Citizen's Black Panther is Here!

Having lived most of my childhood in Africa, I have always had a fascination with connecting what I do, read, bought and experience with Africa. So when it came to my favourite action hero characters, I had two - Black Panther and Phantom (For the uninitiated, it is comic book character created by Lee Falk; check it out, worth a read even now). Obviously, this was something I was looking in watches as well and you can imagine my joy when Audemars Piguet released the Black Panther Flying Tourbillon in April 2021 to much fanfare, but limited to 250 pieces.

Reference: AP Website (https://www.audemarspiguet.com/com/en/watch/apxmarvel.html)

In any case, the limited edition factor didn't matter as this was way above my price-point and hence, I started to look for an alternative, something that was budget-friendly, but provided much value for the buck. Invicta had released a few and so did Citizen, but they were not to my taste.

Finally, Citizen in July 2022 released an Eco-Drive Super Titanium watch in collaboration with Marvel and there it was, the one I was looking for....Black Panther!!

The dial in itself was something else and I had to acquire this piece; this was difficult at first, as the watch had a limited geographical release in North America. However, I managed to get my hands on one through eBay. 

The dial, simply put, is a palette of colours with the dial's centre part wholly occupied by the Black Panther insignia/mask. This is surrounded by an outer ring consisting of purple indices that depict the hour markers as well as resembling the claws on Black Panther's necklace. Talking about the outer ring, the AW1668-50W timepiece consists of the J810 solar-powered movement which uses the Eco-Drive ring technology having solar panels on the outer ring. And just look at the lume on this one, the blue just stands out.

The watch has a sapphire crystal, but not really sure if it has any anti-reflective coating as it didn't seem so when I checked it under the sun. It comes at a relatively good dial-size of 41mm, but wears like a 38mm and is quite thin at 10mm as well as light at 10gms. The lightness is due to the silver-toned titanium used for the bracelet as well as most of the watch-casing. The bracelet does look like an integrated one, but is not and has a fold-over clasp with a button-release mechanism. The push-down crown has been aptly coloured black which adds a different dimension to the watch. The watch does offer 333ft of water resistance which means that it can be used for swimming, snorkelling and diving. The only complication on the watch is the date function, however, did find it illegible at times, as the black frame of the date window blends into the watch-face. This is a minor flaw for a watch that offers a lot such as lightness, easy to wear, solar-powered (no battery change required), near indestructible (That's a bit of exaggeration, but yes, it is scratch-resistant) and most of all, evokes childhood memories of my time in Africa. 

So for me, this is great timepiece to add to your collection...and oh, one final thing, WAKANDA FOREVER!

Yes, the caseback does have the inscription - A bonus touch which I really liked and ode to T'Challa.