The dial is probably the most eye-catching part of the release. Back in the 1970s, Citizen was looking for an edge as the world faced an energy crisis. Eco-Drive was born out of a search for an innovative, environmentally friendly way to power a watch, stay advanced, and avoid frequent battery changes. They also wanted to make it affordable, in line with the company’s ethos of watches for average citizens.
Just like in the double-slit experiment (which proves that light is a wave, not just a particle), two overlapping dial plates allow light to pass through while adding depth to the dial. The color (blue on one model, gold on the other) comes from a structural color film, made not with ink but by the very microscopic structure that gives the surface its color. that…