So, the idea of a perpetual calendar grabbed you, but yesterday’s Seiko was a bit too steeply priced for your taste? Well, then, let’s try this Citizen on for size, why don’t we?
Speaking of size, this is yet another large watch – 43mm by 13mm thick. Surprisingly, though, it’s only been mated to a 20mm leather strap. So, while that’s somewhat similar to the Seiko from yesterday, and they both have perpetual calendars, that’s where the similarities end. This Citizen packs in a lot more stuff, including:
- Eco-Drive E812 Quartz Movement
- Chronograph with alarm, 24 hour, and 1/20th of a second sub-dials
- Unidirectional bezel
- 200 meter water resistance
Now, if you’re not familiar with the Eco-Drive movements, they’re an interesting twist on a standard quartz. Basically, it relies on light (sunlight or artificial lights) to recharge the battery. This means we’re also dealing with a power reserve, which can be up to 270 days once it drops into power save mode. You’ll also get a warning 5 days prior to completely running out of juice.
Add in the chrono, alarm, and improved water resistance, and it’s pratically a slam dunk decision when it comes to this or the Seiko. But I haven’t even told you the best part about this blue and brown beauty. It can be found for $240. Now that’s a price I can get behind for a quartz, especially one that packs this much into the case. However, if this is still too steep for your wallet, I may have another one up my sleeve that’s even more affordable. More on that later!
I enjoyed seeing a review of this watch, but it’s incomplete. There’s no mention of its titanium case or of other band options. Personally, I prefer black bands or metal bands. I’m not interested in a brown band.
What makes this a perpetual calendar? The Seiko has day, date and month displays. The Citizen may always show the correct date, but I expect more from a perpetual calendar.
The photo of the BL5250-02L shows a world timer mode. Another review of this watch said it was mostly useless because the hands (not just the hour hand) spin around the dial until the new time zone’s time is displayed. It has to do the same to display home time again.
I like the looks of this watch, but it’s “just” a chronograph if the cool features are nearly unusable.
To be fair, most citizen world-timers are “weird” in that the whole thing starts spinning like a crazy person when you change nearly anything about them. That’s my biggest peeve with these complicated analog watches: the mechanisms just aren’t smooth. The T-Touch, in this respect, is amazing, in that the hands move independently of each other very quickly.
Also if you’re changing your current timezone more than a few times a month – the rate at which I suspect this thing would get REALLY annoying – you’re probably travelling to much.
You’ve got a point; this watch isn’t a dual timezone watch, but does allow you to change timezones. From that point of view, it’s not such a serious deficit. I’ve read that setting the alarm time has the same issue, but I probably wouldn’t use the watch for an alarm, not when I can tell Siri to “wake me at 7:30.” I’m a big fan of Citizen’s Eco-Drives, but I wish they would kick their designs up a notch.