 |
| ||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
 Citizen Eco-Drive Men's Skyhawk Chronograph Watch #JR3080-51L By: Citizen Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 27 More Information My second (of three) Citizen watches  On: 2008-07-22I love my Skyhawk. Its almost the perfect watch. I bought my first Skyhawk in Tokyo, at the legendary Akihabara. It was a titanium model, and it quickly became my only watch. (OK, well ignore my ultra-thin Calvin Klein "airport special", designed to go through metal detectors without setting them off.) I wore it for 6 years, and then I had the misfortune to damage the bracelet. I inquired, and found that Id have to send it back to Japan for repair, at a ludicrous price. Instead I decided to buy a replacement; this time I opted for this stainless steel version from Amazon. Why "almost perfect"? Well, as other reviewers have noted, the Skyhawk can only handle whole-hour time zones, and I need to travel to India on business quite often. This is frustrating. On my last trip, a few months ago, I stopped at the watch store in the new Hyderabad airport. I figured that the best place to find a Citizen watch that worked in India would be in India. And I was right - I was able to buy a Navihawk. It doesnt have Eco-Drive, but apart from that its functionally equivalent to the Skyhawk - plus Indian time zone support! I paid a considerable price for it, but I dont mind: the Navihawk seems to have disappeared from the Amazon Citizen store. So now I have two Citizen "hawks": a Navihawk, and a Skyhawk. The Navihawk is slightly lighter; the Skyhawk slightly more comfortable. When Im at home, I pick one at random each morning. But next week, when I head off to Chennai on business, Ill be wearing the Navihawk. Life is good. Horribly complicated to set  On: 2008-04-15This watch is beautiful. I have a PhD (big deal), so I thought I could set it. Wrong! All I really need is to know what time it is in my zone, not what time it is in Zanzibar. I could not even get it set for that! The instruction book was not helpful; as most instuction books are it was badly written. It did not define unfamiliar terms. I ended up sending it back, so I still dont know what time it is. Maybe I never will. excelent watch.. I like it a lot! On: 2008-03-31The delivery was made on time. The product is very good and beautiful. Everybody likes it. cool watch On: 2007-11-22I purchased this for half the cost of repairing my Rolex and it looks better and keeps perfect time. If a deal seems too good.... On: 2007-08-21I purchased this same watch, for a little less, the seller was listed as Amazon, llc. The watch and packaging looked fine, but the watch was faulty. The analog hands of this watch function from the digital setting, however, something in my watch must have been calibrated wrong. When I would set the digital to 6, the hands would move to 12, Set to 3, the hands would move to 9. Three and a half weeks after they received my return, the refund has still not been posted to my account. Ive been ordering from Amazon for years, and this is my first bad experience. I should have known you cant get a $475 watch for $215! If a deal seems too good.... On: 2007-08-20I purchased this same watch, for a little less, the seller was listed as Amazon, llc. The watch and packaging looked fine, but the watch was faulty. The analog hands of this watch function from the digital setting, however, something in my watch must have been calibrated wrong. When I would set the digital to 6, the hands would move to 12, Set to 3, the hands would move to 9. Three and a half weeks after they received my return, the refund has still not been posted to my account. Ive been ordering from Amazon for years, and this is my first bad experience. I should have known you cant get a $475 watch for $215! Citizens Skyhawk Eco-drive On: 2007-06-09Love the watch. I like the look and have recieve many complments so far. You do have to read the manual, a few time to figure out some of the most simple functions, like changing time zones. Turns out it is simple but not intuitive. Citizen Men's Skyhawk Eco-Drive Chronograph Watch #JR3080-51L On: 2007-05-19THE WATCH IS ONE OF THE BEST WATCH I EVER OWNED Good watch, but not for myself... at least this time On: 2007-05-14Well, I liked everything about this watch comparing with other watches on the net. When I received the watch after 9 days - cause I chose the free shipping, It was out of order, or defected one, called citizen customer service trying to fix it without going thru the hassle of returning the product. After several hours of frustration, it is now being sent back to Amazon for a full refund. I will see how the refund process will be completed in a timely, professional manner by Amazon which my next purchase with Amazon will be based on.... Multifunctionality On: 2007-02-06The citizen skyhawk watch is one of those watches that seems to have about everything you can think of in a watch. Being solar powered was the real reason I bought it and of course all of those extra functions makes it to be something out of a sci-fi novel. I purchased mine aboard a cruise ship and the price was right and now I also have a momento of my cruise. I have always enjoyed having a cutting edge watch and now I feel I have it and am still learning new things to do with this watch. Lou W. Beautiful!!! On: 