Dude … I want this so bad. I don’t think anyone had “guitar pedal watch” on their 2026 bingo card. And yet, here we are. Ibanez and Citizen have apparently teamed up for the Citizen Tsuno Chrono Custom Tube Screamer, a limited edition quartz chronograph inspired by one of the most important overdrive pedals ever made. It’s a deeply specific collaboration, and one that I can’t stop thinking about.
For the uninitiated, the Ibanez Tube Screamer is essentially the blueprint for modern overdrive. Introduced in the late 1970s, it became the secret weapon of players like Stevie Ray Vaughan and has since influenced countless circuit designs across the pedal industry. If you’ve ever messed around with overdrive pedals, there’s a very good chance the one on your board traces its DNA back to a Tube Screamer. Josh Scott of JHS Pedals has done some excellent work breaking down just how deep that lineage runs, and it’s worth watching if you want the full picture. For the watch collectors, he’s kinda like the Eric Wind of the pedal world.
The watch itself takes its green colorway from the TS808HWV2, a hand-wired, darker-toned version of the flagship pedal that Ibanez released in 2024. At 38mm wide and 10.8mm thick in stainless steel, the proportions should feel like a sweet spot for a quartz chronograph at this price. Three subsidiary dials are labeled Drive, Tone, and Level, referencing the pedal’s famously simple three-knob control layout. It’s a playful touch that manages to land without feeling gimmicky. The watch runs on a battery-powered quartz movement with 1/1 second chronograph functionality and a 12-hour totalizer, paired with a date display and luminous hands and indices. Water resistance sits at 5 bar, and the crystal is mineral glass. Citizen backs it with a 3-year international warranty.
As someone who collects watches and plays guitar poorly, this one hits close to home. It sits at the intersection of two hobbies I’m deeply invested in, and I appreciate that neither brand tried too hard with the collaboration. The green is tasteful, the sizing is right, and the design references are specific enough to resonate with people who actually know what a Tube Screamer is. That restraint is what makes it work.
The catch, and it’s a real one, is availability. The Tsuno Chrono Custom Tube Screamer is limited to 500 pieces, priced at ¥44,000 (roughly $277), and from what we can tell, it’s exclusive to Japan through music instrument retailers. That distribution channel makes sense given the Ibanez partnership, but it also means most of us outside Japan are probably going to admire this one from a distance. Whether Citizen or Ibanez eventually open this up to a wider market remains to be seen. For now, it’s a cool, well-executed collaboration that I suspect a very specific group of people will be very excited about. I know I am.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.