Customer Reviews

Citizen Men's JY0010-50E Eco-Drive Skyhawk A-T Titanium Watch

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even though I'm not a pilot, I've always liked the Skyhawk/Navihawk titanium line of Citizen watches. My brother is a commercial pilot and has an older one. He loves it. They are just too cool. But I never liked the fact that they didn't have a backlight for the LCD displays. Well now they do! It has an amber backlight that works great. This watch is the new titanium version of the much heavier stainless steel JY0000-53E that came out last year.

Of course the weight of this watch is ridiculously light due to the Titanium construction. For such a big watch, I can hardly tell it's on. I can't stand a heavy watch bouncing on my arm. And be aware, this is definitely a big watch. But that seems to be the trend now (which I like).

The atomic time function works like a charm. I also like having world time at my fingertips. I have family members that live overseas, so it's nice to be able to check their local time at a glance.

It's great knowing I will never have to change batteries with this watch. The solar-powered "Eco-Drive" is an incredible feature that every watch company should have.

The watch has 2 alarms, world time zones (43 cities), solar power, atomic time, a countdown timer, a chronograph, a slide rule, UTC time, a 24 hour clock, ultra-light and nearly indestructable titanium construction, 200 meter waterproof, mineral glass, and it looks outstanding. What more could you want? I think it even does the dishes, bathrooms, and windows. But I haven't looked up those features yet in the 115 page manual (English portion).

One thing that's missing is a one-touch feature to bring all hands to the 12 o'clock position to clear the LCD displays during certain times of day. The hands occasionally obscure your attempts to read the LCD's. Another little gripe is you have to pull out and turn the crown to check the date. And it'll show you the date of your second time zone only. You have to do a couple more steps to get your home zone date if your second time zone is across the dateline from you. I think there's a way to set the LCD 2 to show the date all the time, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. (Correction 4/1/08: I don't think there is any way you can get LCD 2 to show the date.)

Forget Rolex, Breitling, and Omega. They might look cool and have their high-falutin image, but they have nowhere near the functionality and practicality of this new Citizen. And they all cost about 10 times more. They are also much heavier.

Bottom line: It's virtually indestructable, ultralight, maintenance and adjustment free. I never have to set the time again nor will I ever have to change a battery or put it in a watch-winder (for automatics). I'm a big fan and proud owner of one of the coolest watches on the planet.

The GOOD: If you need dual time zone watch this is it. I do deal with India all the time and that is challenge with nearly any other watch. India is 9 1/2 hours yes it is one of the few countries that is a 30 minute offset in time zone and does not change over to DST so then thats 10 1/2 hours just try keeping track of that and things fall apart. There is hardly any watch that will handle a half hour time zone except this one (even the old skyhawk didn't). This watch does that and more including alarms in different time zones so you can set the alarm in another time zone without doing a major compute for the local time. Two alarms so keep one on the local and the second on the world time if you wish. If you deal with London you get a third time zone the UTC sub dial and you can calculate most of Europe easily from that.
The watch is big and thick and in titanium weighs nothing its nearly as light as my kids Casio

The BAD: Contrast on the digital display is pretty bad.
The back light though present is not the best.
The hands cover the digital display a few times a day you can tilt and read under the hands but forget trying to set any function at 20 past the hour

The UGLY (loses one star for this): If you are going to use the second display for a world time zone there is no way to see the local calendar. Just to see the calendar you have to pull the crown 1 stop twist to change the mode and that will give you the calendar of the world zone So to have calendar functionality for local zone you have to set the world zone as your local zone (you lose an easy way to see the world zone). Simply put this watch can work as a dual zone watch or as a calendar watch not as both.

There are 2 nice press buttons one for the light (nice idea) and the other to indicate if the watch was able to sync with the atomic radio signal, it would have been much better if pressing that button would have flashed the local calendar on the display. Citizen could have easily put the atomic signal as an icon on the display. Citizen really dropped the ball on this one I nearly returned the watch due to the loss of calendar but I had got it during a price drop to $510 (Amazon not another vendor) and that sort of let me forget the day and date. Just keep in mind if you must have calendar and world time (besides UTC London) at the same time this watch does NOT do a good job. It does a great job for each (including perpetual calendar) but not both together

So I've had this watch about a week now and I love it! The build quality is awesome and you can tell the Japanese Workmanship is still going strong.

