Smartwatches are the perfect combination of an activity monitor, notification centre, speakerphone, and more all in one. These new Citizen smartwatches with voice control and heart rate monitoring are a great way to get a lot out of a tiny little device. Let’s talk design, functionality, and Citizen’s new YouQ platform that helps you optimize your day for peak performance.
What is Citizen CZ YouQ?
Citizen is a watch brand that most people will recognize. With over 100 years of history, the brand has been designing classic timepieces for longer than I or anyone reading this has been alive. They’ve even pioneered some major watch technologies, like the first solar watch.
But the CZ line is new. It’s a line of smartwatches that comes with a whole spiel: Citizen calls it “CZ Smart with IBM Watson®” and it features an element that the brand has named YouQ. Unlike other smartwatches, which are typically designed to help you access your body’s raw data throughout the day, YouQ is a gamified approach to wearable technology. It combines your aggregate alertness scores and sleep data to create your personal Power Gauge. The Power Gauge graph shows you when your body is anticipated to peak and drop in alertness, giving you a window of time when you’re likely to be at your most effective and alert. Along with the gauge, YouQ will give you an Hourly Power Score plus Power Fixes to help you target your tired or unfocused periods.
So, instead of just being a push notification centre or step tracker, these CZ smartwatches are an AI-powered way to optimize your performance throughout the day. You can use all of these smartwatches with or without YouQ, but I thought it would be an interesting place to start off this review. As far as I know, it’s pretty unique. Every smart monitoring device has the data it needs to give you this type of info, but most brands either aren’t re-processing it or are presenting it in a different way.
I think this is a pretty cool technology. However, because it’ll present such different results for every individual, I’m going to focus this review more on the day-to-day capabilities of this range of Citizen smartwatches. If you buy one of these smartwatches to use YouQ, keep in mind that it takes about two weeks for the watch to form these graphs and suggestions—so purchase early if there’s a specific event or project that you’re trying to get into peak mental state for!
What’s in the box of a Citizen CZ Smartwatch?
In the box of each of these smartwatches, you’ll find a watch packed tightly on a foam base. It comes with a magnetic charging cable, a quick start guide, and product literature. What I really appreciate about these boxes is that they’re totally reusable: The foam is packed in really securely, but nothing is glued. So, you can reuse these well-made boxes really easily.
(Hey, a good box is a good box!)
Note that while all of these magnetic charging cables look the same, some have two prongs while others have one. If you purchase his & hers watches, make sure to remember that your charging cables may not be interchangeable. They’ll each magnetize to every watch, but won’t necessarily charge other models.
Citizen smartwatch compatibility
These smartwatches turn on by holding their large centre dial for three seconds. They ship charged, or generally ship charged, so I recommend charging them when they arrive but you may be able to get away with setting them up right out of the box. Citizen designed these watches to be both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatible and they work with iPhone and Android.
Citizen CZ Smartwatches are built on Google’s Wear OS 3. Some models (Smart Sport and Casual Touchscreen models but not Hybrid designs) contain a speaker and microphone so you can take calls right from your smartwatch. They’re voice compatible with built-in Amazon Alexa.
Sport vs Casual touchscreen watch features
There are three subcategories within the Citizen CZ watch line. Sport models offer silicone, leather, or stainless steel traps while Casual models come with a mesh bracelet-style watch band, stainless steel links, or silicone straps. Both of these options have a full touchscreen face and all three of these smartwatch designs use the same three-dial design. From the Sport and Casual watches, you can expect to find customizable watch faces, resizable watch bands, and a bevy of downloadable apps. Both of these watch types can track your heart rate, pulse oxygen levels, and sleep quality, and can push notifications and alarms to your wrist.
The Citizen CZ Smart Sport watches in this review are the PQ2 Sport 45mm in Black Bracelet (black on black bezel with a metal bracelet) and Black Strap (black bezel on silver lugs with a silicone strap). They charge in 40 minutes and run for 24 hours per charge. The PQ2 is not water-resistant, features an OLED screen, and is finished with Gorilla glass. It contains a gyroscope, an altimeter, a barometer, and an accelerometer.
