Citizen debuts new compact 'Super Highness' revival with dual-curved sapphire, Eco-Drive

Citizen has just revived the Super Highness — it's the same watch it sold in 1964 as its first luxury piece for women, as a pair of solar-powered models under its Japanese Kii: label. The steel EX1560-00A costs 35,200 yen including tax and the light-gold-plated EX1562-04B costs 38,500 yen. These prices convert to roughly $203 and $222 before Japan’s 10% consumption tax. Preorders are open and both ship on 12 November.

The original arrived in January 1964 at 12,500 yen. It used a hand-wound caliber 3500 at six beats per second. Citizen sold it as a special-adjustment product and built in two of its proprietary systems: Profix, an oil-retaining device that reached a women’s watch for the first time in its compact form, and Trio-stat, a fine regulator for correcting rate.

As expected, none of that mechanical content has survived the revival model. Caliber B023 is light-powered Eco-Drive, accurate to plus or minus 15 seconds a month and good for about a year on a full charge. However, it still has the same shape. Citizen says it kept the case and band proportions of the 1964 watch: 24.5 mm wide, 8.1 mm thick and 18 g.

The crystal is another neat detail. Both models use dual-curved sapphire with cuts applied to its underside — it is meant to throw reflections across the dial instead of being flat above it. Water resistance is 5 bar and the embossed black cowhide strap is 12 mm wide on an interchangeable fitting. The dial components use recycled material, and the watch comes with Japan’s Eco Mark certification alongside a three-year international warranty.

Citizen does print its own caveat on both product pages: the country-of-origin stamp on the caseback may not match the watch it is attached to.

Alternatively, you can check out the Citizen CA4500-24H on Amazon.