Looks - I think the watch looks great. It is quite big on the wrist but that it looks good for today's standards. It is looks like a heavy duty watch that was given to designers to make elegant. If I had to make a car analogy, I'd say it would have the same feel as if Lexus made a heavy duty truck.

Workmanship - The quality is great. The hands align perfectly on the mark. The second hand ticks where the second hand is supposed to tick which I find annoying if it doesn't. (I've seen omegas that don't even align properly.) The minute hand also moves slightly every time the second hand ticks, the quality is definitely there.

Functions - Calendar, Timer, Chronograph, Alarm 1, Alarm 2, and of course Atomic Time syncronization. There is also a dual time zone function which is very helpful (home time zone and away time zone, you just press a few buttons and it switches them vice versa). The only problem is that if you want to see the current date, it will show the date of the away time zone. This is slightly annoying as to see the current date and time, the zones would need to be set to the same city. The calendar function however would be more helpful to real pilots (which I am not) as they will probably actually land in the away time zone.

Weight - This watch is a good weight, not too heavy, not too light. It is well balanced. This pretty much means that you should expect the non-titanium (i.e. stainless steel) version to be very heavy!

Illuminating hands - at night the illumination is pretty good. There is ample surface area of illumination making it pretty easy to read. The illumination seems to die down pretty quickly however though I haven't tested about how long it lasts. (The watch hands can illuminate briefly in the daytime when you are out in the sun and then walk into a normal lit room, I don't mind it personally.)

Sliding Rule Bezel - I like the function and I think it is really useful. If you take the time to learn this old school calculator, it is really neat and handy. It is best for multiplication and division, it doesn't do addition or subtraction.

Eco Drive - It is hard to tell how well this works, but so far so good.

Overall - I love this watch, it is rugged yet elegant. It also has an extremely impressive set of bells and whistles. The titanium looks good but also makes the watch light enough for wearing all the time without having to think about it. I give it 4.7 stars. Nearly Perfect.

This is the watch to get if you want the state of the art technology in a watch and at an amazing reasonable price. You can shop aound for the best deal and if you do not mind the risk ebay has a few shops offering it at half off. I buy most of my stuff from amazon but sometimes ebay has extremely low price. I did get cheated twice on ebay and always only buy from ratings >99% with a lot of sales.
Most people buy this model first of all for the atomic clock. I live in California and it works great. At first I try to connect to the atomic clock transmission "on demand". I am not sure why it did not get the signal. Then I put it next to the window of my second floor bed room. Next morning when I check it did updated by the atomic clock. (I check against the US clock on the web and also the status shown on the watch that said it successfully received signal from the radio and set the time with it)
The second most likely reason to buy this watch is for the solar power. The watch when I receive it already is fully charged (unlike most cell phones). The manual said it will run for 6 months if fully charged. To fully charge the watch from almost completely discharged takes 20 hours under the sun or 60 hours with cloudy sky. I'll have to put it under the sun once every 3 month or put it under my desk light once a week. I wear my watch under long sleeve shorts and never expose it to light.
The third reason is for the weight (titanium). Even though the watch is "Hugh" it is light, lighter than a standard Rolex. I have not tried the other versions of the same watch, but you can save $50 to $100 for other versions that are heavier. If I have a second choice it would be the black belt one which will give the watch a cooler look in color.
There are a lot of functions this watch can do and most of which I am not going to use. The watch come with a cd that has all the info you need for adjustments to the watch. That is much better than the very small print manual which I have a hard time reading. I make a copy of the cd onto my laptop. I can assure you I cannot remember how to do most of those things without referring to the documentation. I'll give you one example. The watch has a home clock and a second "world" clock which you set to a city you travel to most often. Let's say now you fly there and you want to switch the two clocks. 1. Pull the crown to position 1 (there are 2 positions). 2. Turn the crown to adjust the mode to tme or cal (there are 8 modes). 3. Push button A and B at the same time until you hear a sound. The two clocks will have been switch. 4. Turn crown back to original mode. 5. Return crown to original position. It is easy if you follow instruction but difficult to remember.
The size of the crown is big compare to other watches like the standard Rolex. It is ok if you only need to do a few things. If you try many things like me when I got it new, you break your nail. So you may want to get a tool to help you if you are planning to use the crown for more than 10 minutes. Almost all adjustments require using the crown. The chronograph functions once set you will only use the two buttons and not the crown any more. Same for the 2 alarms once it is set.
There are many more pro's for the watch but I want to say something about the con's. The led display is too small for me and even when using the light it is hard to read. If you really want to use the digital readouts a lot you have to have very good eyes. I have yet to find out what is the use of the UTC hours and minute hands?
12/16/2008 Now I have used the alarm a few times I would like to add a few comments. There are 2 alarm settings. They are all very easy to do. The alarm setting is in the digital section. Be careful about the am and pm setting. It is not by the hr and min section and is at the bottom next to on and off. Someone else said the alarm is difficult to hear but I found it is quite acceptable and laud enough for me.