The Citizen CZ Casual Touchscreen watches in this review are the PQ2 Casual 41mm in Silver-Tone Bracelet and Rose Gold-Tone Mesh. They’re built on the same software and hardware as the Sport watches, so they have the same capabilities and charge time.
Hybrid Citizen smartwatch features
Citizen Hybrid Smartwatches look and function a little differently from the brand’s Sport and Casual lines. While the other watches reviewed here are built on Citizen’s PQ2 watch, these hybrid watches are built on the Smart Hybrid Extreme.
If you sacrifice the OLED screen of a full touchscreen watch, you can gain a lot: In this case, an extra 17 days of battery life. These hybrid smartwatches have a MIP Display instead of an OLED watch face (still finished in Gorilla Glass). That means the display reloads slightly more slowly and does so in a finely pixelated fashion, and it looks seamless and matte—when they’re not in motion, these displays look like they’ve been printed, not projected.
Citizen’s Hybrid line of smartwatches can still push notifications to your wrist, scroll through messages, play music, control your smart home, monitor your blood oxygen levels, and more. They just go about their tasks slightly differently.
The Citizen CZ Smart Hybrid Extreme Smartwatches here are the 44pm GPS model in Silver and Black.
My experience with these Citizen smartwatches
Overall, I was really happy with these Citizen smartwatches. They’re well-built, stylish, and offer a ton of features with excellent app integration. On my smaller frame, I prefer the 41mm Casual design, but all three of these styles can be worn as unisex/genderless products.
My favourite feature in these watches wasn’t the new YouQ (though I admit that it’s very cool) but was, instead, the integration of pulse rate and pulse ox monitoring. Citizen advises you not to use their smartwatches as medical devices, but based on simultaneous readings from this watch and my actual pulse rate and blood pressure monitors, they’re spot on. For smaller wrists, I found I got a better reading with the watch face on the inside of my arm, but if you want to be constantly monitoring I’d recommend just wearing your watch slightly higher so it never loses contact during wrist motion.
These smartwatches are a great way to optimize your focus throughout the workday, track your daily activity levels, and stay on top of any irregularities in your body. Shop this line of Citizen smartwatches online at Best Buy today.
There are many benefits to having a Citizen CZ Smartwatch. A watch that can help you monitor health and heart conditions, partnered with Fitness plans is awesome (Especially for someone like me who is active, but who also has a heart condition.) As well, with the GPS and Smartwatch features, this watch is a ‘must have’ , especially when you work 60+ hours per week. Thanks for the opportunity to own another Citizen! (My first one I received as a present from my Dad when he passed,)
The pulse and oxygen monitor would be helpful for me as I have some concerns it those areas.
My phone is too large and the Citizen smartwatch would help me follow!
My life would be so much more on track if I could know where my fitness progress was at with a glance!
This watch will keep me on track with my busy life
I am interested in the health monitoring features
YouQ will give me an Hourly Power Score plus Power Fixes to help me target my tired or unfocused periods
My phone is large and bulky. Once I have the phone secure in a large pocket, something like these watches is much better and easier for taking a quick look at messages in the moment.
A phone is large and bulky. Once I have the phone secure in a large pocket, something like these watches is much better and easier for taking a quick look at messages. The fact they can actually look like a real watch instead of one of those bland rectangular wrist screens is a huge plus.
Monitoring my blood pressure easily would be a big benefit. i would have the info the doctor wants.
I think the GPS would be the most usefull service for me.
It would reduce the times that I get lost.
Having a watch with a heart rate monitor would benefit me as I have an irregular beat, and was told I could be prone to a heart attack. This feature would help me keep an eye on my health instantly.
The best feature of citizen i believe is the fitness tracking.
I would use the health watch function the most since I am a senior and live alone; also have mobility issues; so that would be why I would want it.
I am interested in the blood pressure monitor!
