quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Kevmo,

How much did they want to change out the battery?

Can other places besides Citizen perform that service at a better price?

I honestly forget but I know it was pretty expensive given the value of the watch plus they were going to ding me for return shipping.

I have this one:

https://www.jomashop.com/citiz...atch-jy0005-50e.html

I keep it in the safe with the rest of them. As long as I have it out for the day every couple of weeks, I don't have a problem keeping it charged.

It has an analog charge indicator, so I can see when it's getting low.

Big fan. Got a Calibre 2100 Titanium from Dave probably 10 years ago +/-. Every day wear with zero issues.

Only complaint is the face does have some light scratches. I've through about having a 3rd party upgrade the mineral crystal with sapphire.

I've had this one now going on at least 12yrs and it's takin a licking and keeps on ticking.

I have a promaster thats been great. I only wear it in the summmer time. I leave it in a dark desk drawer for 6 months and when I pulled it out the time was spot on.

I keep mine on the sill of a north-facing window. It gets the ambient light to keep itself topped off but not direct light that might overheat the watch and damage the battery.

Ok, this is awesome. I scooped up a neat “limited edition” citizen eco-drive watch at what seemed a pretty darn good price. When I brought it home it wouldn’t really charge. It has a needle that will point to one of four levels of power, it took a few days to rise up half way to being fully charged and then froze at 50% charge. I set the watch quickly a few times but kept having issues. It just wouldn’t synch up like my other Eco Drive (identical movement) and it just didn’t seem to indicate anything right.

I eventually discovered I had to reset the watch indicators to a proper “0” so that the actual analog gauges were set properly and would indicate properly. It took a little time to learn how to move through the proper sequence of button pushing and crown turning but eventually I got there. Not only did my “used” but minty fresh watch begin to work properly but I realized the battery life gauge was reading wrong before and it has a better charge than my newer watch.

I miss not having a moon/tide phase indicator like on my trusty and indestructible G-Shock but so far I really like these Citizen watches.

I've got an Eco-drive, and I like it a lot. I don't wear it every day because it's a little "too nice" for that. But it's comfortable, accurate, and really good looking.

I like this particular one, too, because it's a little bit heavy. That is, I know when I have that watch on. I love my Seiko titanium for the opposite reason -- it's so light.

My Eco-drive has stopped on me once, and I think that was simply because it had been out of the light for so long. I sent it to Citizen and it came back with a note that basically said, "Not broken; keep it near some light."

I'm very happy with this one; I'd buy another. (BM8471-01E, in case Santa is a member here at SF.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vthoky,

I have two, my wife has one. All three have been flawless!

I have one, and I bought one for my wife. I don't wear it everyday. Its on the window sill getting the grade A sunlight. If your cat is an issue I think you can get a watch box equipped with a light.

I picked up two Eco-Drives earlier this year after my 30 year of Seiko finally gave up the ghost. I got tired of replacing batteries in the Seiko (and the last time I had it done, the guy in the shop broke the watch and refused to do anything about it). I've got one with a nice stainless band that I wear most of the time, and one with a leather band for days when I'm more active (i.e., more liable to ding up the 'nice' watch). So the leather banded one sits on my dresser most of the time, but it's never lost its charge or any time. I think that one has a different type of photocell in it that works with room light in addition to sunlight.

This thing took a few hours to sort out yesterday but now it’s working perfectly. Going by the prices I’m seeing them listed at online I practically stole it.

Not a fan per se. I own two. First is a Skyhawk from about 12 years ago. Broke in less than a year, where the hub somehow became misaligned with the face numbers. Moreover the crown stopped interacting with the movement; at first I could move the hands but they were no longer in sequence with one another; i.e., rotate the minute hand one hour's worth, but the hour hand would not move 1/12th of the circumference (mostly moves less but sometimes more). Now 11 years on it no longer works at all. Apparently some sort of internal catastrophic FUBAR.

'Annoyed' didn't begin to describe my initial disgust with the watch and Citizen. $300+ for a stupifying watch isn't exactly chump change back then, or even so today. However in truth it wasn't a favorite to begin with so I never bothered to get it fixed which in hindsight was quite dumb on my part, especially during its 5 yr warranty period.

Technically it still 'works' (the movement 'moves' even if it can't tell time worth a lick). I've left it in various places around the house these past 11 years, most always with a readily available light source. Sometimes on a book case or shelf near a window, sometimes near a light fixture or lamp. Maybe someday I'll send it in to Citizen to have them fix it, but its styling and aesthetic really hasn't aged well, kind of a 1970s/80s sci-fi vibe.

That experience put me on a 'cheap watch' kick. But recently I had THREE Amazon.com 'El Cheapos' crap out on me within a week so I started my eyes wandering at the better stuff once again. And lo and behold I wound up fixating on another Citizen. Taken 12 years to get over it, apparently. Bought my second one only recently, a Navihawk AT atomic. It's an older design (2014, it seems) and several retailers had it for a pretty good discount price, right at $300 which I found out is about $100 to $200 less that what they usually see for (depending on source). With inflation, less than what the broken Skyhawk originally cost. Hopefully it lasts longer than a year this time.

It comes with a HUGE watch face and a somewhat cheesy but comfortable rubber/synthetic watchband. I admit I like it. The atomic feature is somewhat balky in its ability to connect to whatever the hell it is to connect to, unlike our atomic clocks around the house. Very busy watch face, however. The glow-in-the-dark photoluminescent stuff they use is just as wimpy as it was on the old Citizen. It weighs less than the Skyhawk did, probably due to its primarily rubber watchband. We'll see how it goes.



My wife also has two Eco-Drive watches, both of which are around 9 or 10 years of age. Those have yet to skip a beat, though she's more of a Fitbit gal these days.

I’m a fan. I have a dive watch I purchased back in the early nineties (1993 ish) and it still works fine. Still waterproof. Been down to 80-90 feet with it. It’s my knock around yard/outdoor watch or when my Tag has eaten yet another battery.

Given many as gifts. I’m fact, just bought my girlfriend one for a Christmas gift this year.

I have two and like them quite a bit. I leave them on a window sill that gets direct light and they do just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by SIG4EVA:
I love them. Own two so far. My daily is a Skyhawk A-T Blue Angles Titanium. It's awesome for business travelers due to the radio syncing and ability to display two time zones at the same time.

I have that one too and have worn it for years. I'm getting ready to try a blue rubber watch band on it and see what I think.

Looks nice stick!
Similar-ish to mine, but yours is Atomic & mine's Satellite.

Mine took a couple reads of the manual to get it set initially.

I have a cheapie Eco-Drive model. Runs like a top. I have had it about a year and keep it on my dresser. Has not gone to "sleep" yet.

I have one of the simpler models; black with orange markers and hands, saddle tan band.

I also have issue with having to store it out in the open. If I put it with my others in a drawer, it goes into "limp mode," and eventually dies. I had to keep it under a lamp or in a window for a couple days the last time it went flat.

I wonder if pulling the stem out will shut it off, like with some other battery-powered watches?

I found a windowsill that the cat cant easily reach that should be a good spot for my two eco drive watches to get the light they need. It doesn’t get a lot of direct sunlight but it should get enough to maintain the watches.

My more dressy Eco Drive, basically the same functions as my black Citizen.
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I’ve been looking at old Japanese made automatics on EBay. There appear to be a lot of fakes and junk mixed in with some good watches on Ebay.

Who do you guys like when it comes to decent, quality and not crazy expensive Japanese Automatics?