I am adding to this review after I have used this watch for 2 years and just bought another similar watch (blue angle version) last month.
This watch is the most useful watch for everyday use even for people like me who do not fly and have a couple of Rolex watch. In order to really enjoy this watch you need to read the manual carefully and also experiment different things. I keep a copy of the manual on my laptop because I can never remember how to do things that I do not use most of the time. If you do not want to read the manual this is not the watch you want to buy because you will not be able to even do very simple things with this watch like setting up the home city or use the alarms.
I have use this watch for over 2 years now and it has keep time perfectly (I assume it is due to the atomic clock feature).
The battery still works but it does not have full charges like my new watch. I was told by a watch repair man that it will work for 7 years. That makes sense because a cell phone battery will work for about 2 years. I have not try to put the watch under the sun or any light for all 2 years and I usually covered my watch because I almost always wear long sleeve clothing and it still always shows enough charge for 30 days. Last month I try to put the watch under the sun to see what happen and it does charge to almost full but then fall back to 2/3 after a day.
The 2 alarms are good but not as versatile as my cell phone because it is set for every day. My cell phone alarm can be set for any day of the week. But the watch alarm can be set to different time zone and it will always work without worrying about no battery power.
The calendar is set to the second time zone and it should have a choice as to which time zone you want it to be set to. One way to kind of get around it is to use the UTC clock to set it for the 3rd time zone. This way you can see the third time zone time all the time and set both time zone to the same as your home time zone. Also some times the analog hands cover part of the calendar and you have a difficult time to see it. If you need to use the calendar on your watch all the time then this watch is not for you. I think you are better off use your cell phone for the calendar function.

This is my 4th radio controlled watch (3 Casios & 1 Citizen).

THE GOOD: It really is beautiful. It is very-very well made. It synchronizes perfectly both here and in Europe (except for steel-framed buildings). The dials are easy to read, even at night. Even after three years of daily wearing, the watch still looks absolutely great.

THE BAD: The LCD info is way too small, I can't read it while in motion (I have 20-20 vision with my glasses on). Way too many totally unnecessary and useless features. Too heavy (titanium but huge). Alarm is impossible to hear (my hearing is less than perfect). The watch band can't be micro-adjusted.

THE UGLY: None

SUMMARY: Great watch, highly recommended.

P.S. Call up Citizen and check if your watch needs a ROM update.

P.P.S. Although it synchronizes well in my home in the US, it failed to synchronize in most hotels and European style apartment buildings I stayed at in the US and in Europe, even if I placed it outside the window (don't do this unless properly supervised by an experienced adult).

ADDENDUM on August 2, 2010. After 3+ years the crystal got slightly scratched so I took a deep breath... and... went for the replacement by the much talked about sapphire crystal. It took a little over 2 weeks and a little over 100 bucks. It was done by Citizen in Torrance, California. They did an excellent job. To be honest, I can't tell the difference between the old and the new crystals. Both looked/look great.

