As I have grown older, and saw a lot of deaths among my family and friends, I realized that how frail life can be and how we are so stupid at times to hoard things.

I looked at my watch collection. But before that, let me confess, I was a watch snob. I looked down upon quartz watches, not because they’re are poorly made or useless, but because they didn’t resemble watchmaking in the most authentic sense.

I owned all possible complications you can imagine - starting from chronographs to tourbillon, to minute repeaters to jumping hours. I even owned a rattrapante. 

I was too much into watches from a young age, like from my late teens. Thankfully I did well in life to owe the kind of watches that are niche. I never owned anything from Patek or AP or Vacheron. Mostly because everyone, in the watch community I mean, knew about them. I gravitated more towards brands like H moser, Bovet, Breguet, FPJ, A.Lange and Chronoswiss among others.

And when I started to lose people and when I started to grow old, I realized that life relies on what’s essential and what’s important. I looked at my watch collection and it took me to the days of sheer stress to get them serviced, the fear of wearing them because they will get scratched, the thought that how delicate a tourbillon watch is, and how I always needed to be alert so that nothing happens to my watch.

That is way more than what I paid For them.

And one fine day i gravitated towards citizen. The eco drive, the built it for life, the fact that the watch on the picture will most likely to outlive me without ever making me spend a penny on it, made me immensely respect the brand and the watch.

I am not saying that all the complicated watches that I owed are worthless Or they are just show off pieces. I believe that those watches are a part of human history that has not changed yet and they are hours and hours of love, craftmanship, and attention to details. People and brands who make those watches are really preserving a part of watchmaking that hasn’t changed for centuries. There is no harm in owning those watches if you can afford them and if you’re not putting yours and your families‘ future at stake.

But a citizen eco drive is all you need. Yes you have a cell phone, but the eco drive will keep ticking if your cell phone dies off because of no charge.

The more I pondered on the simplicity, yet the miraculous reliability of a citizen eco drive watch, the more I became aware that a citizen watch is equivalent to what is left when you strip every nonessential thing in life and leave only the essentials.

Thats why I sold my entire watch collection. I didn’t intend to make money out of them, some watches were sold for a premium, and I bought this citizen radio controlled watch.

This watch is so comfortable to wear, keeps perfect time, and it gives me the freedom to not bother what’s on my wrist. That is freedom, that is bliss.

I am sure many of you young folks here will find it hard to relate to what I am saying, or maybe you might think that I am just boasting, but the honest truth is that I haven’t felt the kind of zen state on wearing a 250k watch that I felt on wearing a $400 watch. 

My Evolution to Citizen