Titanium, one of the most skin-friendly metals for the human body, achieves a high level of 'warmth'—the very essence of its gentleness—through a simple, smooth, and pleasantly soft form that you can feel instantly. Furthermore, the design is stripped of all excess to maximize the other key feature of titanium: its lightness. The band’s cross-section has no edges and rises seamlessly from the wrist, while the entire surface is finished so that you never feel any steps or ridges, expressing the subtle luster unique to metal in a thoroughly simple shape. The slight gap between the wrist and the watch is a thoughtful touch for comfort, reflecting the intent to create unity between the watch and the wearer. While simple shapes often lack a sense of movement, this watch’s band, when worn, has areas where the gap disappears and areas where it is clearly felt, creating a dynamic, ever-changing impression reminiscent of a living body. This model is the result of a thorough exploration of titanium as a new material, making the most of its advantages to provide maximum comfort for the wearer.
A model that eliminates all unnecessary elements, focusing on expressing the color and beautiful finish of titanium. The proportions of the hands and other parts are balanced to convey a sense of lightness.
Despite having no bezel, the design gives a 'thin' impression, with a seamless connection from the watch body to the band.
The finish uses a circular hairline that best captures light on the hairline. The sloped surfaces and ridges along both sides of the case silhouette are simple yet give a strong, sporty impression.
The rounded shape of the head part contributes to a gentle, pleasant feel against the skin.
The overall warm gray tone of the dial, close to the color of titanium, provides a sense of comfort and reassurance.
The large surface shape gives a sense of thinness, bringing the center of gravity of the watch closer to the wrist—resulting in a case shape that integrates with the arm.
The comfortable connection between the domed glass and the case surfaces enhances the sense of comfort.
The band has edges, but the smooth transition from the curved surface of the main body creates a pleasant accent.
The finish direction leverages the warmth of titanium, and the 'seamless shape'—with no protrusions or recesses—creates a gentle design that makes users want to keep touching it.
ENGINEER'S EYE
Difficult-to-machine
This is the first-generation model of ATTESA, a titanium watch that symbolizes CITIZEN’s technology. Titanium is a material that, as a light and corrosion-resistant metal, was also adopted for the spacecraft in humanity’s first manned lunar mission.
It also has the characteristic of being less likely to cause metal allergies, and CITIZEN quickly focused on it as a material suitable for realizing a new generation of watches. In 1970, they released the world’s first titanium watch, the “X-8 Cosmotron Chronometer.”
However, while titanium offers many advantages as a watch material, it is a highly viscous metal; therefore, when “blanking” cases and bracelets with dies using a pressing machine, it does not shear cleanly because it is soft and gummy. In addition, because it is chemically very active and prone to reactions, a phenomenon called galling occurs during machining, in which the surface wears, melts, and adheres to the metal of the die.
To overcome this, CITIZEN not only developed polishing techniques, but also focused on the intrinsic properties of titanium as a material and engaged in research and development of materials technology. After 17 years of R&D, in 1987 they launched this model that used titanium for both the case and the bracelet.