There is no question that when it has came down to great watches, Citizen has shown to be one of the most dominant brands in watches. I absolutely have been so amazed with the styles and the strength of their definitive eco-drive watches. They've shown to be the best without the hastle of the battery. That works well with this skyhawk A-T watch. It runs completely on not just the sun and artifical light, but has a perpetual calendar as well, that runs brilliantly through radio waves and has the best in world time. It really delivers the best in watches, for anyone that wants a pilot-style watch with all the joy of a titanium band. It really is strong, sturdy and worth every penny. I absolutely love the brilliance of this watch, and it is easy to program, and runs simply with the strength of the wrist, and the drive of what Citizen can really do. I absolutely recommend this watch a whole lot.

Price: B

Convince & Strength: B

Overall: B

I had been looking for a watch that needed no maintenance and had great looks and features, at the same time not super expensive. Citizen Skyhawk A-T Titanium does a great job at all of those. The watch is beautiful and has a solid feel to it. The titanium version costs about $250 more than the stainless steel version. For people with skinnier wrists, the wearing comfort is well worth the extra money. Unlike some watches which offer to store telephone numbers and so on, this watch does one thing really great and that is to show time.

Much so that I like this watch, there are a few things that citizen ignored which disappointed me. Although most of them have already been pointed out by other reviewers, I figured I will add the things that I noticed which I didn't find in other reviews.

1) When you look at the watch in total darkness especially when its sitting on a table, its hard to figure out the 12 o clock position because all the positions are made alike. I have seen $50 watches which make the 12 position bigger. I have no clue why this was done so.

2) At first glance, the watch looks like its loaded with all sorts of dials but after closer look, its apparent that most of the dials were not necessary. They could have saved some real-estate and made space for other useful displays like having analog date for the analog time and so on, because currently, if you set the home time zone different from world time zone, the date is only shown for one of them and not both. Also, they could have had a mode where the digital display would show the time and day-date together.

3) For a watch with an everlasting battery, it would have been good if they had made the LED back-light for the whole dial. This would have been especially helpful to change the mode in the night since it involves rotating the crown.

I am a little disappointed that citizen missed these things. I would have paid more just to have these features. Other than that, I would say this watch is as close to perfection as you can get for the price.

Finally, my advice to prospective buyers is to go to a jewelery store and try on both the titanium and stainless steel versions before purchasing.

I bought this watch roughly a year ago. Shortly after I bought it, I traveled by train all around Western Europe. It performed perfectly. It was fun to pull up into a Swiss train station where they have clocks with big, highly visible, second hands along the track. The watch was always absolutely dead on. With this watch there's no BS when it comes to time: you know exactly, precisely what time it is. Period.

I also have a Breitling, a Tag, and a vintage Rolex, as well as a number of other fine watches. Even though I bought this watch for the trip a year ago, I simply can't seem to take it off. There's something about knowing that you've got perfect time on your wrist, and you never have to wonder. I've learned to have absolute confidence in the watch. Rather than becoming bored with it, I've found that it spoils me. It has become my comfort zone.

As you've probably already figured out, Citizen makes very good watches for the money in looks, quality, and features. To me, they're number one in overall value, and this watch is no exception.

I use the timer for steaks when I cook out and I use the dual time-zone feature periodically as well. I've used the alarm a few times with no issues.

There are just a few compromises in the design. The hands do get in the way of the displays, but there is literally no way around that. I've made some notes to remind myself of some of the menus. The daylight saving time management is somewhat unintuitive, but, if you take the time to read the manual and write down the steps, it's no big deal. I've put a set of steps at the end of this review that might help you get and keep a grip on time zones and on daylight savings.

I've never had a problem keeping it fully charged. Every two or three months, I've left it out in the sunlight for about 15 minutes just to be sure, but it probably wasn't necessary. Ten minutes in the sun is supposed to charge it for six months! If you do anything in short sleeves outdoors, like golf, you can just forget it.