According to the review, the Citizen Smartwatch charges in 40 minutes and run for 24 hours per charge that would be available for use essentially during all my waking hours
health monitoring is really the great adding feature for a watch. Thanks for sharing.
As a runner I always find GPS tracking handy!
I like the health monitoring indicators for sleep, oxygen, and blood pressure. I have sleep apnea so I think these features would be very beneficial to me.
This watch would make my life easier by being able to quickly check notifications instead of having to fumble my phone out of my pocket.
Monitoring my blood pressure easily would be a big help!
i always get lost as i have no smart cell phone, so the GPS would be most helpful to keep me on the right roads and to find my destination! 😉
Helping me keep track of calls and messages would be a game changer when I’m away from home and work
GPS would make my life a lot easier…I’m always getting lost!
I’m really interested in monitoring my health, journey and many aspects of it this would be awesome
This watch would be great for keeping track of my calls, messages, and updates without having to always pull my phone out.
I like the idea of having the GSP at my fingertips and not having to carry my phone around with me!!! So handy!!!!
Monitoring my blood pressure easily would be a big benefit.
I work at a desk and always forget to take breaks to walk around – the health trackers and step counters would be very useful for that!
The GPS feature would be great when travelling through different cities.
For me, the GPS tracking would make my life MUCH easier since I’m in a new city and don’t know my way around (yet).
It’d make my life easier by having more functionality on my wrist than my current watch.
Having a convenient way to see my notifications.
This would make my life easier by being able to track my health better
I do a lot of traveling and having the GPS tracking would make moving around simpler
My phone is large and bulky. Once I have the phone secure in a large pocket, something like these watches is much better and easier for taking a quick look at messages in the moment.
Sometimes it’s a pain to have to take off my gloves and search for my phone to check a notification
This will solve that
YouQ will give me an Hourly Power Score plus Power Fixes to help me target my tired or unfocused periods
A phone is large and bulky. Once I have the phone secure in a large pocket, something like these watches is much better and easier for taking a quick look at messages. The fact they can actually look like a real watch instead of one of those bland rectangular wrist screens is a huge plus.
This watch could make my life easier as I could use it to quickly check messages without looking at my phone.
Having one of these watches would make my life easier because it would allow me to track my heart rate rather than using my bulky machine
The GPS features would help make life easier, especially when driving /traveling in the new year
It would be the perfect gift for my husband he prefers this style of watch. He’s conscious of his health issues and trying to keep stats on himself to rely to his doctors this watch would help accomplish that.
Citizen CZ Smart PQ2 Casual Rose-Gold Tone Mesh. Currently loving rose gold, that’s gorgeous! So here why this would help me; I have Adhd as well as an autoimmune disease. I work and stay active, but sometimes I need to know when to slow down, and gosh – to organized on my smart watch that actually looks good!? Time saving, flare up prevention, what more couldn I want? Would make me feel pretty fancy too Thanks for the entry!
The smart notifications would let me continue to do whatever I’m doing, without having to check my phone for any notifications
YouQ and GPS would be 2 very handy features when it comes to this watch.
I think having the health and fitness tracking would keep me more motivated and active!
Having quick access to the current time and notifications without having to dig out my phone would be a nice convenience, and far less chance of dropping or damagine the smart device that’s attached to your wrist vs pulling out the smartphone from whereever.
Having something on the wrist is practical and helpful when you’re hands are full. I commute to do my groceries and set a timer to remind myself to get done so, I can catch the bus to return. Having the watch on the wrist is one way my hands are free to move such as carrying the bags and checking the bus schedule. I know there are other functions like smart tracking. I will use that to track the steps I take in going about my errands. It doesn’t always have to be anything big in nature in order to justify having a smart watch. That’s why there are smartphones, too. They make my life easier by helping me track the bus and see the grocery flyers. A smartwatch is the best companion to complement it, kind of like a sidekick or partner in a duo.
A citizen smartwatch with heart rate monitor would make my life easier by helping me to optimize my exercise routine and fitness level.
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