Customer Reviews

Citizen Men's BL8004-53E Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 Watch

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This review can't be completely comprehensive since I've only had this watch for two weeks now, but it sure is attractive, comfortable and easy to use.

I typically shy away from quartz watches except as cheap work knock-abouts. My best watches are all automatics. I have several Omegas, 3 Rolex's, and 2 TAG's and a Breitling. All Automatics. I also have a Luminox as my "cheap" quartz knock-about. I feel that it is silly to have an expensive watch and it be reliant on using a battery. A good watch should be self-sufficient.

Citizen has performed an amazing technological breakthrough with the Eco-Drive movement. It is powered by light through a solar cell underneath the face. The cells are so efficient that they are invisible and it is impossible to tell it is there. They seem to have overcome any limitations of face design, and they now come in a multitude of colors and configurations.

The watches are claimed to never need a battery. The solar cell keeps a capacitor charged and the watch needs amazingly little light exposure. A few minutes a day is all that is needed. Not only that but the power reserve on some Citizen models is meaured in years. I'm not sure about this one but I think it is at least 6 months. AND, the watch can go into a power save mode where the movement is disabled and still keep time. Take the watch into the light for a minute or so and the movement resets and you're back in business.

This watch has a perpetual calendar that knows the month, date and leap year status so the date calendar is always right. This is a terrific touch. There is a little dial that tells you the day of the week, as well as 24 hour dial. Mine the two tone model, gold on a black face and looks terrific.

It has an alarm that while low in db is at a frequency that seems to be able to wake anyone from a deep sleep.

Did I mention that this watch is classically beautiful and can hold it's own quality-wise with any of the high dollar competition from Switzerland. Most people when they see it think it's a Breitling.

The bracelet is heavy and is in my opinion superior the the Rolex Submariner bracelet in terms of feel, comfort and heft. Plus, the clasp has these two little tabs on either side for a nice positive lock similar to the Omegas. Both watches make the normal Rolex Sub bracelet and clasp look cheap, flimsy and unworthy of the price.

I find almost nothing to fault about this watch, but I would have liked to have luminous markers, but the hands glow well and last all night. This watch gives up nothing to a $2500 Breitling.

I am not a watch chauvenist by any means, but I have always like the autos better knowing I am not reliant on an outside thing such as a battery without which my expensive watch is nothing better than a fancy paperweight. I am satisfied with the Eco-Drive concept.

Like most watch guys I value accuracy and this watch has it. I have all my autos tuned to be within a few seconds a month when worn. Wearing an automatic watch in the different arm positions throughout the day averages out the mechanical factors that lead to inaccuracies. In reality and normal use even the best quartz watches generally cannot keep time like a well-tuned automatic.

If a quartz movement is +3 seconds it will always gain no matter if worn or in the box so the time drifts. With an automatic, it may be +3 sec up, but -2 down and +1 sideways etc. When worn a lot the averages stay at near zero variation.

Maybe I got lucky with this one, but I set it to my atomic clock 2 weeks ago. As of this writing it is to the second with the atomic. Your results may vary but I suspect that Citizen has done their homework in the QC department.

This watch is inexpensive yet looks very expensive. The quality of the watch is what I have come to expect from a watch in the $1,000 - $2,500 range. Fool your friends. This watch is a bargain at $475. At the Amazon price of $235 it a steal. I may buy another of a different color. Yes folks this is that good.

Buy one and see for yourself.

I agree with everyone this is a great watch. I too researched watches and decided on this one. My only complaint is the crown. The crown has a lip on the end that gets caught when I reach into my briefcase and in some instances on the inside of my pocket. The crown catches and pulls out much too easy. The watch stops when the crown is pulled out. I almost missed a flight thinking I had plenty of time but in reality the watch was stopped. Keep an eye on the crown.

This is my third Eco-Drive, and perhaps the single most beautiful watch in my collection of over 30 (including Rolexes, Breitlings, etc.). Brilliantly designed and built to Citizen's usual high standards, possessing the legendary accuracy of the Eco-Drive system, this is an essential men's watch. Two-toned, it can function beautifully as a dress or sports watch. As others have noted, it looks quite expensive and easily rivals the beauty of far more expensive models like Rolex. Even at full retail price, it's a bargain. Yet it can be found online for half that price. Its perpetual day-date calendar is an amazing convenience. Highest recommendation.

The top class of this timepiece will put you on the Vegas whale status line. The high rollers will think your in league with them. And for good measure, it stands on equal quality with the $2000 plus watches that look second class compared to this timepiece. Yes, call it a timepiece, not a common watch. The over priced Rolex looks cheap compared to this. It virtually set itself, when I pull out the dial and rotated to the leap year dial and the whole watch started setting itself automatically. It almost scared me as the dials and month days were moving to the correct time a date. How do they do that??? !!!!

