Customer Reviews

Citizen Men's JR3080-51L Eco-Drive Blue Angels Watch

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased this watch because I wanted a solar-powered watch with analog-digital display (plus the usual things that go with a digital watch, i.e. alarms, stopwatch, and countdown timer). The only analog-digital solar watches I found included the Citizen Skyhawk, Citizen Sailhawk (JR4000 and JR4010), Citizen JR0006 (discontinued, but still available on some sites), the Casio atomic WVA430xxx (there are several incarnations, thus the 'x's'), Casio WVA510x, Casio AWS90x, and the Casio PAG60 line (watches that sport barometer, thermometer, and compass functions). The Casios (those I could find in stores) all seemed rather bulky and "plasticky." The discontinued JR0006 had a more primitive power management system and lacked a coordinated analog and digital display, and I didn't need the Sailhawk's yacht racing timer. I went with the Skyhawk in stainless, because I had read that titanium was more prone to surface injuries and I didn't think the weight would be a problem. The watch looks great and, indeed, the weight doesn't bother me, even though my benchpressing limit is probably about 20 pounds. The power save function really works. A moment after I took it out of the box, the hands started to spin around until they came to the right time; it had kept the time correctly for however many months or years it had been sitting in that box! It is NOT true, as many people have written, that this watch lacks luminous coatings, or that they lose their glow very quickly. The coatings seem very similar in brightness to those on my Seiko Diver's watch (which are very bright), and remain visible all night long. However, it IS true that the luminous regions are very small in area, so the overall impression is that the watch is a bit dim at night. The circular slide rule on the bezel is very cute. I'm not going to need it to calculate fuel consumption, but I will use it to calculate tips. There are a few things, however, that make this watch less than perfect. First, as others have observed, the watch face is attractive, but not particularly readable. The 24 hour and UTC subdials are adorable, but I can't see that I will ever need either (for any application that requires UTC, I would want to read the time off the more accurate digital display), and if the subdials weren't there the minute marks could have been made larger and more readable. Second, there's no backlight for the digital display, so the digital functions are useless at night. (Casio somehow manages to have a backlight in their solar-powered watches.) Third, it only works with full-hour time zones, so the watch isn't going to work properly in those parts of the world with half-hour time zones. Fourth, in most modes the two buttons are given over to the change-time zone function. If you want to do things like set the alarm or the countdown timer, you have to fiddle with the crown. But the crown is so beautifully protected that you pretty much have to remove the watch from your wrist before you can manipulate it. Frankly, I might need to change time zones once every couple of months, but I need to set alarms a couple of times a day, and it would have been better if the commonest operations had been the easiest to perform. Fifth, the countdown timer only goes to 99 minutes, which is too short for a lot of timer applications. The timer function display is actually redundant; Citizen might have been able to make better use of the LCD display to allow one to set countdown times in hours and minutes. Sixth, the alarm is very quiet. It won't wake anyone from sleep, and probably won't be heard in a noisy environment, either. In contrast, the alarm on my old Timex Expedition is many times louder, goes into a more insistent mode if ignored, and repeats after an interlude of a few minutes if not cancelled. In sum, buy this watch if you want an attractive analog-digital, solar-powered watch, but recognize that there is a lot of room for improvement, and something better is bound to come out, someday.

I have owned Brietlings (highly recommended if you can afford them) and all manner of other watches over the past 40 years and I must say that the Citizen Skyhawk has everything I need in a relatively inexpensive timepiece. I use every function, from the countdown timer to the stopwatch to the alarm in different time zones. In my trip to Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq this year, not one feature of this watch has failed me...not once.

I even use the rotating slide rule to convert statute miles to nautical miles and gallons to pounds of fuel.

I higly recommend this watch. And people keep asking me if the watch is a Breitling Navitimer.....a nice additional benefit.

My review closely follows "toughcrowd" who wrote an excellent and detailed review.

(...)

Remember that the bezel is bi-directional in keeping with the concept of the watch. There's no ratchet/spring device to keep it from moving around which for me was aggravating.

The background UTC and 24 hour subdials are ok with me but should have been designed better to allow for larger time markers. Given the choice I'd rather have larger markers than the two subdials which are not a necessity.

The digital clock/date window is too small and has black LCD figures on a gray background. It needs to be larger and the background color more contrasting with the digits for better visibility. It's hard to read the digital time or date even in daylight. The digital clock and date are useless at night due to no background light.

The time markers and hands do have illuminous coatings. But the hands and markers are so small that they are too dim at night. My experience was that the coatings only held light for a short time-certainly not overnight.

The lack of half-hour time adjustment is unfortunate but will only affect those in Newfoundland, Suriname, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, and Central Australia. Suriname, Iran and Sri Lanka are not on my travel list so this is almost inconsequential.

The alarm volume is way too low and not adjustable.

If you have a skinny wrist and have to take a few links out the watch may become uncomfortable as it did for me.