2007-01-18My husband loves it! i gave him for xmas gift! He loves it. He was pretty shocked what it can do and he still wearing it!! THANKS!!! Thanks again!! Great watch  On: 2007-01-11I really liked the look and style of this watch. My husband is in the military and travels frequently so I liked the easy time zone changing and the alarm function. Also because he travels on military aircraft I thought some of its other functions would be appealing. One thing I find wierd is that you cant see the date by just looking at the watch. You have to press a button to see the date. Setting the digital time using the crown dial was a little funky to get used to. There is no backlight and the numbers and hands dont glow which really shocked me. Especially when you focus on it for travel. How often do we check the time on a plane? A backlight just seems logical. Final comment, there are no instructions in the book about adjusting the wristband size. You want to be very careful with that task cause it can scratch up the band. I suppose Citizen expects that you would buy it at a jeweler and they can size it upon purchase. If that is the fact, Amazon could include those directions on their "a note about watch returns" form. Bargain for the price On: 2007-01-11I paid $215 for this watch and I got much more than what I could expect for this price. This is a chronograph watch which works on Eco Drive. When I first opened the watch, it automatically set its time. Also if you are not using the watch for some time and then opens it up, as soon as it comes to light, it accurately sets the time. The watch is easy to operate and doesnt need any maintenance. I have absolutely no issues with this watch. Good watch - missing a thing or two On: 2007-01-10Excellent watch for the price and provides lots of great functionality at your finger tips for active pilots. Would like to set labels for various time zones myself instead of pre-defined labels. Also would be nice to see a date without having to choose between date or a different time zone. Great watch for guys who are or feel yooung... On: 2007-01-09A dynamic or lets say a dynamite watch. Nothing more to say. Just buy it... Excellent choice On: 2006-08-24This is a great watch, it has a lot of features and battery longs a lot of time. I have used this watch for 3 weeks and battery level is full charged since the first day. You wont be dissapointed with this product. Skyhawk Eco-Drive On: 2006-08-20I have wanted to buy this watch for some time and I am glad I did. Amazon did a great job and shipped it on-time. Very happy with the service and the watch!!!!! it's good On: 2006-08-17this is good thing to send for me,I like it very much,its send for me so quickly Citizen Men's Skyhawk Eco-Drive Chronograph Watch On: 2006-08-06The watch provides: nearly instantly, the time/date in most of the 24 time zones of the world by referencing the major city in each region; three alarms; stop watch; count down timer; circular slide rule marked, in part, for general aviation use; analog display UTC/Zulu; & an analog 24 hour display for the time zone selected. A great watch for people who in part or whole: travel extensively (into other time zone); dont enjoy changing or paying for watch batteries; can use a slide rule; & can & will follow the multi-step process for setting the watch for use. The Skyhawk requires an user to spend sometime & effort to: set the hands to "zero"; the time & date (in only one time zone, other time zones are slaved to the one being changed); Day Light Savings Time (in multiple time zones); & the watch band to the proper length. I owned a battery powered Citizen Navihawk (which required almost as much initial effort & time to set it for use). After the initial work, I did not need to make any changes to the watch but for DST & when flying into new times zones. Changing the time & date when flying from WA to Australia or MN to the Arabian Gulf required only a few inputs. It provided seven years of superior service. Although operational until the battery died, my previous terrible experience w/ getting a new battery provided motivation to buy the solar powered Skyhawk. The compared to the Navihawk, the Skyhawk employs a similar input & output format & as large an instruction manual. However, Citizen now provides a CD for use in a PC that outlines, in excruciating detail, how to properly set up the watch. Once a user completes the initial setup, the watch will provide impressive results for years. Also, the user can take some minor pleasure from completing the instructions from the manual/CD. To avoid having to reset the watch (& going through the intial setup again), when not worn, the owner should insure light from some source strikes the photovoltaic cells on the face of the watch. Note, to change the watch band length requires either specific instruments/tools for removing & replacing the band pins or a jeweler. A step back for consumers. Very Impressed On: 2006-06-13I bought this watch about 1 year ago, have had no problems with it and have worn it practically everyday since. It has done everything I expected and kept very good time. Plus it is a very good looking watch that requires no regular maintenance even if you put it in a drawer occasionally. For the money, it is a great value. This watch feels like a quality watch and is easy to learn how to use with its CD to