There is not too much going on in the Citizen Stiletto in terms of the experience it offers. It is a very simple two handed dress watch which does not stand out in any way.

However, that is far from the story. The reason it only has two hands is because there is not enough space to fit in a second hand. The case is 4.7 millimetres tall. Yes, it is under 5 millimetres which is amazing for a watch that retails for approximately £250.

It is barely thicker than the slim leather strap it comes on which creates a consistent feel around the wrist, one that you will definitely not notice. The fact that it is only 34 grams in weight adds to the invisible nature of the watch and for those of you who like a watch to get out of the way, few will disappear like this one.

At 38 millimetres in diameter it will also fit most wrists and my wife’s tiny wrists had no issue with it which is unusual because it looks fine on my big fat wrists.

The dial is a solar panel and being eco-drive you will not need to change the battery for many a year while you get really good accuracy every single day with only the occasional time change (months?) needed to get it back to the second.

The crown is tiny, it has to be because the case is so slim, and it is tricky to manoeuvre. This is somewhat annoying, but you will be doing it so rarely that I believe the trade off of size to practicality is worth it here.

It is hard not to love this watch because it is minimalist in design, function and size which is something very few watches manage to achieve. It’s on the end of the watch spectrum and that is a good thing because the simplicity is what makes it so interesting, and the slimness needs to be experienced to be believed.

The only downsides I found relate to the strap. It has a 21mm lug width which is annoying because the vast majority of straps come in 20mm and 22mm of which I have many. If you want to try a new strap, you will likely have to buy a new one which adds to the cost unnecessarily. Would 20mm have killed Citizen?

Also, for my particular wrist the strap holes are not ideal and the nearest I could get meant that the watch moved around my wrist accidentally which is easier to do because it is so light.

Overall, however, it’s an excellent dress watch which is different to so many others purely because of the slimness of the case, and it really is an achievement to create a full eco-drive watch in such a small space.

Thanks to Marie for the review model.

Categories: Watch Reviews, Watches