Citizen

Citizen Men's JY0050-55L Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk A-T Chronograph Titanium Watch

• Light powered Eco-Drive Caliber U600 Japanese-quartz movement; charges in natural sunlight or indoor light
• Max power reserve: 180 days to 30 Months with Power Save; low charge warning: 3 days; charge time from stop state to max charge: Incandescent Light - 150 hrs, Outdoors, Cloudy (10,000 Lux) - 60 hrs, Outdoors, Sunny (100,000 Lux) - 20 hrs
• Durable, hardened non-reflective mineral crystal; multi-band atomic timekeeping with radio-controlled accuracy (North America, Europe, and Asia); world time in 43 cities; Greenwich Mean Time display; perpetual calendar

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

and chock full of innovative features, the Men's Blue Angels Skyhawk A-T Chronograph Titanium Watch from Citizen Eco-Drive combines aviator-inspired style with a sleek, sporty design. Offering a maximum power reserve of 180 days, with a low charge warning within three days of stop point, this distinctive timepiece is both reliable and up for the next adventure. It also features a durable, hardened mineral crystal, original Blue Angels insignia on its case back, and Blue Angels logo on a bold black dial. With a multi-band atomic receiver that accepts signals in North America, Europe, and Asia, this efficient accessory provides both world time in 43 cities, and a perpetual calendar, making it ideal for traveling. There's also a digital display light, two alarms, 1/100 second chronograph that measures up to 24 hours, and a 99 minute countdown timer. Rugged, handsome, and built to last, this Citizen Eco-Drive original arrives in a gray box, along with a manual, information CD.

Summary of Features:

• Atomic timekeeping with radio-controlled accuracy
• World time in 43 cities
• 2 alarms
• 1/100 second chronograph that measures up to 24 hours
• 99 minute countdown timer
• Digital display light
• Greenwich Mean Time display
• Rotating slide-rule bezel
• Non-reflective mineral crystal
• Power-reserve indicator

The Citizen Story

The company was established in 1924. The founding fathers selected the name Citizen so it would be ""Close to the Hearts of People Everywhere"" and soon after adopted the company’s formal name, Citizen Watch Company.

During the last seventy-five years Citizen has expanded its business throughout the world and has achieved recognition as the global brand. The past twenty-five year period has coincided with the company’s dramatic rise to its current position as the world’s largest watchmaker, a distinction Citizen has held every year since 1986.

Beyond sheer size, Citizen is also recognized as a worldwide leader in advanced technology. From the world’s slimmest LCD watch to the first voice recognition watch and the world’s first professional dive watch with an electronic depth sensor, Citizen’s record of ""world’s firsts"" is unmatched.

More recently, Citizen has staked out a new position as the leader in timekeeping with its Eco-Drives watches that are light powered. With models ranging from dress models to sports models to professional dive watches, Citizen Eco-Drive runs continuously in any kind of natural or artificial light for a lifetime of use. Fueled by light, it never needs a battery.

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B001QFYKTA
• Item model number: JY0050-55L
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #630 in Watches (See Top 100 in Watches)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A review for the Titanium model, December 2, 2009

By 

Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Citizen Men's JY0050-55L Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk A-T Chronograph Titanium Watch (Watch)

There already exist many reviews on Amazon for this watch. Most of the reviews can be found in the non-Titanium, non-Blue-Angels models. I just need to add a couple things. (I own this Blue Angels Titanium model).

TITANIUM-SPECIFIC PART: The Titanium version is much lighter! I compared it against a stainless steel model. The difference is huge. I know what most guys are thinking, "unlike this reviewer, I'm a real man who can handle an extra ounce on my wrist." FYI I consider myself pretty athletic. But I appreciate not feeling the watch on my wrist most of the time. Bottom-line: it's a personal choice. Titanium is lighter, stronger, and personally makes me feel better about this watch. Stainless steel is cheaper and gets the job done.


NON-TITANIUM-SPECIFIC PART - WATER RESISTANCE: The product description says "water resistant depth: 660 ft". I bought this watch thinking I could take it for scuba diving. The face of the watch says "WR 200" and the backplate says "WR 20BAR". But if you look up the owners manual, both these terms actually mean you can only skin-dive (I guess that means snorkeling.) Scuba-diving with air tank is NOT ok for this watch.

CALENDAR: HUGE pain in the a** to use. The date is only displayed for world time, not local time. This means at those hours when the world city is a day ahead of or behind your local time, you cannot get an accurate reading of your local date. The only fix is to set the world time city as your local city, which defeats the purpose of the "World Time" feature.

IN THE DARK: This watch is great in the dark! The luminescent dials are very bright in the dark. Additionally, there is a backlight. Because Apollo powers this watch, I don't need to worry about the backlight shortening battery life.

