Citizen

Citizen Men's BL8000-54A Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 Watch

• Light powered eco-drive Japanese-quartz movement; charges in natural sunlight or indoor light
• Calibre 8700
• Perpetual calendar

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Fashionably stylish as an accent to your business wear, the silver-tone Citizen Eco-Drive Calibre 8000 stainless steel men's watch with bracelet band will also make sure you never miss an important date. More than just pretty face, it features a perpetual calendar that automatically adjusts for odd and even months and leap years through 2100. It has a wide, round silver stainless steel watch case and bezel that's complemented by a stainless steel bracelet band that mixes brushed and polished finishes. The silvery white dial background is accented by day-of-the-week and 24-hour subdials as well as a mode subdial that displays the selected function (local time, calendar, alarm). It also offers luminous, black-outlined hands (with seconds hand), a date function at 4 o'clock, and Roman numeral dial markers. Other features includes a dual-time function for tracking a second time zone, scratch resistant mineral crystal with anti-reflective coating, and water resistance to 100 meters (330 feet). This watch is powered by Citizen's unique Eco-Drive, which absorbs sunlight and any artificial light through the crystal and dial to recharge the watch continuously. With regular exposure to light, the Eco-Drive continuously recharges itself for a lifetime of use. This watch's Eco-Drive provides a 180-day power reserve, and it can be recharged with just 4 hours of exposure to light.

The Citizen Story

The company was established in 1924. The founding fathers selected the name Citizen so it would be "Close to the Hearts of People Everywhere" and soon after adopted the company’s formal name, Citizen Watch Company.

During the last seventy-five years Citizen has expanded its business throughout the world and has achieved recognition as the global brand. The past twenty-five year period has coincided with the company’s dramatic rise to its current position as the world’s largest watchmaker, a distinction Citizen has held every year since 1986.

Beyond sheer size, Citizen is also recognized as a worldwide leader in advanced technology. From the world’s slimmest LCD watch to the first voice recognition watch and the world’s first professional dive watch with an electronic depth sensor, Citizen’s record of "world’s firsts" is unmatched.

More recently, Citizen has staked out a new position as the leader in timekeeping with its Eco-Drives watches that are light powered. With models ranging from dress models to sports models to professional dive watches, Citizen Eco-Drive runs continuously in any kind of natural or artificial light for a lifetime of use. Fueled by light, it never needs a battery.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000EQVWMK
• Item model number: BL8000-54A
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,897 in Watches (See Top 100 in Watches)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Set it and forget it! This accurate watch exudes style & class., December 22, 2006

By 

Lawrance Morrissey "Flashaholic!" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Citizen Men's BL8000-54A Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 Watch (Watch)

What can I say, I love this watch. My history with watches has not been good. I seem to destroy them after a year with no apparent fault of my own. My luck changed about 8 years ago when I invested in my first Citizen watch. It ran for 7 years before it started flaking out on me, and I couldn't be happier considering my luck with previous watches. Lets face it, after 7 years with the same watch, I was ready for a change anyway. I considered some with automatic movements, I considered some with exotic names and faces, but in the end, I couldn't pass up on getting another Citizen with a 5 year warranty.

My only pet peeve with my last watch was having to set the date every other month. This was not a fault of the watch, just the way MOST watches with manual dates are. So when I learned that Citizen had watches with perpetual dates that stay correct even through leap years, I couldn't pass it up! I was skeptical at first that the function would not work as advertised, but it does! It's flawless. I can now DEPEND on the date feature on my watch rather than have to look at a calendar to verify the correct date.

The watch movement is very accurate. Because the second hand comes to a stop when you're setting it, it's very easy to set the watch to the exact second of an atomic clock. After doing this, and tracking the time, I'm pleased to report that this watch only gains about 1 second per month. It doesn't get much better than that folks!

I also like that this watch shows the day of the week. Very helpful while on vacation when all the days seem to blend together. If you put the watch in "Calendar" mode, the second hand freezes on the proper month. I prefer the second hand to move since I never loose track of which month it is.

This watch has an alarm. I don't use it myself, but I did test it out. The beeping is not overly loud and I doubt it would wake a heavy sleeper such as myself. It would work fine for daytime reminders though. The alarm, since the second hand has to sweep around to arrive at its set time, is really slow to set. I say slow, I mean it might take 30 seconds to a minute to set, but I think that's pretty slow compared to a digital watch. I guess all things are relative right?