OK let's think if I can come up with any negatives. I wish they had the watch band adjust to micro lengths instead of having the watch man take a link or two out to fit your wrist, for perfect feel. I also wish they had the button to push that would light up the whole timepiece for night viewing. I guess with all the glamour dials it wouldn't fit. I can still live with both wish lists.

I bought this watch 5 years ago, and I have worn it every day since. I wear it to work (with a shirt and tie), I wear it to formal events (with a suit / tux), I wear it out in town (jeans and a t-shirt), I wear it while working in the garden / landscaping / doing construction work, and I wear it when I travel (it's been to every continent but Australia). I'll admit it's gotten a bit banged up over the years (the face is a bit scratched), but I still get compliments all the time, including from people who have dropped far more cash on a watch. I have never had to repair it, nor have I had any problems. This watch is fantastic, and when (if) mine ever dies, I will buy this exact same model to replace it. I have never owned any product in my life I have been happier with.

I was doing a lot of research for the past 3 months and found that the Citizen Eco-Drive watches are above class.And this watch in particular is outstanding. I like the perpetual calendar and the overall classy look. Anyone who has seen this watch has only compliments for the watch. You will hear constantly phrases like "Wow","Great Watch","love that watch" etc. The other thing I like about this watch is that it will never need a battery. It is powered by all sources of light. IT IS WORTH THE MONEY.

After having this watch for two weeks, here are my thoughts on the pros/cons. I will be returning this watch as I have found that it is not durable enough for the price. I wore it in a typical office environment during this time...hopefully I just received a poor copy of this watch.
Pros: Perpetual calendar and local time functions are very useful, and hard to find in this price range (outside of a digital). The watch face and overall construction are beautiful. The watch is complex, but Citizen has good instructions that make it easy to remember how to use the advanced features when you are away from your instruction book.
Cons: The two crown pull settings are very close to each other and can be difficult to finesse into position. The band shows a lot of wear and scratches after two weeks, more than my other (less expensive) watch showed after 3 years. Additionally, the watch crystal has scratched very easily, showing multiple scratches after 2 weeks of use. My other watch I wore for 7 years did not have any scratches on it when it finally died.

Love the watch! But I had a minor hiccup with it. The "Day" indicator arrow slipped off it's mark and only pointed IN-BETWEEN each day (not ON it). No jeweler could repair it and I had to send it back to the manufacturer for the repair. At this moment I'm awaiting the return of the watch. However aside from this problem, the watch is beautiful and I've had many compliments on it!

This is an eco-drive watch -- meaning that it is solar-powered. I have another older one that is 8 years old so I can say that this system works. This one has an interesting power saving feature that's new -- the second hand freezes at 12:00 when the watch has had no light (the hour/minute hands move along) for 30 minutes. With just a flash of light, the second hand races to the correct position. This is barely noticeable if you aren't looking for it. This battery lasts for over a year on a full sunlight charge -- much more than my old eco-drive.

This watch is beautiful but, for all the dials, you really only use the day-of-the-week dial in normal practice.

It has 4 modes: time, calendar, alarm, and local-time. Calendar is the same as time except the second hand points to the month. I'm not sure how often I don't know the month so this isn't all that useful.

The alarm is very weak - I don't think it would wake you up but it would remind you to do something. It handles time zones well. If you set the alarm to 7 am, it will ring when the watch shows 7 am in time, calendar, alarm, and local time. So, for example, if your normal time zone is EST and you set the alarm to 7 am, it will ring when it is 7 am EST when in Time/Cal/Alarm mode in New York (EST). If you are in California (PST), and you set the watch's local time to PST and mode to local-time, it will ring at 7am PST as expected. However, if you are in California but left your watch in Calendar mode, it will still ring at 7 am EST which would be 4 am PST... so the message is, set the mode to local-time when you are out of your home time zone and to time/cal/alarm when in your own time zone and it works right.

The bracelet seems nice and relatively heavy. Unlike my old eco-drive watch, this bracelet isn't quite as adjustible so it might have to fit a little looser than you'd like.

The crown is generally pushed in. You pull it out to 2 further stops for manipulating the alarm, calendar, time, etc. If you aren't careful, you can make unintended changes. I haven't found the crown out but I have mistaken the first for 2nd stop and changed the time or whatever undesirably.

When setting the alarm, or changing time zones, the hands spin around to the proper time. It is fun to watch the hands spin around when changing time modes or using the alarm but it does take a while for this to happen if it has a long way to go. Realistically, the alarm isn't that loud so I don't know how much I'll use it. You don't change time zones multiple times per day (unless you're an airline employee) so this isn't a big issue.

4 stars: it is a pretty 2 time-zone, day-date watch but has some control issues and only a semi-useful alarm.

I bought this watch for my boyfriend and he absolutely loves it! It's very versatile in it's style because it can be dressed up or down. Works great and the technology on it is just amazing. I would highly recommend it.