Customer Reviews

Citizen Men's AT0550-11X Eco-Drive Chronograph Stainless Watch

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To say that i love this watch is an understatement. The eco-drive technology is just perfect, charge it in light, every kind of light except flourescent for 8hrs or so and it is charged, you will not have to replace any batteries from then on out. The look is so smooth, i have received multiple compliments from people that it looks very sharp. I had a choice between the brown band/face and the black band/face..it was very close. In the end i decided to go with the brown and it looks great with any outfit i wear.

The watch is so good i don't wear it to work lol, i don't wanna take a chance on scratching it. I think i will purchase another citizen watch just for work and keep this one for leisure. I messed with the watch for a good 20 mins and found just about every function fairly easily, it is very easy to set.

All in all, this watch is a very, very good purchase. Probably the best purchase i made since coming back from Iraq besides my 40'inch Sony Bravia. If you remotely like the looks of this watch then look no further, buy it!

This watch was exactly what I wanted to give as a Christmas Gift. It arrived way ahead of time. Being a solar powered watch, we had to let it set in the sunshine for a bit to charge up, but now that he wears it, the watch has kept perfect time. Thank you!

Bought it for my husband who is known to love practical and comfortable items. Because of that, we resorted to buy cheap watches every time the battery ran out. Finally we found a solution! This watch is comfortable but looks very classy. He LOVES it!
The only inconvenience is that setting all of the watch "applications" isn't that simple and requires reading the manual... and you all know how that goes...

I like the look of the watch a lot. It seems to be pretty functional, however here are some cons regarding it.

The Timer only goes up to an hour.
My band broke within the first few months of having it. I called citizen to replace it and they wouldnt do it for free. The cost was $69!!!
Accidently brushed my wrist up against some brick in my apartment and scratched the metal pretty easily.
It stopped once for no apparent reason, but once I reset the time it started up again and has been fine ever since.

Aside from these things, I like the watch.

Besides reviewing this watch, I will also make some comparisons to eco-drive BL8000-11X, which is very similar in looks.

- Negatives -
First 2 negative comments are more directed to Citizen than this watch:
1) Wish they would put Sapphire crystals in more of their USA watches (neither this watch or BL8000-11X has Sapphire).
2) Very shiny, polished casing (love the look, but very vulnerable to scratches).
3) Date is pretty small and hard to read unless the lighting is really good.

- Positives -
1) Extremely rich looking and more of a Cordovan color (burgundy brown). The face at times looks more normal brown, but often looks cordovan. If looks is the only thing you're hinging the purchase on, then buy this watch. Pictures don't come close to how nice it looks.
2) Simple to use and set up. At first was seriously questioning BL8000-11X, since it has both an alarm and the perpetual calendar; however, the alarm is way too cumbersome for me, and I LOVE alarms on my watches, but gave it up when I played with it. Unless you want an alarm that will almost always be used at the same time of day each time, I would rule out most of the Citizen watches.
3) Changing the time and the date is simple, like any regular traditional watch, so ease of use is really simple, and there is nothing to setup or remember. Questioned getting perpetual calendar and the radio synching, which my Casio Solar-Waveceptor has, but settled on looks, ease, and eco-drive being most important (for Citizen watches that is, other Watch makers do a better job in providing a feature packed watch that is easy to use).
4) Timer is simple to use, but is strangely a little different than most in that the bottom button stops and resets with one push, even if the timer is still clicking.
5) The lume is excellent and lasts throughout the night, with both the huge hands and dots on all 12 hour markers that glow (the BL800-11X only has the hands with the lume material). Also, the contrast of the hands & markers to the face is perfect and really helps low light viewing. Except for watches with some sort of backlight, this is by far the best low light and dark viewing watch I have ever owned.

Other differences versus the BL800-11X:
1) This watch is a little bigger at 41-42mm wide and 11mm thick, vs 40mm and 10mm thick for the BL80000-11x; therefore, you may see it as looking more contemporary (the clean face vs the roman numerals of the BL8000-11X also add to the more contemporary look).
2) This watch has white stitching on the band vs brown stitching (again, contemporary looking).
3) Normal band clasp on this watch vs. a butterfly clasp on BL8000-11X (nice feature and may buy one off e-bay for my watch).
4) The cordovan color seems more rich on this watch, probably do to the slightly larger face and the fact that the face is so much cleaner/less busy on this watch vs the BL800-11X (both have a a much richer look than the stainless steel band version. The color just stands out so much more with the leather band. Just simple putting a stainless steel band on top of the leather band seems to dull the rich face look).

One last comment on color. If you're looking for a true brown, pass on this. It looks brown with the rich red hues in it, but if you place this near a common brown watch (or leather belt), it will look more burgundy. On that note, the cordovan really is nice for going with most any colors (browns or blacks), so you can wear it with anything.

I've purchased many watches from Amazon, and this is by far the most elegant and versatile solar, leather-band watch. It's not big, just the right size; not heavy at all; it has a good balance of sophistication, simplicity, and elegance. You can get it significantly cheaper at other online stores. I've emailed Amazon about this.

I have owned a Citizen eco-drive for years and wanted to buy one for my fiancé this Christmas. I had originally ordered a different model in black, but it was out of stock so I ordered this watch instead. It is perfect, and he loves it. The face is a very deep brown, and it does indeed look much better in person than in the picture. It is classy enough to wear with anything, but casual enough for everyday. One small quirk, what appears to be the second hand is only actually used for the stop watch feature, which caused a bit of confusion in initially setting the watch. Regardless, I definitely recommend.

On a separate note, boo to Amazon for recommending at checkout that I buy batteries for a solar powered watch!

I purchased this watch in January and was a little hesitant about the leather band. I only wear it when I am wearing brown and in the office, so it doesn't get much sweat on it and seems to be holding up very well (before I got it my dad kept saying how leather banded watches are crap because you have to replace the band so often.) The second hand is a little hard to see sometimes because of its location behind the main hands, also it is turned about 30 degrees clockwise so the 0/60 second mark is at about the 2 position. Like someone else stated, the timer/stopwatch feature only goes to one hour (I tried starting it at the top of the hour to use the big second hand as an actual second hand.) Overall not bad for a bottom of the line watch from a great company with great looks. If you are wanting one that you can use to time a nuclear launch, get a digital one that shows milliseconds and is linked to Greenwich through satellites. If you want a great looking watch that is classy and not too flashy that can tell you the date and approximate time, get this one.

The online pics don't do it justice. If you are looking for a great watch that's comfortable and a 5 year warranty, you can't go wrong with this one. My wife bought it for $162 on newegg.com. I own several Seiko's but was looking for something different. Though the functionality is great, I really chose this one because of the color, I can wear it with a suit or short sleeved shirt/jeans. Happy shopping, that's half the fun in getting a new watch.

My wife recently purchased the Citizen AT0550-11x for me as a birthday gift. As I am finishing up a graduate degree in philosophy and about to enter law school, I wanted a watch that was both dressy and masculine... something Indiana Jones would wear while teaching a graduate course. This watch is it.

The stock photos do not do this magnificent timepiece justice! The steel around the face is highly polished, almost a chrome, and this creates a rich contrast both with the finely detailed face itself and the rich alligator-pattern leather band.

The watch has a solid feel, but at the same time, looks delicate and expensive. The chronometer only measures in one second intervals (looks like the second hand moving), which to me was the only real drawback besides the mineral glass front (rather than sapphire crystal), but for overall quality, and most of all, for the design, there is no better watch out there for the conservative, manly intellectual. This watch should come with a fedora and bow tie. Thankfully, I already have those.