This indeed is a nice looking watch with many functions but you have to consider its limitations as well. The numerous features and functions of the Eco-Drive are still quite impressive. Except for the Arabic numeral bit, this timepiece is loaded with amenities. It's difficult to find a quality solar-powered watch with so many functions.
I cannot find anyone or any study that shows titanium is more prone to surface damage than stainless steel. In fact it is twice as strong, a third lighter, and is extremely corrosion resistant compared to stainless. Unless you like the polished look of stainless, which is less expensive, go with titanium. I've also researched analog/digital watches solar watches and Citizen is the way to go. The 5-year warranty and the Amazon price are outstanding as well-the retail price is $575.00.

Having said all of that, I ended up returning the watch. The clincher was it simply became too uncomfortable after taking links out to fit my relatively skinny wrist. I give the 51L a marginal recommendation but look forward to continued evolution in design from Citizen and others in the solar/chronograph category. The Skyhawk should rely less on the Blue Angels motif and more on functionality.

The Skyhawk has ended my 30+ years of collecting watches. There is simply nothing else on the market with its functionality, durability and efficiency.

Its Eco-Drive technology runs on light and never needs a battery. Its quartz accuracy has kept up with the atomic clock! I personally like the distinctive design, the Skyhawk's size and weight. (I own larger and heavier watches, so its size and heft is not a problem to me -- and I have relatively small wrists).

Its amazing range of functions are practical and I use them daily: the 24-hour dial, the UTC dial, the 30 different cities and time zones, the timer, the chronograph, the three different alarms, the perpetual calendar that never needs setting, instantly switching the hands to any time-zone in the world (great for traveling) -- I use everything but the slide-rule bezel (though it's easy to learn and, in a pinch, it's THERE).

Did I mention its FOUR-YEAR POWER RESERVE? (Once fully charged -- by light -- you could shut the Skyhawk in a dark drawer, pull it out after four years, and it starts right up with the perfect time and day-date!) I've always appreciated and collected automatics. But NO automatic is this accurate or efficient. Or fully functional.

I'll keep my Rolexes and Breitlings and Omegas and wear them on special, formal occasions, I suppose. But I can't imagine ever being without the Skyhawk. Nor can I imagine ever buying another watch again.

I bought the watch and think that the overall quality of materials and design was excellent. Everything works as advertised. The watch never fails to draw attention. The interactive instruction manual (also available on Citizen's web site) does a good job of instructing users on some of major features of the watch.

I did return the watch for only one reason: I can't quickly read off the time and date from the watch. This is the major reason why I wear a watch. The busy dial and very small numbers and letters in the non-backlit and low-contrast LCD subdials affect the readability of the watch. My aging eyes just cannot cope with such small letters, and the slide rule numbers on the bezel are almost imposssible to use without resorting to a magnifying glass.

Bottom line: A great watch with many features, but hard to read.

The watch provides: nearly instantly, the time/date in most of the 24 time zones of the world by referencing the major city in each region; three alarms; stop watch; count down timer; circular slide rule marked, in part, for general aviation use; analog display UTC/Zulu; & an analog 24 hour display for the time zone selected.

A great watch for people who in part or whole: travel extensively (into other time zone); don't enjoy changing or paying for watch batteries; can use a slide rule; & can & will follow the multi-step process for setting the watch for use.

The Skyhawk requires an user to spend sometime & effort to: set the hands to "zero"; the time & date (in only one time zone, other time zones are slaved to the one being changed); Day Light Savings Time (in multiple time zones); & the watch band to the proper length.

I owned a battery powered Citizen Navihawk (which required almost as much initial effort & time to set it for use). After the initial work, I did not need to make any changes to the watch but for DST & when flying into new times zones. Changing the time & date when flying from WA to Australia or MN to the Arabian Gulf required only a few inputs. It provided seven years of superior service. Although operational until the battery died, my previous terrible experience w/ getting a new battery provided motivation to buy the solar powered Skyhawk.

Similiar to the Navihawk, the Skyhawk employs a similar input & output format & as large an instruction manual. However, Citizen now provides a CD for use in a PC that outlines, in excruciating detail, how to properly set up the watch.

Once a user completes the initial setup, the watch will provide impressive results for years. Also, the user can take some minor pleasure from completing the instructions from the manual/CD.

To avoid having to reset the watch (& going through the intial setup again), when not worn, the owner should insure light from some source strikes the photovoltaic cells on the face of the watch.

Note, to change the watch band length requires either specific instruments/tools for removing & replacing the band pins or a jeweler. A step back for consumers.

Unlike some of the other reviews, I find this to be an excellent time piece, without any major flaws. The digital display is small, but easy to read, plenty of contrast. Once you spend some time with it, setting it is easy. The alarm signal is soft, and while it may not wake you up, it is great for timing meditation sessions or other applications where you don't want a loud signal.

The analog displays automatically adjusts to the digital... only need to set the digital. Lots of easy to access features. My watch performs very well; it loses 3 seconds per month against an atomic clock. Correcting for any variation is easy.

