58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A handsome analog with the functions of a digital, January 25, 2005
For years I've worn a cheap digital watch because I couldn't find anything nicer looking that incorporated the same functions as my digital. Analog watches offer a more attractive timepiece, but you usually have to sacrifice the handy functions I had grown used to having. For me, the Eco-Drive Skyhawk combines the best of both the analog and digital worlds.
The Skyhawk has two small LCD's that give it all the same functions as my digital and even add a few more. You access those different functions by turning the winding crown (which actually doesn't even serve that function on the Skyhawk since the watch is powered by a solar cell beneath the faceplate). Turning the crown rotates the tiny mode hand on the bottom-most dial and points it at the abbreviated name of the function you've selected.
The functions displayed on the LCD's are: Time (hour, minutes and seconds on the right display with the time zone on the left); Calendar (day, month and day of the week on the right, time zone on the left); Alarm (there are three separate alarms-hour, minutes and `on' and `off' on the right, time zone on the left); Chronograph (up to 99' 99" on the right, the left indicates split time, etc.); Timer (counts down from 99' 99"); and Set, which is for setting up the time, date, etc. for the watch. You can program in customized names for the time zones, if you choose. For example, instead of LAX for Pacific Time, I have SEA (for Seattle) programmed for my time zone. Since the analog hands show my local time, I leave the LCD in Calendar mode, but you could also have a different time zone's time or date set to display.
The other two small dials show a 24-hour UTC clock (Universal Time Constant-same as London time) in the upper-right dial (with minute and hour hands) and a 24-hour clock (with just an hour hand) for your local time zone in the upper-left dial. My watch arrived with the proper date and time already programmed in. I just had to set the watch to my time zone.
There is a slide-rule bezel that rotates around the faceplate and apparently can be used to calculate fuel and oil consumption for an aircraft. I didn't notice anything in the instructions that explained how to use this, but I'm not a pilot or engineer and don't have a use for it anyway.
The Skyhawk ships with a CD-ROM that has narrator walk you through the steps for setting up your watch and using the various functions. These identical tutorials can be accessed from Citizen's web page here: http://www.citizenwatch.com/us/frame_noflash.html. There is also a printed manual that covers the same information.
Citizen claims this watch will never need a new battery in your lifetime. The Skyhawk recharges its internal battery by way of a solar panel beneath the faceplate. When you look closely, you can see that the faceplate is made of a dark but semi-transparent material like the lenses of sunglasses. With normal wear, it should keep itself charged with ambient light whether indoors or out. Even if denied a light source, Citizen claims a fully-charged watch can go four months before running out of power. The left LCD displays up to three horizontal bar to indicate how charged the watch is.
I only found two negatives with this watch. There is one function it does not have that my $10 digital watch does, and that's a light for reading time in the dark. Lights take up a lot of battery power, so I can understand why Citizen opted not to include one on a solar-powered watch, but I do miss it sometimes at night. The numbers on the faceplate and the analog hands do have a glow-in-the-dark material on them, but it's still not as easy to read the time in the dark as it is with my digital which has a blue backlight.
The other negative (for some people) may be the size. This is a fairly good-sized watch on your wrist. It's a little wider than most men's watches, and probably a little thicker, too. That said, I think the faceplate size and overall design of the watch is such that it doesn't look too big on my just-under-medium-sized wrists. But it's a personal call, and I can see how some might find this too big and bulky for their tastes. You may want to visit a local watch dealer to take a look before ordering.
You should know that there are three different versions of this watch with varying price tags (all metal, mixed metal/rubber wristband, and a Blue-Angels-commemorative version). Each version is available in either stainless steel or titanium. Mine is the all-metal stainless-steel version. I weighed the pros and cons of titanium and decided against it. Relative to stainless steel, titanium is more resistant to corrosion, has greater tensile strength and is lighter. But I can't imagine any scenario in which I'm going to need those advantages. The watch's weight is a non-issue to me. Once it's on my wrist, I hardly even notice it's there. The disadvantages of titanium are it costs significantly more and has a slightly darker hue and less luster than stainless steel. Titanium is also a softer metal, so it should be less resistant to abrasions.
All in all, I'm very pleased with this watch. It couples a handsome, understated elegance with all of the functions I want in a timepiece.
You'll have to size the watch's wristband when you get it (unless you have very large wrists). You can do it yourself if you have the proper tool. There are tiny pins holding the different links together. You need an equally small tool to push them through from one side to the other. Take note of the arrows on the inside of the wristband that show the direction you should push the pins. If you don't size it yourself, be sure to point those arrows out to the person that sizes it for you. I took my watch to a jewelry counter at a respected clothing store to seek help. Unfortunately, the woman who helped was lacking in hand strength and ended up scuffing up several of the metal links before I knew what she was doing (yes, brushed stainless steel will scratch). If you can find the tool to do it, I recommend sizing it yourself to avoid the aggravation I went through.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to use slide rule, November 10, 2008
This review is from: Citizen Men's JR3000-51F Eco-Drive Skyhawk Chronograph Watch (Watch)
OK. For those who bought this watch because it looked neat, but had no clue what it is to own an aviator watch, here is an example of how to use the slide rule.
1. Lets say you are at a restaurant, and your bill comes out to $55. You wander what is 15% tip. Take the outer dial and align the number 15 on the outer dial to 10 on the inner dial. That will be your tip percentage. If you want to give 20% align 20 to the inner 10. Now, find 55 on inner dial. You should see about 82 for the corresponding outer dial. Divide 82 by 10. You get $8.20 which is your tip. Now, when you take some one out for a date, you could look like you actually use the bezel.
2. TAX can be calculated the same way. Just align the tax percentage on the outer dial to 10 on the inner dial.
3. You are on a road trip with rug rats. You have 200 miles to go and you are traveling at 70mph. The back seat monsters asks "are we there yet." You move 70 on the outer dial to the top arrow, where inner dial is 60. Find 20 on the outer dial. Corresponding inner dial is the amount of minutes to your destination. In this case 170. You are not done. Check the inside of the watch. on the outer edge of the face, you should see hour marks. 170 should correspond to 2:50 hours. Now tell the monsters that it is going to be another 2hours and 50 minutes so go to sleep.
I hope these will be useful for someone. As for negative reviews I have seen,
1. If you don't realize that almost all watches that are considered higher class than Casio Sports watches don't have lights, you don't deserve anything like this. Are you going to give negative reviews to Rolex because it does not have a light?
2. This is aviator watch guys! If you make them smaller, you will not be able to read or use the slide rule. If you can't realize that, buy different watch.
3. There is about a page explaining how to use the slide rule. But, since this is aviator watch, they probably expect you to know how to use E6B. Otherwise, hope my review helped.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Despite the cons, I would recommend!, February 12, 2007
This review is from: Citizen Men's JR3000-51F Eco-Drive Skyhawk Chronograph Watch (Watch)
PROS:
- It is a Citizen!
- 5 year warranty
- very nice looking
- eco-drive system: never needs batteries
- complete world time (DST per zone, etc).
CONS:
- no light (but that is due to the eco-drive)
- no hourly alarm
- for me, its is difficult to pull out the crown without loosening the bracelet
- very easy to scratch (and they say the titanium version is even more soft!)
For an average male wrist, it is not too big nor too heavy.
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