Other reviewers have noted that the titanium band scratches easily. The only spot that shows wear on mine is the bottom of the clamp on the band where I tend to rest my wrist while I work at a computer. It would probably buff out, but why bother? The rest of the band looks like new from a couple of feet away. It does feel very light, but in no way does it feel cheap. The bezel and crystal still look brand new. I haven't babied the watch, but I haven't worn it while working on my car, either.

From what I've said, it should be obvious that if I could only have one watch, this would be it, hands down. Nothing else has made me completely lose interest in wearing another watch. Only for the most formal occasions will I wear something different, and I'm always glad to get back to this one. If you're wondering whether you'll be glad you bought this watch, I'm betting you will.

Here are my steps for making two of the more involved settings. You'll find that all these steps won't be necessary, because some intermediate settings will already be what they need to be.

To choose a city:
The small LED window at left is your home city. This determines the time shown on the analog display. This window should represent where you are, because it determines which frequency is used for radio reception. (In Europe, it should show a European city.) To change cities, pull the crown out one stop. Set the watch to TME mode (orange mini hand at the bottom points straight down). Leave the crown out one stop. Upper and lower buttons now move the city choice up and down in the right window. Push both buttons simultaneously to swap cities between windows. When the desired combination of cities is reached, push the crown in to leave it in TME mode or rotate the crown to put in the CAL (calendar) mode, for example. Finally, push the crown in.

Setting daylight saving time:
The watch uses SMT to mean Daylight Saving Time. This can be confusing in the manual. SMT means Summer Time and is the abrieviation used in the UK. SMT can be set manually, city-by-city, or it can update automatically. I found that the automatic update is not reliable, but you may find it works fine where you live. To set SMT for a specific city, get the city to show in the right-hand window. Set mode at the bottom to RX-S. Pull out the crown two stops. Push the lower button to get mA showing, which means manual. Set the mode to WT-S at the top of the circle. If SET is not flashing, push the top button until the upper entry in the window (immediately below the city name) is flashing. Push the bottom button to switch from OFF to SET and back, and leave it at SET. Push the top button to get the bottom entry flashing -- it will flash either ON or OF. Push the bottom button to select between ON and OF (off). ON means daylight savings time is on for that city. Reset the mode as desired and push the crown back in.

Tim Naff

I owned the previous model Citizen Eco-Drive Skyhawk Titanium and recently bought the Skyhawk AT Titanium. Here is a comparison for others who are considering the upgrade. The new edition:

* Has a larger face, with a more readable UTC dial and larger digital display. The face is much more visible at night.

* Has a louder alarm. You still won't hear it if the watch is under a pillow, and don't even think about in the cockpit, but it is much improved. The new edition has 2 alarms instead of 3.

* Does a great job synchronizing with the national time signal. I'm 1000 miles from the signal in Colorado, and I get a strong signal during the day near a window, and also inside at night -- when the auto-sync is scheduled.

* Does not stop the second hand in the dark. The old model would quit ticking when the lights went out. I never minded that the second hand stopped -- it ensured that I never heard the ticking at night. Fortunately the new model is absolutely silent.

* Requires the crown to be pulled out in order to change modes. On the older model, one could just twist the crown without pulling it out. The new way is a minor inconvenience. At least the new crown is larger, with better texture, so it's much easier to pull out.

* Has white numbers painted on a plastic black bezel for the E6B circular slide rule flight computer. These are easier to read than the prior edition's black numbers engraved in titanium, but I doubt they will last as long.

I went a long time thinking about a watch and finally decided to make a decision. I had Rolex and other high end names in mind when I started and was ready to spend the $$ to get what I wanted. However, Citizen provided me with a nice package of options on this watch at a very reasonable price. I cross time zones often so the ability to switch to my local travel time while knowing the date and time at home are important to me. Having not worry about batteries is a big bonus and the automatic time setting means one less thing I need to think about.

If you are thinking about saving a few bucks by not getting the Titanium model... buck up! There is a world of weight difference between the titanium and stainless steel mode. Unfortunately I could not find one dealer in my area that carries the titanium model so I had to go on faith. Maybe you won't have to take the same leap of faith I did. If you do, I can only say I was not disappointed. I was shocked how much lighter it is.