Only draw back: the luminous hands are difficult to see at night. You won't get many clicks from geiger counter held up to the glowing pieces on the face.

The Watch is great to look at. It works very well with either casual and formal dress

Highly recommended, although it is probably not the watch for everyone.

Years ago, many vendors sold chronographs with numerous "complications" as they say in the watch business. My first was from Seiko. Unfortunately, over the years, many vendors have dropped out of the chronograph business or raised their prices into the stratosphere. The picture has been made even murkier by a number of low-end vendors (you know who <u>they</u> are!) which have introduced watches that look like chronographs, but only have dummy extra dials.

Fortunately, some time back, I discovered that Citizen had stayed the course. In the intervening years, I've had a number of them, and this is my latest. (I should add that the reason I had many of them was less related to reliability than to my lack of will power when a newer model came along.)

This watch has almost everything I could ask for. Alarms, multiple time zones, and all the usual chronograph functions we've come to expect. Even better, it's solar powered featuring Citizen's Eco-Drive which means never having to replace the battery. Even cooler, the case and band are titanium which means it weighs much less than the older stainless steel Citizen it replaced. (It actually weighs less than a stainless steel Kenneth Cole fashion watch my wife wears daily.) Perhaps most amazing is that it costs well under a thousand dollars - something quite rare in a watch of its capabilities.

What's not perfect? It would be nice to have a backlight, but that's pretty much mutually exclusive with the Eco-Drive. I'd also gladly exchange one of the 3 alarms for an hourly chime as I had on an earlier Citizen. Still, those are pretty minor quibbles.

If you're looking for something with a coolness factor even greater than a TAG-Heuer or Breitling at half the price or less (<u>much</u> less in the case of Breitling!), this should be where you start shopping. It may well be where you stop as well.

Highly recommended!

I have owned this watch for several years. I find it to be incredibly durable and helpful in nearly all respects. Since the watch is continuously charging itself, with an internal protection system to prevent overcharging damage problems, I feel free to use all timing and alarm functions freely without worry about running out of battery life. I've timed 14-15 hour trips on the chrono and never lost a bit of it's charge (there are battery life bars on the left LCD display). The watch will go into an auto-off mode keeping only the minute and hour hands in operation if the watch slips under your sleeve or it gets dark. All other digital functions will remain active - chrono, countdown timer, etc. - but in a sleep mode. As soon as the watch face receives any type of light, even that of a lighter or flashlight it will come back to life and show all LCD displays as well as second-hand movement with their correct time/placement. I've read some of the comments about LCD's being hard to read, dials being redundant, alarms being too soft, etc., but I have found none of this to be true. I can see that depending on each individuals eyesight this could be something to take into consideration, but the everyday usable funtions of this watch outway these drawbacks. If you aren't mathematically inclined the rotating bezel calculation abilities could pose you problem, but they still look cool. I own many watches from cheap to expensive and get more comments on this one than any other. The luminous hands and dials are a little hard to read at times if it is nighttime, but in true darkness this is not completely true. It can take a few seconds for your eyes to adjust and focus in low-light, but you can get a time reading even hours after the watch has seen no light. Also understand that this is essentially a glow-in-the-dark coating that needs light to charge it. If the watch has been under a sleeve all day and then you go to bed or it gets dark there has been no light on the dial to "charge" the coating. The only true luminous dials I know of are from a watch brand called Lu----x. I would recommend this watch to anyone who wants looks/style, function, ease of care, durablility, and through Amazon price (I paid about $150 more than this when the watch first became available at a major department store).

Other reviewers covered many good aspects. Only a few things I took special notice:

What I liked:
- Very nice looking. Almost everybody takes note immediately
- Numereous functionalities. Very easy to toggle between the functions: digital display of other time zones, calendars, etc. I personally found the bezel to be useful in simple calculations. Quite amazing and once you are used to it very handy to have a calculator without buttons.
- I actually liked the weight and thickness of the watch (I bought the stainless steel version). This is definitely not a Wal-Mart feel. Never need to replace battery is great. A watch to keep.

A few things I wished Citizen would improve:
- The luminous dial/hands are too dim at night. It's impossible to see at a comfortable range in common activities, such as driving in dark. This is my biggest complaint. I had hoped this watch will be bright and shinny at night.
- The watch goes into power conservation after a certain time in darkness (say you are wearing a long sleeve). The moment it's exposed to light, the hands will move quickly to the correct time. The process is very quick but can be a little annoying at times when you need a quick glance. I wish with a full charge the watch will be smart enough not to do this but only goes into power save mode when charges are below 1/3 or so.
- Just a note, this watch cannot be laid flat on its own due to the shape of the band. Like my previous Swiss Army. I can get use to it but when I take it off at home I need to stand it in its original display box so I can get it charged under a desk lamp. Wish it could be laid flat though.

Overall a solid build watch and well worth the money Amazon is offering (not sure if I would say so had they indeed been offered at the so called MSRP of $400-$500).