This is my first Citizen and I LOVE it. Still, I'll give it four stars, because the awkward calendar could have been very, very easily avoided by just a slight amount of foresight in design.
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SUMMARY

PROS: Titanium = strong + lightweight; Atomic accuracy - never needs setting; Easy to read in dark; Never needs battery replacement; Very good looking; Japanese quality at a fractional of the cost of Swiss antiquity.

CONS: VERY CLUMSY calendar function; Water resistance not adequate for scuba-diving; Most of the features that look cool have no practical use for most; Endorsed by Eli Manning - OH PLEASE!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Expensive Watch Capable Of Excellent Long Service And Timeless Looks, March 13, 2011

By 

alexanderaku - See all my reviews

This review is from: Citizen Men's JY0050-55L Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk A-T Chronograph Titanium Watch (Watch)

I started wearing Citizen watches some thirty years ago. After the realization my first lasted me 10 plus years of daily wear, I made a point of it. I'm almost 60 now. That first one was a water resistant chronograph model good to 330 feet under water, and it really saw rough treatment as I never took it off much for other than baths. I even once smashed the mineral glass crystal and had it replaced. I also had to have the metal bracelet segment pins replaced once as they had worn out. Still, no other watch I've ever owned has been able to stand up to such abuse for more than a year, such as the abuse I gave that first Citizen. I've owned all types, expensive Swiss jeweled movement and quartz, and not so expensive, and none of them has ever approached giving me the service I've gotten from my Citizen watches. Nor has any of them kept the correct time so well as my Citizen watches. Citizen watches actually keep better time in constant wear, and mine have always stayed within plus or minus two seconds accuracy per month. I've never needed to reset them beyond daylight savings time changes, or when traveling to another time zone.

My previous Citizen watch came from Amazon retailer associate, Princeton Watch. It was the 2003 America's Cup Titanium Sailhawk offered in 2002, rated for 330 feet of water (WR 100), and also known as the Stars&Stripes model (JR4000-55L). I purchased it directly due to the reliability of the first two Citizen watches I had, but I have enjoyed it much more as it is also an ECO model that never requires a battery. It also looks much like this newer Skyhawk model and has never needed any service. The mineral glass crystal and its sliding bezel are very scratched and worn now after almost nine years of constant wear, but it still looks great in spite of this. Sure, the titanium metal shows scratches easy if you rub it across something abrasive - but I learned early on how to take an abrasive pad and to lighty touch it up now and then for a return to its original great appearance. A few side benefits are titanium is extremely light and much stronger than stainless steel. It is also non-allergenic and won't cause a skin rash like other metals can. That lighter weight of titanium is also important in larger watches such as these, along with the strength. My Sailhawk also has time zones and many of the same functions of this Skyhawk. So, a Skyhawk model was the next logical choice for long service.

Since my Sailhawk is still giving great service, I intend to send it in to Citizen for standard cleaning and sealing service and a new crystal and bezel, now that I have this new Skyhawk Blue Angels ECO-radio controlled model. I'm sure Citizen will be able to return it to its original pristeen condition. That means it will be getting worn for many more years when I'm not wearing this new Skyhawk Blue Angels model.

I again purchased from Amazon retailer associate, Princeton Watch, but I purchased from them directly on their Online store - as I missed the Amazon link to their store when I returned here to purchase. The price was the same as here at Amazon's link to them and they gave me free one-day shipping. Had it not been for that, you would have seen the Amazon purchase confirmation on this review. You can find that Princeton Watch link here, but you have to look for it at times for some reason. At any rate, Princeton Watch is a great retailer on the Amazon list of dealers.

On to my use with this new Skyhawk JY0050-55L:

I've had this new JY0050-55L for about a week now. It looks so similar in size and configuration to my older Sailhawk, no one in my office has really noticed it. But, others always do notice it just as they have my Sailhawk. It's not uncommon for a stranger to just notice and comment, "Nice watch.".

This Skyhawk is larger than my Sailhawk by 4mm in case diameter and 1mm in case thickness (48mm x 16mm). That doesn't sound like much and it isn't. But, the size of this watch may be too much for smaller people. I'm 6'3" and 215, so it still fits and looks right on my wrist. The band actually accommodates larger wrists well, so I removed two bracelet links, just like I had done with my older Sailhawk, for a perfect fit. Had this watch been the cheaper stainless steel model, I'm sure I would have noticed the unfavorable added weight. As it is, I'm always aware it is there. The difference in weight from my titanium Sailhawk is not noticeable. From my use of stainless steel watches in the past, they are much heavier for their size and their metal bands wear out and break much easier. Titanium is almost indestructible. Hopefully, I'll never need it, but this new watch has the same great Citizen five-year warranty I had on my old Sailhawk - never needed to use that warranty.

