It was the third watch I acquired for my collection, and… I didn’t like it.
This was sort-of a theme in my early watch collecting days, when I lived in a remote place, so I would order watches based on reviews and YouTube videos, etc.
In the case of the Citizen BN0150-28E, this was a “must have” watch for me because:
- It was solar-powered. I wanted to have a variety of movements in my collection.
- It was ISO-rated. And based on the prices of other ISO-rated watches, this one looked like a steal.
- It had the looks. I could wear it at work and casually, and I thought it looked cool. This was during the early days of what would grow into a major Seiko SKX obsession.
Also, I watched a Youtube review where the guy said that the shape of the watch and bezel made it easy for hiking because of how it fit under his sleeve and when putting on and removing a backpack.
Hey, I thought. Sometimes I go hiking too!
How sad.
Anyways, I got it in the mail and hated it.
The circle indices. I don’t know why, but I hated the mix of circle indices with the other chevrons at the 12, 3, 6, and 9. It looked too busy. And I hated the glossy frame around the indices. And when I moved the bezel I’d always end up pulling the hair on my arm.
And the strap sucked. I didn’t mind that it was stiff, but that buckle was sharp. I’d always feel it digging into skin somewhere or snagging on something. That’s cheap crap.
So it spent a lot of time not getting worn. And none of the straps I tried seemed to suit it.
Then a musician I’d been a fan of for years came to town. And for some reason I thought I’d wear the Citizen for the occasion.
Long story short, it was the most incredible individual show of musicianship I’d seen in my life — and the Citizen was there for it, with its glorious lume in that dark concert hall. It witnessed musical genius with me.
When the Citizen ended up back in my watch box a whole two weeks later, the other watches were like, “He took you to that show?”
And Citizen just played it cool, like, “He checked the time too — in the dark.”
I had to take the BN0150-28E off of Facebook Marketplace. Somebody messaged me the usual, “Is this still for sale?” And I gave him this long-winded story about how it kept ending up on my wrist and I couldn’t bring myself to sell it.
And now it was there for a major life event. I started seeing it differently. My precious.
Besides its unmatched lume, I began to appreciate its no-fuss solar quartz movement and its precision. Its thinness. Its readability.
I got used to wearing it with a black Enduro HNBR watch band from the Halifax Watch Company. I had to wear it a bit loose for it to be comfortable, but it had its own style. Loose. Cool.
Along with my G Shock Tough Solar, it became a “mission watch.” I’m wearing it right now for my move to the Victoria area. I wore it for the deep-clean of the place we’re selling up north. The whole hustle and bustle until my old condo was empty and pristine for the next showing.
The rest of my watches are packed up on a semi-truck somewhere while the Citizen gets worn for another milestone.
I can wear it at my new work location. It looks professional and tough, and I need that, because the rest of me looks like a hipster. It also has the date, which is useful at work, or when I have to sign a million forms because we’re buying a house.
I can bring it to an impromptu pool night with the baby. ISO-rated with a rubber strap — I’ll take it in the hot tub too, and scratch my beard a lot with my left hand. Somebody please look at my watch.
When the movers arrive with my other watches (and everything else, but who cares about that), there’s no watch in there that has the milestone miles of my BN0150-28E. There’s no other watch that gets worn loose. The Citizen has no equal.