Introducing New Watches from Citizen and Bulova, Part of the Macy’s Watch Drop, Now Live

Macy’s “Watch Drop” is a bit of a hidden gem in the world of watch collecting. A continuing  series of limited edition watches from the likes of Citizen, Seiko, and others, watches that are part of the drop tend to be well priced, attractive, and, crucially, available for you to try on at your local mall. It’s somewhat rare in this age of free overnight shipping and brands founded on Instagram to have an authentic and unique brick and mortar retail experience, but that’s exactly what the Watch Drop offers. If you head into your local Macy’s and stop by the jewelry department, you’ll see cases full of watches, with a bunch of “Macy’s Exclusives” highlighted. Today, we’re taking a look at two watches in the current Watch Drop, from Citizen and Bulova.

Citizen Eco-Drive Promaster Marine

• Case Material: Titanium
• Dial: Blue
• Dimensions: 43mm
• Crystal: Sapphire
• Water Resistance: 200 meters 
• Crown: Screw down  
• Movement: B877
• Strap/bracelet: Titanium
• Price: $625
• Reference Number: BJ7111-86L
• Expected Release: Available now at Macy’s

Bulova American Clipper 

• Case Material: Stainless steel, gold-tone stainless steel  
• Dial: Blue, black
• Dimensions: 39mm
• Crystal: Mineral 
• Water Resistance: 30 meters 
• Crown: Push/Pull   
• Movement: Three hand automatic 
• Strap/bracelet: Black or brown leather
• Price: $395 (stainless steel with blue dial), $425 (gold tone with black dial)
• Reference Number: 96A242 (stainless steel with blue dial), 97A151 (gold tone with black dial)
• Expected Release: Both available now at Macy’s – 96A242, 97A151

We’ll tackle the Citizen first. To get the basics out of the way, this is a 43mm ISO-certified titanium dive watch, running on Citizen’s Eco-Drive platform, and also includes a GMT and date complication. In terms of specs, this watch has all the qualities of a reliable and useful weekend beater. Eco-Drive, Citizen’s ever popular light powered option, is incredibly reliable and means you’ll go a very, very long time without having to replace a battery. Most Eco-Drive watches can hold a charge for up to 6 months, meaning you could throw this in a drawer in January, pick it up when it’s back to beach weather in your part of the world, and after a few hours of wear, it’ll be good to go. Now, in practice, as watch enthusiasts, we typically don’t mind giving a watch a wind or resetting the time if necessary — it’s all part of the charm. But the tech that allows for this level of convenience and utility is just kind of cool, and has its own type of appeal. 

So, the watch has utilitarian bona fides that really can’t be questioned, but it’s all for nothing if you don’t like what you see when you check the time, right? While I wouldn’t say the Promaster Marine is everyone’s idea of an objectively attractive timepiece, if you’re a sports watch fan in a general way, there’s plenty here to like, and the small details come together in a coherent way. For me, the way the colors contrast and complement one another just works. The sunburst blue dial acts as a base for everything else that happens outside of it, and I enjoy the way you move from a blue dial, to a white 24-hour scale, and then back to blue at the dive bezel as you move toward the perimeter. Little touches of orange throughout are a great touch, and they provide a level of enhanced functionality as they draw your eye toward the GMT hand and the top of the 24-hour scale.

At 43mm this will be a tough sell to the small wristed, but part of the beauty of this particular watch being sold in this particular way is that if you’re near a Macy’s, you can head down to the store and try one on for yourself. With a lightweight titanium case, I’d suspect this will wear more easily than a comparably sized watch in stainless steel. 

Bulova’s entry in this iteration of the Watch Drop is a whole other kettle of fish, as they sometimes say. What we have here are two variants of a classically styled dress watch, the American Clipper, one in stainless steel with a bright blue dial, the other in a yellow gold plate with a black dial. This series of nautically themed watches are inspired by the brand’s 1950s output, which was something of a hey-day for large scale American watch manufacturing. 

According to Bulova, brand founder Joseph Bulova took inspiration from the majestic clipper ships sailing into New York when it came time to name the American Clipper line. While the design here isn’t necessarily reminiscent of what we would traditionally think of as a nautical watch, there’s a decidedly mid-century sophisticated flair here that goes hand in hand with the romanticism many associate with sailing. This is a watch that looks like something evoking high end luxury, but is actually easily accessible (even more so with it being available at your local Macy’s).

At 39mm, the American Clipper is sized right in the sweet spot for many. The straight lugs are a nice vintage inspired touch, as is the stepped case. These versions for Macy’s, unlike the regular editions available directly from Bulova and other retailers, feature the original Bulova logo and the words “Self Winding” on the dial as additional nods to the brand’s past. The dials, at least in photos (and especially the blue), appear to be plenty vibrant and eye catching, and at $395 for the stainless steel variant and $425 for the gold tone version, these represent a nice value proposition if you’re after an affordable, dressy, mechanical watch from a reliable American brand with real history. 

The Macy’s Watch Drop is happening now at your local Macy’s, and on their website. There are many more limited editions and Macy’s exclusives available, and while a lot of them fall into the “fashion watch” category that we don’t typically cover here, there are definitely some highlights from the likes of Casio, Hamilton, and Seiko, in addition to the Bulova and Citizen detailed here, that are worth checking out. 

All three watches are Available at Macy’s online: Citizen Eco-Drive Promaster Marine, Bulova American Clipper (steel case and blue dial, gold-tone case and black dial)