Radio control:

This feature is the major difference from my older Sailhawk other than the bezel. This watch is most always showing a strong signal has been received, at my Alabama residence, at every update. This has also been so while I was wearing the watch during an update. First time set up was really easy as I used the Citizen Watch Company website with its interactive guide, but a small CD is also supplied. The provided samll paper book manual is also easily understood. My only complaint here is an inadvertent long press of the "radio update check" feature can trigger an automatic radio update. These updates can take up to 15 minutes. The only way to back out of that is to quickly pull the crown out one position and to then return it. At least an accidental long press is not something that should happen often.

Going for an extended stay in China or where there's no atomic clock radio signal?
This Skyhawk does the radio control act in the US, Europe, and Japan. Where the signal isn't available, it works just like a standard quality timepiece. If you want radio control where it's available in China - well, you'll need to up the ante considerably for a Promaster from Citizen.

The crown:

The crown is an improvement over my older Sailhawk as it has two positions. The first is for changing modes. On my Sailhawk, the mode was always getting inadvertently changed as this is done on it without moving the crown outward first - even though both crowns are well-protected by the case design. I find the crown easy to use when needed, as I only use it with my watch off of my wrist. That's no different from my Sailhawk or any other watch.

The settings buttons:

Again there is improvement over the older Sailhawk. The buttons are smaller but easier to snag and collect dirt on the Sailhawk, although I've never had any problem cleaning them with an old soft tooth brush and mild soap - per instructions for both of these watches. The new Skyhawk Blue Angels design of the buttons is unopen on the wrist side, and the machined and polished button angles will not allow anything to snag or pull at them.

The slide rule bezel:

Okay, I have 20/15 vision, but I've got to admit the numbers are small enough to make one look more closely to use it. Yeah, us older guys tend to lose that close up vision also. Really though, how many times will the slide rule bezel be used? It is novel and looks nice, but most of what it does I can do in my head. Again, there is another improvement in the bezel movement over the bezel on the Sailhawk. The bezel feels as if it has a fine "click" positioning to hold it in place, whereas the bezel on the Sailhawk slides almost too easily.

World time:

This dial at the 12 O'clock position is not available on my Sailhawk. It continuously displays 24-hour time in hours and minutes for the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

Military time:

This is always displayed on the 2 O'clock dial by hour. The display is about half the size of the one on my Sailhawk, but I find it to be no problem.

The lighted dial:

This works quite well at night for the LCD displays. It only stays on for a few seconds even if you continue holding the button for it down - evidently to conserve the solar charge. My only complaint here is it really doesn't light the full dial but rather the LCDs. In my use, I like to keep the mode in "CAL" instead of "TME", so the date is displayed in the LCD instead of the time. Fortunately, the hands and dial markings on this model are much easier to see at night than they are on the Sailhawk - another great improvement.

Water resistance:

This has never been a problem with any Citizen watch I've owned. The rating on this one is double what I had with the others - WR 200 (660 feet).

If you read the Citizen website PDF manual for this watch, I'm sure you'll be better apprised of what it will do and its operation. It is a great watch even for the rather large price - but then, we still aren't talking Rolex prices and you have to remember this model approaches the more costly Citizen Asian and European Promaster styles - without their higher cost. Other than not having a sapphire crystal, I'm not so sure the Skyhawk isn't better than the Promaster - and I know I like they style better. One more thing, I find this Blue Angels model very collectable for the ceramic inset on the case back (like my America's Cup Sailhawk has). Also, I'm expecting this Blue Angels Skyhawk Titanium, radio-controlled watch, will last just as long as my other Citizen watches have lasted. That's the true test of any great watch. So far, Citizen watches have lived up to that test with me.

Addendum: The DAY/DATE feature

This right-hand LCD feature window has always displayed the CORRECT day and date for the time zone city I set to display in the left LCD window.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this watch....CITIZEN BLUE ANGELS SKYHAWK TITANIUM ATOMIC...., December 4, 2010

By 

RAKRI - See all my reviews

This review is from: Citizen Men's JY0050-55L Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk A-T Chronograph Titanium Watch (Watch)

Citizen Men's JY0050-55L Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk A-T Chronograph Titanium Watch

Wanted a new watch with multifunctions, radio-atomic controlled, titanium, stylish features for this Christmas. Have been using Casio Pathfinder triple sensor watch ABC titanium,so I knew how a titanium watch felt on wrist::Light weight as compared to other metals/alloys.
Citizen watches has a wonderful collections of watches- my choice was JY0050-55L.

This watch has a great look on RIGHT or LEFT wrist as it doesnot have huge sticking out clasps/crown/buttons.The color of the dial is blue with some yellow and white in it.-looks great. Crown and buttons are perfect size-easy to use.

Its a compact watch with a lot of funCtions. titanium makes a big difference. First Look gives an impression of being bulk/heavy- but once in hand-its a big difference-very light weight.
The product instruction manual is great and the CD also has interactive instructions with PDF manual to print or read.

Atomic Timekeeping with Radio-Controlled Accuracy and no battery required. 2 PICTURES ALSO ATTACHED
Very happy with this watch......
FIVE STARS