step you through the setup. A Keeper On: 2006-04-04Other reviewers covered many good aspects. Only a few things I took special notice: What I liked: - Very nice looking. Almost everybody takes note immediately - Numereous functionalities. Very easy to toggle between the functions: digital display of other time zones, calendars, etc. I personally found the bezel to be useful in simple calculations. Quite amazing and once you are used to it very handy to have a calculator without buttons. - I actually liked the weight and thickness of the watch (I bought the stainless steel version). This is definitely not a Wal-Mart feel. Never need to replace battery is great. A watch to keep. A few things I wished Citizen would improve: - The luminous dial/hands are too dim at night. Its impossible to see at a comfortable range in common activities, such as driving in dark. This is my biggest complaint. I had hoped this watch will be bright and shinny at night. - The watch goes into power conservation after a certain time in darkness (say you are wearing a long sleeve). The moment its exposed to light, the hands will move quickly to the correct time. The process is very quick but can be a little annoying at times when you need a quick glance. I wish with a full charge the watch will be smart enough not to do this but only goes into power save mode when charges are below 1/3 or so. - Just a note, this watch cannot be laid flat on its own due to the shape of the band. Like my previous Swiss Army. I can get use to it but when I take it off at home I need to stand it in its original display box so I can get it charged under a desk lamp. Wish it could be laid flat though. Overall a solid build watch and well worth the money Amazon is offering (not sure if I would say so had they indeed been offered at the so called MSRP of $400-$500). Very pleased On: 2006-02-22This watch is great, but the only thing about it I didnt like was the digital display to small. Great watch, but one negative On: 2006-01-13I bought the watch and think that the overall quality of materials and design was excellent. Everything works as advertised. The watch never fails to draw attention. The interactive instruction manual (also available on Citizens web site) does a good job of instructing users on some of major features of the watch. I did return the watch for only one reason: I cant quickly read off the time and date from the watch. This is the major reason why I wear a watch. The busy dial and very small numbers and letters in the non-backlit and low-contrast LCD subdials affect the readability of the watch. My aging eyes just cannot cope with such small letters, and the slide rule numbers on the bezel are almost imposssible to use without resorting to a magnifying glass. Bottom line: A great watch with many features, but hard to read. Blue Angels Skyhawk On: 2006-01-04I have owned this watch for several years. I find it to be incredibly durable and helpful in nearly all respects. Since the watch is continuously charging itself, with an internal protection system to prevent overcharging damage problems, I feel free to use all timing and alarm functions freely without worry about running out of battery life. Ive timed 14-15 hour trips on the chrono and never lost a bit of its charge (there are battery life bars on the left LCD display). The watch will go into an auto-off mode keeping only the minute and hour hands in operation if the watch slips under your sleeve or it gets dark. All other digital functions will remain active - chrono, countdown timer, etc. - but in a sleep mode. As soon as the watch face receives any type of light, even that of a lighter or flashlight it will come back to life and show all LCD displays as well as second-hand movement with their correct time/placement. Ive read some of the comments about LCDs being hard to read, dials being redundant, alarms being too soft, etc., but I have found none of this to be true. I can see that depending on each individuals eyesight this could be something to take into consideration, but the everyday usable funtions of this watch outway these drawbacks. If you arent mathematically inclined the rotating bezel calculation abilities could pose you problem, but they still look cool. I own many watches from cheap to expensive and get more comments on this one than any other. The luminous hands and dials are a little hard to read at times if it is nighttime, but in true darkness this is not completely true. It can take a few seconds for your eyes to adjust and focus in low-light, but you can get a time reading even hours after the watch has seen no light. Also understand that this is essentially a glow-in-the-dark coating that needs light to charge it. If the watch has been under a sleeve all day and then you go to bed or it gets dark there has been no light on the dial to "charge" the coating. The only true luminous dials I know of are from a watch brand called Lu----x. I would recommend this watch to anyone who wants looks/style, function, ease of care, durablility, and through Amazon price (I paid about $150 more than this when the watch first became available at a major department store). Blue Angels Skyhawk On: 2006-01-03I have owned this watch for several years. I find it to be incredibly durable and helpful in nearly all respects. Since the watch is continuously charging itself, with an internal