Citizen debuts new compact automatic watches in two-tone stainless-steel, sporting Caliber 8210

Citizen has listed two more automatics in the UK, and these ones are two-tone. The NJ0226-56E gets a black dial, the NJ0224-51L a blue one, and both cost £329 (~$435). Citizen UK lists them as "Men's Automatic."

They belong to the NJ022 series, the diver-styled line Citizen brought out at the start of the year. That launch had three watches in plain stainless steel: black and green dials on bracelets, and a white dial on a pink urethane strap. These two are the first two-tone versions; neither one has shown up on Citizen's European site yet.

The case and bracelet mix steel with gold-tone sections, and the bezel picks up the same gold ring around a colored insert. Citizen UK lists the case at 38 mm, while the series spec puts it at 38.5 mm wide and 11.52 mm thick. Both dials are textured, with applied round and arrow markers, luminous hands and a date window at 3 o'clock. The crystal is mineral glass, and there's a screw-down display case back as well. Water resistance is rated at 100 m, so these will handle swimming and snorkelling.

The movement is Citizen's caliber 8210, the same entry-level automatic used across the NJ0210 and NJ022 watches. It holds 40 hours of power reserve and can be hand-wound, though it doesn't hack. Citizen rates it at -20 to +40 seconds a day.

The price is where UK buyers should pay attention, however. The steel NJ022 models launched in Europe at €249. If we remove the VAT from both, £329 works out to roughly $363, against about $234 for the European price. That's a gap of more than 50%, don't even mind the two-tone finish. 

Both are available now from Citizen UK.