Mystery Chronomaster available in the US?

In October, at the Windup Watch Fair in NYC, Mondaine and Citizen answered my questions about specific availability of their watches with the same answer: November. While Mondaine delivered, recent discoveries left me confused about Citizen's response...

For Mondaine, I asked "How many people have asked when the Stop2Go watch would return?" Mondaine's representative replied, "Many. And the answer is: early November." As promised, it did and found a place in the collection. It's a new version without a crown, but the signature stop2go movement lives on.

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As a fan of Citizen, my question was, "When will The Citizen (aka Chronomaster) be available in the United States?" Again came the reply: "Early November." Really? Details, please! "It will be only one model and have limited availability. I believe it's an existing model, but I'm not sure which one." I should have pressed for more details (possible retailers, etc.), but I was pretty happy to hear this big news, and there were lots of people trying to interact with one person, so I moved on with the assumption that I'd be able to find an announcement and maybe even a YouTube video with details.

I guess that was a bad assumption... No announcements, no videos. Maybe the timing was off, and the announcement would come in late November, I thought. Oh well, let's wait and see. Imagine my surprise when I walked into a Citizen company store today and found a The Citizen available for sale. $3400 is a little less than twice what you'd pay online at a JDM store for a similar model, but this is a company store asking for the retail price. "It has a paper dial," the super nice salesperson explained, "and we only have 2. Most people don't ask about it." I didn't ask either, but perked up when the salesperson said they had a model with a paper dial.

I snapped the picture as proof that it was there. When I went to find the model number, I noticed this was slightly different than the models I could find online like the AQ4091-56A, which has the same logo above the 6 hour marker, but the markers, chapter ring and bracelet are different.

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The indices and chapter ring match the AQ4020-54Y, but the Chronomaster text and bracelet are different.

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And if you zoom in on the model, I found, you'll note the icon imprint in the paper dial that matches the logo above the 6 hour. Is this a new model?

But wait, there's more...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkGLxQ3iolo

In search of the model number, I checked the Citizen US website. What I found was even more confusing.

Apparently, this AQ4103-16E with its gold flakes in a black tosa washi dial might be limited edition model I heard about at Windup.

Does anyone else have clues to these mysteries? I'm not sure I want to brave going back to the Citizen store (even before Thanksgiving, the mall is a nightmare).

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Reply
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Great eye. I try to keep track of all the paper Chronomaster models and it looks like you have spotted a never-before-seen combination... although switching the cursive "Chronomaster" for the Citizen eagle is a hilariously minor tweak.

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I wanted a touch of gold so I bought a used AQ4024-53Y on Yahoo Auctions, with the intention of having it be my first and only watch over $1,000. After 6 months I am still greatly enjoying it and my urge to explain its superior functionality to random people is barely satisfied. Maybe the emergence of a U.S. model will finally get YouTubers to start heavily promoting the product line?

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A few more silver-only Citizen's with Tosa Washi (or similar) paper that don't match...

AQ4100-65W (silver leaf foil in the Tosa Washi paper - aka Sunago-Maki Washi)

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AQ4030-51A (older version ofAQ4091-56A with cursive Chronomaster text instead of the Citizen eagle?):

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Mystery solved! I called the store to confirm the model number: AQ4060-50W, released in December, 2020. Currently available new on Chrono24 for half the store price...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9DuQle1CJo

So, the model for the US must be the AQ4103-16E with gold flakes in a black dial...

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I was also waiting for the re-release of the Stop2Go. I am very frustrated with the new push button crown situation. Setting the time is a freaking science test...ugh. The older rocker style was much more user friendly and fairly intuitive. I appreciate the clean lines of the new version, but I feel like the price was not worth it.

https://youtu.be/J-7Yboh0c2c?si=Cqff2jE66WZfJO8X

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atimefordesign

I was also waiting for the re-release of the Stop2Go. I am very frustrated with the new push button crown situation. Setting the time is a freaking science test...ugh. The older rocker style was much more user friendly and fairly intuitive. I appreciate the clean lines of the new version, but I feel like the price was not worth it.

https://youtu.be/J-7Yboh0c2c?si=Cqff2jE66WZfJO8X

Absolutely agree. Setting the time strained my patience. And the stop happens after the 12 marker...