as Audemars Piguet or Seiko) and barrel, the Caliber 0200 fits the current trend of large automatic movements. The larger diameter also provides a longer power reserve and a larger balance, just like the latest automatics.

　However, the solid construction is very much in keeping with Citizen. Perhaps because this is the company's first newly designed mechanical movement in a long time, the 0200 is built around only safe designs. Features like a small second hand instead of a center second, the deliberate omission of a date display, and the unidirectional winding of the automatic movement evoke automatic movements from the 1950s rather than the 2020s. The same goes for the 5mm thickness, which is unusual for a modern automatic movement. However, ultimately, this movement will likely be highly versatile. The small opening also suggests future expansion, and the fact that the automatic mechanism can be removed to turn it into a manual winding mechanism is likely due to versatility in mind. While the overall design is extremely elegant and outstanding, a date display would likely appeal to a wider audience. Considering the thickness of the baseplate, incorporating a date display seems like an easy feat.

　Personally, I think bidirectional winding is fine for automatic watches, but Citizen seems to understand the benefits of unidirectional winding, which allows for thin movements and allows for deskwork. In fact, the company's flagship movement, the 90 series, is renowned for its winding performance thanks to its unidirectional winding mechanism. Unidirectional winding tends to cause excessive rotor shock when the movement diameter exceeds 30mm, but fortunately, the 0200's diameter is only 29.1mm.

Citizen finally adopts free-sprung

　While maintaining a solid construction, Citizen has also incorporated the latest technology into the Caliber 0200. First, there's the LIGA-molded escapement (likely made from nickel-phosphorus). Until now, Citizen has used brass or nickel silver for escapements. While these materials are less susceptible to magnetism than steel or dull-nickel escapements, some have argued that they lack long-term durability. By repurposing the LIGA technology developed for the Caliber 0100, Citizen was able to use a hard nickel-based material with high processing precision for the escapement. While this is purely speculation, it's likely that the 0200's chronometer-level accuracy is due in part to the LIGA-molded escapement. However, perhaps because this is the first attempt at using LIGA in an escapement, the complex shape that LIGA is known for is deliberately omitted.

　Another notable feature is the free-sprung balance without a regulator. For many years, Citizen had only used a standard regulator. However, with this model, they have made the leap to a free-sprung balance, which is becoming standard equipment in high-end watches. In this price range, Omega and Tudor were among the first to adopt a free-sprung balance, and Citizen has now joined them. In theory, the 0200 will have high isochronism and excellent shock resistance.