ⓘ Citizen - edited
Citizen will release two Dear Collection limited editions on 5 November. The xC ES9491-50L costs 121,000 yen in a run of 1,300, and the Exceed ES9510-65L 176,000 yen in a run of 500. Both use Super Titanium and Caliber H060 radio sync.
Citizen is releasing the smaller halves of its 2026 Dear Collection on 5 November. This effectively rounds out two pairs whose men’s models we covered yesterday.
Dear is Citizen’s annual pair-watch programme. This year it runs on a theme the company translates as "Morning in the Sacred Forest", a winter forest shifting out of night into dawn, rendered as a gradation of blue.
The xC ES9491-50L is the cheaper of the two at 121,000 yen including tax, roughly $765, and is limited to 1,300 pieces worldwide. Its case measures 27.0 mm across and 8.2 mm thick. A lab-grown diamond sits at twelve beneath a pattern meant to read as the rising sun, and the lamé finish on the dial shifts as the viewing angle changes.
The Exceed ES9510-65L costs 176,000 yen, about $1,113, and runs to 500 pieces. It is the smaller of the two at 25.0 mm, built around an oval case with a flower-shaped bracelet, and Citizen sets ten diamonds into the index with a square pedestal at six o’clock.
The two share more features than they don't. Both use Super Titanium cases finished in Duratect Platinum, Caliber H060, five bar of water resistance and radio sync across Japan, China, Europe and the United States. Accuracy without a signal is plus or minus 15 seconds a month, and a full charge lasts about three years with power save engaged. Both carry a perpetual calendar, Direct Flight, world time and Perfex, and both are rated nickel-allergy resistant and made in Japan.
Two key distinctions: the Exceed’s sapphire gets Citizen’s Clarity Coating, a higher-transmittance treatment, where the xC gets a conventional anti-reflective one. Citizen also specifies the xC’s single diamond as lab-grown while describing the Exceed’s ten simply as diamonds.
The pairing is only even on one set. The Exceed matches its CB1140-79L partner at 500 pieces each, but the xC’s 1,300 sits against 2,400 of the Attesa BY1000-69L.
Anubhav Sharma - Senior Tech Writer - 2090 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2024
Most of my time goes into writing - and somehow it hasn’t stopped being fun yet. My work mainly revolves around everyday tech, gaming, watches, DIY modding, and the occasional piece on tech-policy chaos when companies and governments clash. I try to keep things simple and honest, without sounding like a product brochure. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering and an Associate Degree in English Studies from the College of New Caledonia in British Columbia, Canada. Away from articles and deadlines, life usually shifts to making music, taking photos, or trying to finish games that should have been completed months ago.