protection system to prevent overcharging damage problems, I feel free to use all timing and alarm functions freely without worry about running out of battery life. Ive timed 14-15 hour trips on the chrono and never lost a bit of its charge (there are battery life bars on the left LCD display). The watch will go into an auto-off mode keeping only the minute and hour hands in operation if the watch slips under your sleeve or it gets dark. All other digital functions will remain active - chrono, countdown timer, etc. - but in a sleep mode. As soon as the watch face receives any type of light, even that of a lighter or flashlight it will come back to life and show all LCD displays as well as second-hand movement with their correct time/placement. Ive read some of the comments about LCDs being hard to read, dials being redundant, alarms being too soft, etc., but I have found none of this to be true. I can see that depending on each individuals eyesight this could be something to take into consideration, but the everyday usable funtions of this watch outway these drawbacks. If you arent mathematically inclined the rotating bezel calculation abilities could pose you problem, but they still look cool. I own many watches from cheap to expensive and get more comments on this one than any other. The luminous hands and dials are a little hard to read at times if it is nighttime, but in true darkness this is not completely true. It can take a few seconds for your eyes to adjust and focus in low-light, but you can get a time reading even hours after the watch has seen no light. Also understand that this is essentially a glow-in-the-dark coating that needs light to charge it. If the watch has been under a sleeve all day and then you go to bed or it gets dark there has been no light on the dial to "charge" the coating. The only true luminous dials I know of are from a watch brand called Lu----x. I would recommend this watch to anyone who wants looks/style, function, ease of care, durablility, and through Amazon price (I paid about $150 more than this when the watch first became available at a major department store). Great Watch On: 2005-11-05Unlike some of the other reviews, I find this to be an excellent time piece, without any major flaws. The digital display is small, but easy to read, plenty of contrast. Once you spend some time with it, setting it is easy. The alarm signal is soft, and while it may not wake you up, it is great for timing meditation sessions or other applications where you dont want a loud signal. The analog displays automatically adjusts to the digital... only need to set the digital. Lots of easy to access features. My watch performs very well; it loses 3 seconds per month against an atomic clock. Correcting for any variation is easy. Only draw back: the luminous hands are difficult to see at night. You wont get many clicks from geiger counter held up to the glowing pieces on the face. The Watch is great to look at. It works very well with either casual and formal dress Highly recommended, although it is probably not the watch for everyone. Should Be A Better Watch  On: 2005-05-21My review closely follows "toughcrowd" who wrote an excellent and detailed review. (...) Remember that the bezel is bi-directional in keeping with the concept of the watch. Theres no ratchet/spring device to keep it from moving around which for me was aggravating. The background UTC and 24 hour subdials are ok with me but should have been designed better to allow for larger time markers. Given the choice Id rather have larger markers than the two subdials which are not a necessity. The digital clock/date window is too small and has black LCD figures on a gray background. It needs to be larger and the background color more contrasting with the digits for better visibility. Its hard to read the digital time or date even in daylight. The digital clock and date are useless at night due to no background light. The time markers and hands do have illuminous coatings. But the hands and markers are so small that they are too dim at night. My experience was that the coatings only held light for a short time-certainly not overnight. The lack of half-hour time adjustment is unfortunate but will only affect those in Newfoundland, Suriname, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, and Central Australia. Suriname, Iran and Sri Lanka are not on my travel list so this is almost inconsequential. The alarm volume is way too low and not adjustable. If you have a skinny wrist and have to take a few links out the watch may become uncomfortable as it did for me. This indeed is a nice looking watch with many functions but you have to consider its limitations as well. The numerous features and functions of the Eco-Drive are still quite impressive. Except for the Arabic numeral bit, this timepiece is loaded with amenities. Its difficult to find a quality solar-powered watch with so many functions. I cannot find anyone or any study that shows titanium is more prone to surface damage than stainless steel. In fact it is twice as strong, a third lighter, and is extremely corrosion resistant compared to stainless. Unless you like the polished look of stainless, which is less expensive, go with titanium. Ive also researched analog/digital watches solar watches and Citizen is the way to go. The 5-year warranty and the Amazon price are