Reply With QuoteI do like these - they alway seem to catch my eye
A chap at work decided last week that this Citizen chronograph was too big/heavy for him to wear comfortably so he offered it to me at a price that I couldn't really turn down. I've owned a few nice chronographs in the past - the best of which was without doubt a Speedbird 1903 (PRS12) which I wish I'd kept :( - the trouble is I rarely find a use for the stopwatch function & end up thinking "Why have I got a stopwatch on my wrist which I never use?" Hence I always end up selling them & have concentrated on other watches for my modest collection. Having said that though I didn't need much persuasion when he offered me this one as it is a very nice watch &, apart from a Casio digital, I don't have a chronograph in my collection.
The model number is AV0030-60A I think (not sure really) & it's a very well made watch indeed. The dial is beautiful being engine turned white/silver with polished edges to the three lower round subdials. Talking of subdials these are all ever so slightly translucent & are I'm sure the solar cells which absorb the light used to charge the watch. The chronograph subdials are at 3 & 9 with the constant seconds subdial at 6. At 12 there's a very useful power reseve indicator which, while I've owned the watch, has never read less than full - I wish all eco-drive watches had one of these. There's a recessed crown at 8 (not really visible in the photo) which controls the alarm, pull it out to set the alarm time (red skeleton hand pointing at 12 in the photo), pushing it in hard moves turns the alarm on, pushing it in again turns the alarm off. I've tried the alarm & it's quite tricky to set to an exact time, it's also the wrong side of quiet & only chimes for 20 seconds so the chances of it waking me (or anyone else) up are remote - I leave it switched off. Timekeeping is excellent as you'd expect from an eco-drive & the lume's pretty good as well (especially on the hour & minute hands). Water resistance is 200m/20 bar & the crown screws down securely. The bracelet has solid links & is integrated - I'm not usually a fan of integrated bracelets but this one's very comfortable to wear. The watch weighs a not inconsiderable 182g with the bracelet sized for me (there are no spare links so it's a good job it fits me otherwise I wouldn't have bought it) & it's 46mm across including the crown, it's 14mm thick but is contoured to sit nicely around the wrist not perched up on top of it. Having said that there's no way this watch could be described as slim dainty dress watch - chunky is the word.
The button at 2 starts & stops the chronograph, it takes quite a push to get it running & feels mechanical in operation, the central chronograph hand itself has a smooth(ish) sweep & doesn't move in 1 second steps unlike the other (cheap) quartz chrono's I've owned in the past - quite unusual for a quartz watch, chronograph or otherwise, I think. It's simply a 12 hour stopwatch (start/stop at 2, reset at 4) with no fancy split time function.
There you have it really - I still have no real use for a chronograph (though having thought about it I can use it to time my bike ride into work tomorrow) - but it's a lovely watch all the same & I'm not sorry that I bought it :)
My wife's not keen on it though - she thinks it looks a bit cheap & blingy - but she's used to me wearing black dialed watches all the time. My Dad liked it when he spotted it last week, so it's the usual thing of what one person likes the next person along doesn't (or vice versa). Apologies for the slightly blurred photo which was taken on my new phone (Sony Xperia Z1 compact) :)
Last edited by pauluspaolo; 30th September 2014 at 12:42.
I do like these - they alway seem to catch my eye
Nice write up and great looking watch...
Thank for a great review. You don't read too much on these nowadays.
I think it looks great!
You have a great value for money and very well made watch there that will last for years and has all the feel and operation of a quality mechanical chronograph.
I bought my first brand new around 10 years ago when they first came out, I was hooked, from then over the years i added the black dialled version and the titanium model (both picked up secondhand here or on TZ), then I bought a very well used black dial model from a chap at work as the rechargeable cell had given up and he asked if I wanted it for £20 :-)
I had a titanium bullhead model for a while but it never had the same wrist presence and as these started going for silly money I had to let it go.
Enjoy!
R
Very nice. I bought the Ti model with grey face on a holiday to Florida (two $ to the £, so I couldn't say no) some years ago and still have it.
I too have little real use for the chrono function, but just liked the watch.
I can't remember the last time I wore it, but don't feel inclined to move it on, as I still feel affection for it.
HTML Code:Underrated watch! Very nice mate
Looks cool, thanks for the write up!
thanks for the write up,enjoyable reading.i recently bought my first citizen eco-drive chrono and am impressed..
Nice watch. I have the black dial one and its one that gets a lot of wrist time.
Also the choice of the one the best comedy characters ever Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec
I have had eco-drives in the past and they are really good watches for little outlay. I think that these look well balanced,
I said in another thread on watch talk that I am not really a fan of power reserves but this is probably the best balanced dial with a PR that I have seen. I think they used this movement in the reproduction bullhead. the movement looked as if it was just moved round 90 degrees so made the watch look less balanced in my opinion.
Congrats on the watch !
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