CITIZEN L, a Brand Embodying Our Commitment
to Sustainability and Manufacturing

In 2012, the CITIZEN L brand was launched in the hope of creating women’s watches that appeal worldwide. At that time, I was involved as a designer.

Discussions between product planners and designers reached the conclusion that we should create beautiful watches whose appeal transcends national borders and nationalities.
The keyword was "nature." In 2013, we launched the first CITIZEN L products that represented wabi-sabi natural beauty, but unfortunately the public reaction to them was weaker than expected.
After that, my role changed from that of a designer to a product planner.

I thought that natural beauty was not sufficient to appeal to people by itself and that the watches had to have some additional value. One day, our team was having discussions about what the CITIZEN L should be like. When we shared with each other ideas on who would be vivid examples of beautiful persons, several people mentioned Princess Diana and Audrey Hepburn, both of whom were dedicated to social contribution activities.

That was a great inspiration to me. I realized that the brand would reach perfection by focusing on "inner beauty."

However, watches themselves could not be engaged in social contribution activities. We were at a loss what to do to achieve inner beauty with watches.

However, a subsequent encounter within the Company proved to be a turning point toward major progress in the CITIZEN L.

One day, I was passing by the CSR Department next to the Product Planning Department. I saw a staff member wearing a United Nations T-shirt. I was a Girl Scout when I was a child, so the T-shirt inspired me to talk to that person for the first time, and we had exciting conversation.

During that conversation, I asked that staff member: "I’m considering what 'inner beauty' is for the CITIZEN L. Do you have any good ideas?"
The answer I got then, "Yes, I do," excited me!
That was in the era of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) before the adoption of the resolution on the SDGs. The UN T-shirted peer taught me about the approach of making social contribution by selling products, including cause marketing.

For the CITIZEN L’s rebranding in 2016, we had architect Sosuke Fujimoto as our design advisor from the world of architecture, which was a pioneer field in sustainability initiatives.
Mr. Fujimoto designed watches in the hope of materializing time, which is something invisible, into watches while maintaining its vagueness, creating new CITIZEN L watches while actively incorporating sustainable traditional craftwork, such as Nishijin-ori Textiles and lacquered beads.

These watches feature not only Eco-Drive, CITIZEN's proprietary technology that uses any kind of light to power a watch, but also the use of select people- and Earth-friendly materials that do not victimize anyone or anything. For example, the minerals used to produce the CITIZEN L are procured from sources unrelated to conflicts between armed forces, child labor, or other problems. In addition, recycled materials are actively used to produce bands and dials.

Currently, the CITIZEN L is incorporated into the key strategy in the Medium-term Management Plan as a brand that will contribute to business growth. Team L, which is committed to the CITIZEN L, always comprises seven to nine members, including product planners, designers, and PR staff. I myself owe my personal growth to my responsibility for the CITIZEN L brand. We have faced some difficulties, but I believe teamwork has allowed us to make progress.

I have fostered the brand while putting trust in myself and, in a sense, retaining intuitive decisions as one of my options. I believe it is necessary to always have flexible but strong determination. The prime key to brand growth is to use various data to objectively assess the status of the brand. However, I also believe an essential requirement for maintaining the uniqueness of the CITIZEN L brand is that each member of Team L establishes their own future vision on their initiative, rather than simply trusting the data only.