outstanding as well-the retail price is $575.00. Having said all of that, I ended up returning the watch. The clincher was it simply became too uncomfortable after taking links out to fit my relatively skinny wrist. I give the 51L a marginal recommendation but look forward to continued evolution in design from Citizen and others in the solar/chronograph category. The Skyhawk should rely less on the Blue Angels motif and more on functionality. Great time piece On: 2005-05-05This is my most favorite watch. Ive owned several, and when I saw this solar powered watch, it was a "gotta have it" as soon as I saw one at the Mall. The hands are easy for me to read and they glow a soft blue at night. The digital display is a little hard to read for me as Im visually impaired, but I can get by just fine. The heft of the watch is impressive to me. Makes me feel like I have a fine piece of "equipment" on my arm. All the features work well for what I use it for. Alarms, timers, etc. Im sure the titaineum model would be lighter on my arm, but I like watches that I know they are on my arm. I wear it to work, church, and for just about everything. I hope more eco drive watches come out. I have another one that looks like the "you know what --lex" with the 24 hour hand. Its also Eco Drive. The Blue Angels watch keeps great time and is easy to set. Buy it youll like it. Nice watch, could be better On: 2005-04-01I purchased this watch because I wanted a solar-powered watch with analog-digital display (plus the usual things that go with a digital watch, i.e. alarms, stopwatch, and countdown timer). The only analog-digital solar watches I found included the Citizen Skyhawk, Citizen Sailhawk (JR4000 and JR4010), Citizen JR0006 (discontinued, but still available on some sites), the Casio atomic WVA430xxx (there are several incarnations, thus the xs), Casio WVA510x, Casio AWS90x, and the Casio PAG60 line (watches that sport barometer, thermometer, and compass functions). The Casios (those I could find in stores) all seemed rather bulky and "plasticky." The discontinued JR0006 had a more primitive power management system and lacked a coordinated analog and digital display, and I didnt need the Sailhawks yacht racing timer. I went with the Skyhawk in stainless, because I had read that titanium was more prone to surface injuries and I didnt think the weight would be a problem. The watch looks great and, indeed, the weight doesnt bother me, even though my benchpressing limit is probably about 20 pounds. The power save function really works. A moment after I took it out of the box, the hands started to spin around until they came to the right time; it had kept the time correctly for however many months or years it had been sitting in that box! It is NOT true, as many people have written, that this watch lacks luminous coatings, or that they lose their glow very quickly. The coatings seem very similar in brightness to those on my Seiko Divers watch (which are very bright), and remain visible all night long. However, it IS true that the luminous regions are very small in area, so the overall impression is that the watch is a bit dim at night. The circular slide rule on the bezel is very cute. Im not going to need it to calculate fuel consumption, but I will use it to calculate tips. There are a few things, however, that make this watch less than perfect. First, as others have observed, the watch face is attractive, but not particularly readable. The 24 hour and UTC subdials are adorable, but I cant see that I will ever need either (for any application that requires UTC, I would want to read the time off the more accurate digital display), and if the subdials werent there the minute marks could have been made larger and more readable. Second, theres no backlight for the digital display, so the digital functions are useless at night. (Casio somehow manages to have a backlight in their solar-powered watches.) Third, it only works with full-hour time zones, so the watch isnt going to work properly in those parts of the world with half-hour time zones. Fourth, in most modes the two buttons are given over to the change-time zone function. If you want to do things like set the alarm or the countdown timer, you have to fiddle with the crown. But the crown is so beautifully protected that you pretty much have to remove the watch from your wrist before you can manipulate it. Frankly, I might need to change time zones once every couple of months, but I need to set alarms a couple of times a day, and it would have been better if the commonest operations had been the easiest to perform. Fifth, the countdown timer only goes to 99 minutes, which is too short for a lot of timer applications. The timer function display is actually redundant; Citizen might have been able to make better use of the LCD display to allow one to set countdown times in hours and minutes. Sixth, the alarm is very quiet. It wont wake anyone from sleep, and probably wont be heard in a noisy environment, either. In contrast, the alarm on my old Timex Expedition is many times louder, goes into a more insistent mode if ignored, and repeats after an interlude of a few minutes if not cancelled. In sum, buy this watch if you want an attractive analog-digital, solar-powered watch, but recognize that there is a lot of room for improvement, and something better is bound to come out, someday. |