Customer Reviews

Citizen Men's BM8475-00X Eco-Drive Military Black Plated Steel Canvas Strap Watch

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I considered this purchase from the viewpoint of an already satisfied Eco-Drive owner. My original Citizen features a titanium case and strap and is great for business attire. But I wanted a less formal watch for casual wear. This watch caught my eye, and it was love at first sight. The watch arrived after about five days, as advertised. Upon opening the box, I was taken aback by the size. This is a large-face watch, and I was expecting something about the size of my titanium case. I was considering returning it, then decided to give it a try and sell it on eBay if I didn't like it. As it turns out, I got used to it after a couple of days. The canvas strap became a little more pliable, which helped the watch stay in place better on my wrist, and the discomfort of the band disappeared. Now I can focus on enjoying the big face and oversized luminous digits, which glow extraordinarily bright when exposed to a light source at night. Like my original Eco-Drive, this watch keeps excellent time. So far I have not detected a single second's variance between checks and settings. If you order this watch, keep in mind that the face is larger than most and that you'll have to be patient while the canvas strap gets pliable.

I've been looking for another eco-drive with a clean face for everyday wear. I already own a Citizen Ti-zilla and love the toughness of the watch. I own several nice automatics but I find myself always having reset the watch when I do not wear them for a while. That is the great advantage of the eco-drive. As long as the watch is receiving light, it continues to run and keep great time.

I waited a couple of months to get this watch. When it first came out, I knew I wanted to order it. I am a fan of Flieger and military watches. As an active duty military member, I like tough watches which are easy to read. I also like having the day/date option especially for deployments when every day starts to feel like groundhog day. When I saw this watch, I knew it was the perfect combination. Some thoughts:

Size: at 42mm, the watch is big enough to easily read but not one of those grossly oversized watches. I enjoy larger face watches and this one is the right size.

Face: The dial is clear and easy to read. As other reviewers indicated, the face is not black, but rather a dark olive green. Personally, I like how it looks and adds to the overall military appearance of the watch. The numerals are large and easy to read. The day/date window is a little smaller than I'd like but any larger and I believe it would detract from the simple face of the watch.

Hands: The hands of the watch are great. The white gives a great contrast on the dark olive drab face. The minute hand extends long enough for an easy reference to the indexes.

Band: I am never sure about canvas bands but this one is good to go. It is comfortable and was not as stiff as I expected when I first received it. There were no issues with the size and it gives the watch that classic military appearance. That being said, I may swap out the band with a natural rubber band for use in constant heat of Iraq.

Lug width: 22mm lug width provides ample opportunity for a variety of aftermarket bands and provides, in my opinion, a better look to a larger watch.

Crown: I agree with other reviewers that the crown should be a screw down. That being said, I do not plan on taking this watch scuba diving. Its water resistance is more than enough for most outdoor types who are not deep diving searching for lost treasures.

Price: You cannot beat the price for this watch. I haven't seen the price for any less that what Amazon sells it for and, as usual, Amazon shipping was first class. I had the watch in two days from ordering.


Overall Impressions: A tough, accurate and easy to read watch with a reliable movement. With no need to worry about batteries or resetting the time every time I decide to wear it, the Citizen BM8475-00X Eco-Drive Military watch is a winner from the start!

My watch arrived quickly and without a scratch. The canvas strap takes some getting used to but the size of the bezel is great...not too big and not too small and I am about 6ft to give you an idea. The illumination works good but has to be charged with a light source and does not glow actively. A good watch for my flightsuit.

My old swiss army gave up on me and so I bought this watch with little thought. My requirements were black bezel, 100m, military-type field watch that had hands that lit up. I'm thoroughly impressed with this watch at this price. It's not so expensive that you are afraid to wear it. I plan to wear it full time for work duty (engineer), hunting, fishing, swimming, etc... Like others mentioned, the watch face is large, but not too large. I did purchase a 22mm zulu band for it and couldn't be happier. I am very surprised how long the face stays lit up. After wearing the watch on a normal day, the face is still be readable when I wake up in the morning. It may not be a $1000 watch, but it won't let you down.

What can I say? Citizen makes a great, affordable watch. This particular model is perfect for outdoor activities. I love the eco-drive concept. No batteries to change for the next 20 years or so. And Citizen's in-house luminescence is second-to-none. Once you expose the watch to a bright light for a couple of minutes it will shine a bright blue all night long. I do have two minor quibbles. I wish it had a screw down crown to increase its water resistance. The watch hands could be a bit larger and the lume on them applied more thickly.

I really liked the watch, but the crystal scratched far too easily. After a few scratches, the watch later fell about 6" into a sink and the crystal became horribly cracked in many places. I returned the watch for repair to the Citizen Service headquarters and they informed me the repair would cost $102.49! The watch only cost me about $123 new. I will not buy any more Citizen watches until they do something about the chintzy mineral glass.

I wear my watches hard. I looked a long time for a watch that could handle being banged, splashed, dropped, and basically forgotten about while I am at work. I am a restaurant manager and deal with customers all the time so I also wanted the watch to look nice. I have been wearing this citizen for about 4 months now and can say the this model fits all my requirements and then some.

Pros: First and foremost a great watch looks good. This watch is a little bigger than I normally wear but I quickly got used to that and now I like the extra size. I have certainly seen bigger faces so I wouldn't call this huge but it is lager than average. As other review have stated, the face is green, not black. The indiglo hands are very bright right after coming out of the light and hold at least some light for quite a while. Of course it won't stay bright forever but there is still enough glow to see what time it is after a couple hours in a movie or outside at night. I love the fact that there is no battery and so far my watch keeps almost perfect time.

Cons: While I appreciate having both the day and date on the face, it would be nice if this watch had an automatic date complication. The turner has two steps, one for day/date and one for the time. It is a little tough to tell when you are on the first step so a lot of the time I end up changing the time when I only want to set the correct date on the 1st of the month.

Conclusion: A great "banger" watch to wear every day. It might not be for the board room or a black tie dinner but if you want something that can stand up to a little punishment and still look good this will fit the bill.

Great day to day watch at a great price. Easy to read especially at night. Reviews have indicated the band is stiff and I would agree, it quickly forms to your wrist and it really isn't an issue.

This watch is great. 4/5 Stars because I wish the materials were a higher grade.
Looks clean and is well constructed; although not the sturdiest built watch on the planet. I don't expect that.
Canvas strap fits and conforms well to my wrist & I've got small wrists.
Scratches buff out easily.
Can't go wrong with this purchase, unless you're extremely picky. In that case, I pity you.

For the money, this is a pretty good watch. I'm not impressed with the black finish since it scratches too easily compared to other pvd finish watches. The band is too stiff and it doesn't reshape with wearing. I find the watch wants to migrate to either side of my wrist because the band doesn't like to conform. The lume isn't anything special, but in daylight the dial is very legible. I've had excellent performance with a number of Eco=drive watches, so I expect this watch will run longer than I care to wear it. A decent knock-around field style watch with an uncomfortable band.