The brand will release just two Citizen Campanola Mechanical Collection watches to begin with, showcasing the more classic and more modern side of the high-end Japanese brand. The more classic-styled model is the Campanola reference NZ0000-58W that comes on a bracelet and has an outer ring of Roman numbers and a lighter-colored silvered dial with skeletonized blued hands. The deep sloping of the dial means that the hands can only occupy the inner section, but overall the dial looks pretty nice – of course, retaining a lot of Japanese design character.

Slightly more modern looking is the companion reference NZ0000-07E Campanola watch. This model has a black and silver dial and comes on an alligator strap. Still dressy by nature, the NZ0000-07E has dauphine-style hands and Arabic numbers on the outside of the dial with black-on-black Roman numbers on the inner dial. I have a feeling this version would also look quite cool on the steel bracelet.

Overall fit and finishing on the dials and cases of Campanola watches is excellent. While Citizen approaches the concept of a high-end watch a bit differently than Seiko, it would not be incorrect to position Campanola as Citizen’s version of Seiko’s Grand Seiko high-end collection. What is similar about both Campanola and Grand Seiko is that both are mainly available in Japan with limited availability elsewhere (though over the last few years, that has changed a lot for Grand Seiko).

Citizen’s Campanola Mechanical Collection watches with exclusive La Joux-Perret movements should be available soon, but of course will be difficult to come by – but isn’t that part of the charm of hunting for and acquiring timepieces like this? They are also a relative bargain when taking into consideration what other watches with La Joux-Perrent movements cost. The Campanola reference NZ000-07E is priced at 500,000 Yen, and the NZ0000-58W is priced at 530,000 Yen. That is about $4,800 and $5,100 respectively. campanola.jp