One important feature I've only seen mentioned once in the other reviews is that this watch features a second time on it. - Like a travel time if you're in a different time zone. It's super easy to set, and it doesn't throw off the second hand at all. So lets say you get off a plane and you gained 2 hours, you simple put the watch in this alternate time mode, spin the bezel once in the proper direction you want the second hand to move, and it will automatically stop exactly one hour difference. Spin the bezel again and the minute hand takes off a second time and stops another hour advanced. Pop the bezel back in and you watch is perfectly set for this new time zone. This takes all of 5 or 10 seconds. On the trip back, simply take the watch out of this mode, and put it back on "time" mode and it automatically sets itself to your local time! This is an essential feature for frequent travelers.

I chose the watch with the white face mainly because my last watch of 7 years had a blue face, and I wanted a change. Everyone else on this site seemed to go for the blue one, and wanted something a bit more unique. I get lots of complements on this watch, especially from people in the jewelry business who have a keen eye. The white face version does not have as good of contrast as the blue face, but it's not hard to read. The movement in this watch is also available in other, more heavy duty cases. I almost opted for a more rugged version, but didn't like the bands on the watches. This watch measures 39mm across the face, and 10mm high, with no rotating face bezel on it.

The band is a pleasure to use. It's super easy to take the watch off by simply squeezing the side band buttons. I nice improvement over my last watch that had to have a clasp pried off with a fingernail. (How 1990's) The only down side of the band is that it's complex design aids to harboring dirt. Expect to wash the watch with jewelry cleaner every 6 weeks or so, which will really make the band shine like new again.

Lastly, this watch is solar powered and never needs a battery! I put 2 or 3 batteries in my last watch and it really seemed like a chore to get them replaced. Another feature this watch has is a battery saving feature. The minute hand usually moves a quarter notch every 15 seconds. I noticed if you have a sleeve coving the watch, and it's in complete darkness, the movement slows down, and the instant you expose your watch to light, it catches up to current time. I didn't realize this was happening over the first few months, and though I was seeing things occasionally when I would look at my watch. Citizen claims the internal solar battery has enough juice to last 6 months in total darkness. I have no reason to doubt that claim after viewing the way the watch conserves its battery. The watch is also 100 meter water resistant. I wouldn't go scuba diving with this watch, but it's nice to know I don't have to remove it to wash a car, dog, swim etc.

So in short, if you want a pretty snazzy watch that is highly accurate, doesn't need a battery, and never needs the date set, this should be on your short list of watches to consider. I'm very pleased with my watch and I'm sure you will be too.

UPDATE: I've had this watch for 4.5 years already and it still runs flawless. It's just as accurate as the day I brought it home. My eyes are starting the typical 40's far sightedness issue and I find it hard to focus on the watch as it has very intricate details on the face. The watch band has several scratches in it from normal abuse. It still looks great with a proper cleaning in jewelry cleaner however. The quartz glass face still has zero scratches in it. Overall, I'm still very pleased with my watch and believe I'll have to replace it ONLY because I'll be ready for a change, or because I won't be able to read it but NOT because the watch gives out!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly accurate time! and the beauty, March 10, 2006

By 

Kosuke Kudo "Kisstory" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This is the high technology watch. Rolex and Omega cannot generate energy by sun-shine. and cannot calculate leap year. But this Citizen watch knows February has only 28 days. It calculates leap year automatically.

You don't need to adust your time ANY MORE in your life. This is the technology.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent watch, January 10, 2007

By 

Mark "elnegro" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Citizen Men's BL8000-54A Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 Watch (Watch)

i'm sure you know, citizen is a great brand, and this watch validates my opinion towards the company even more. I've gotten countless compliments regarding this watch; men, women, and even kids alike. Some may say it feels a little heavy, but i think it's just fine. My first concern was with the "eco-drive" being solar powered that it'll run out of battery you know, but it maintains its charge quite well, when i'm not wearing it, its usually on my dresser which is well lit by my window. haven't had it die on me yet, the instructions for setting it are easy as pie, and all in all i'd buy another citizen watch again in the near future.