The movement inside of the watch is even called the Calibre F100. Of course it features Eco-Drive light power generation for the battery, and it includes a perpetual calendar, day of the week indicator, power reserve indicator, date, light level indicator (showing how much power it is generating), and world time for 47 cities, in addition to the GPS receiver functions. The dial is also neatly laid out, and each of the hands has its own motor. Why is that important? It more or less means that the hands can move independently and thus more quickly.
Dial legibility for the Satellite Wave F100 is excellent and this is among the cleanest GPS watches I have ever seen. Citizen will produce it in two colors, a lighter silver they call silver, as well as a deeper gray they call black. There will also be two case versions available, each in titanium but one with an black coating.
For me the most impressive thing about the F100 is the case design and wearing comfort. The full titanium case and bracelet are surprisingly light, and the case detail is among the very I have ever seen for a Japanese-made titanium watch. That is really important given the sharp knife-sculpted look of the design.
Wearable size is also a major plus. At just 12.4mm thick and 45.4mm wide, this is easily the most wearable GPS watch around right now. The relatively thin case is really a major part of that. Case design is clearly modern and a little futuristic – something that the Japanese were known for in the 1980s, but then seemed to go back to copying European designs in the 1990s and in the early 2000s. Seeing something like the Satellite Wave F100 makes me recall with fondness all those times when Japanese watch design were futuristic and damn proud of it. I freely admit to loving how this watch looks and feels on the wrist.
Detailing is really impressive. The bracelet is very well engineered, and I love that Citizen produced it with tapering links. Note the skeletonized pushers on the side of the case–another neat, yet unnecessary design feature I was happy to see make the final production cut. Also, the Satellite Wave F100 case is water resistant to 100 meters.
One version of the Citizen Satellite Wave F100 will be a limited edition of 500 pieces. That will be the black version with the white strap known as the reference CC2004-08E. This is a more wild version of the piece and I hope eventually Citizen decides to release this black case matched to a black bracelet that is not a limited edition. Only time will tell.
The two standard versions of the Eco-Drive Satellite Wave F100 are the ref. CC2006-53E (apparently also known as the CC2006-61E in the USA) with the gray dial and the ref. CC2006-57A with the silver dial. The latter will be less available given that it won’t be available for retail in places such as the USA. Overall with its good looks, relatively slim size, and quick GPS syncing, the Satellite Wave F100 is very promising and should do well when it is available for sale in the Summer of 2014. Price for the non-limited version is $2,000. citizenwatch.com
