The Citizen Skyhawk - re-posted with new pics

I lost (and eventually found) the password to my last username on this forum. Anyway, having messed around with my webspace all the pics to the original 'peddler' review have been removed so I thought I would re-post this review with some new pics I have more recently uploaded in order to keep it fresh. The text remains original.

The Citizen Skyhawk is a remarkable watch. Solar powered, amazingly accurate and comfortable to boot. Be warned though, it?s not a small watch but it does wear remarkably comfortably considering its size.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rick.hu...ition=download

Case and Bracelet Design.

I?m more than aware that there?s a lot of people out there who are put off by the fact that the bracelet on this watch is integrated and cannot be easily changed to anything else but I have to say that it?s a wonderful piece of design and extremely comfortable to boot. I?m not sure if it?s suitable for people with excessively small wrists though as it?s not as flexible as a standard Jubilee or Oyster style bracelet. The combination of case and bracelet is very Omega-like in its quality though and the combination works really well to help hide some of the thickness of this watch. The bracelet has a button-release system and additional safety buckle and, in the couple of years I have had the watch, I have never had it accidentally come undone ? what?s more it can be removed in the blink of an eye.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rick.hu...ition=download

Sadly the crystal is a mineral glass one instead of sapphire or acrylic ? this is a real shame as it has a nice dome effect which looks great in profile. I personally think that any domed crystal is domed to scratches and scrapes unless made of sapphire but so far my Ti Skyhawk is flawless.

The crown is somewhat on the small side and doesn?t screw down. This is a good thing for once though because the functions on the watch are accessed by rotating the crown in either direction ? like the Brietling and TAG Kirium. However unlike those watches, the Skyhawk is an Eco-Drive! The buttons are fairly subtle and really make the style of the watch modern-looking without being naff ? I suspect that the Skyhawk is one of those watches which will always looks great.

The caseback on the Ti version has a raised globe motive and looks great ? I think this helps anchor the watch to your wrist and stops it from slopping around too much.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rick.hu...ition=download

Face and Movement

The Skyhawk has a very busy-looking face. There are three sub-dials showing 24-hour display, UTC time and the mode indicator. There?s also two LCD panels showing all the other modes the watch features including:

Time (Hours, Minutes, Seconds, AM/PM and Timezone)
Date (Month, Date, Day)
Alarm 1, 2 and 3.
Chronograph
Countdown timer

The bezel is a slide-rule jobbie - I never use it and am virtually clueless regarding its operation so I don't think it's really fair to comment too much. Needless to say the numbers on it are very small but it does turn smoothly in both directions.

Modes are accessed by rotating the crown, adjusted by pulling out the crown one or two stops and the use of both buttons. This is a great way of accessing additional functions and I have found that the various alarms etc can be adjusted very quickly using this control method.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rick.hu...ition=download
Note that this is the stainless steel version.

On my original stainless steel Skyhawk the seconds hand lined up nicely with each indicated on the dial but on my replacement Ti version it doesn?t quite align all the way around the dial. This is an issue with many quartz watches but it doesn?t bother me too much. The hands all move every 15-seconds (it?s very hard to sometimes see the sub-hands move but they do ? all in unison which is very cool).

Unfortunately the one thing which really lets down this watch in my opinion is the lack of backlight. The inclusion of a backlight would have made the watch virtually perfect in my opinion. The lume is not very bright but actually does work fairly well in a very dark room and remains working pretty much all night ? all be it very dimly. Another thing which does let the watch down somewhat is the alarms which are neither loud enough or go on for long enough ? although in all fairness this problem is commonplace on virtually all quartz alarm watches.

Due to the Eco-Drive system when the watch is kept in darkness (or under your sleeve) the seconds hand stops ticking after a couple of minutes and the LCD displays switch off to conserve power. Once the watch is exposed to light again, the displays magically switch themselves back on and the seconds hand whizzes around to display the correct time within a couple of seconds. At first this was quite cool to watch but after a while it got a little irritating. It perhaps would have been better if Citizen had of made this feature work only after a couple of hours of darkness but I suppose you can?t have everything.

The Skyhawk is blindingly accurate. We?re realistically talking about +/- 1 second PER MONTH! The only non-atomic (i.e. Casio Waveceptor) watch I have which is more accurate is the fabulous Citizen 2100 Eco-Drive chronograph which by my calculations will be running at +/- 5 seconds PER YEAR! WOW! Truth is I will have died on old age long before either watches are more than five minutes off ? that?s scarey!

All in all I think the Skyhawk is an excellent watch. Easily the equal in my opinion to some of the overpriced quartz models from companies such as Omega, Brietling and TAG ? the Eco-Drive movement gives it the edge over most quartz and it doesn?t appear to have the problems which Seiko experienced in their early kinetic watches. I would recommend it to anyone (with reasonably large wrists anyway). I hope you liked the review and the pics.

good review many thanks.

i disagree on some points: the "smoothness" of the design i feel is offputting- it doesn't look like a tool watch, and the integrated strap means i wouldnt get one. from an aesthetic point of view i'm not a fan.

from a functional p.o.v i couldn't agree more. the citizen's i've owned are easily the most use-able, use-ful day to day watches imaginable.

classic, clean watch....like it!

I ve gor one of these, its a great holiday watch and very accurate +5 seconds per week. Must have just been lucky with it I guess.

I have an eco drive promaster tough and have never had to adjust it !!