Citizen Watch Company, a renowned maker of wristwatches, has opened its first dedicated showroom in the UAE.

The opening of the dedicated showroom, located in the shopping centre Lamcy Plaza in Dubai, comes in line with the company’s Middle East expansion and market consolidation strategy, even as the region’s watch market maintains steady growth.

The company also revealed that the latest development complements its unified shop concept wherein it has been opening flagship stores in key markets around the world to reinforce its status as a truly global brand.

“The opening of our first dedicated showroom in the UAE marks a new chapter in our efforts to consolidate our position in the high potential Middle East markets,” said Toshio Tokura, senior managing director, Citizen Watch Company.

“We have observed that this market is polarized, in the sense that there is the mass market that is looking for low-end products and the high-end market that can afford to buy expensive products,” he added.

“Citizen, having performed exceedingly well in the lower segment over the years, is now keen on tapping a niche market in between the low and high-end segments.”

Citizen also marked the opening of the dedicated showroom with the Middle East launch of its global radio controlled model (Calibre H610), which is based on the unique Eco-Drive technology it has developed.

Eco-Drive watches run exclusively on power produced by light from any source. By applying the mechanism of a solar panel and a charging device, light is converted into energy that ensures normal performance even in deficient light conditions.

The Eco-Drive global radio controlled watch is Citizen’s first analogue chronograph watch capable of receiving standard time by using radio waves from multiple stations.

The watch is designed to receive standard time radio-waves from four stations including Europe, USA, Japan (east and west) and China, while for other regions, the user can also use the model as a normal Eco-Drive quartz watch.

“Although radio controlled watches have been available in markets such as Europe, Japan and the USA, it had not been introduced in the Middle East since the radio signal is not available in the region,” said Tokura.

“However, given the increasing number of people from the Middle East travelling to various parts of the world for business and leisure trips, we thought the time was right to launch this global radio controlled watch in this market. Users flying to Japan, China, Europe and the USA can be assured of the most accurate time through the radio wave signals that the watch receives,” Tokura added.

The Eco-Drive global radio controlled watch also continues to feature Citizen’s flight pilot’s watch design.

For world time, the user can choose from 26 cities and UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) by just turning the dial disk using the crown to switch the city.

Other features of the watch include charge level indicator, power reserve indicator and alarm. – TradeArabia News Service