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 Citizen Eco-Drive Men's Calibre 8700 Watch #BL8004-53E By: Citizen Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 16 More Information Get it Cruising  On: 2008-06-01While on a cruise I saw this watch and fell in lust with it. I held off on buying it thinking of buyers remorse. Over the next four day I thought about it and finally went back for it and Im happy that I did. I am more then pleased with the way that it looks and works. But, the best thing about it is that on board ship there is no tax (YES!) and the price was in the area of $265. How can you not buy this watch? I dont work for the fun ship or the watch company Im just a happy capitalist. Good timepiece, but not durable  On: 2008-03-31After having this watch for two weeks, here are my thoughts on the pros/cons. I will be returning this watch as I have found that it is not durable enough for the price. I wore it in a typical office environment during this time...hopefully I just received a poor copy of this watch. Pros: Perpetual calendar and local time functions are very useful, and hard to find in this price range (outside of a digital). The watch face and overall construction are beautiful. The watch is complex, but Citizen has good instructions that make it easy to remember how to use the advanced features when you are away from your instruction book. Cons: The two crown pull settings are very close to each other and can be difficult to finesse into position. The band shows a lot of wear and scratches after two weeks, more than my other (less expensive) watch showed after 3 years. Additionally, the watch crystal has scratched very easily, showing multiple scratches after 2 weeks of use. My other watch I wore for 7 years did not have any scratches on it when it finally died. Good timepiece, band in question On: 2008-03-31After having this watch for two weeks, here are my thoughts on the pros/cons: Pros: Perpetual calendar and local time functions are very useful, and hard to find in this price range (outside of a digital). The watch face and overall construction are beautiful. The watch is complex, but Citizen has good instructions that make it easy to remember how to use the advanced features when you are away from your instruction book. Cons: The two crown pull settings are very close to each other and can be difficult to finesse into position. The band shows a lot of wear and scratches after two weeks, more than my other (less expensive) watch showed after 3 years. A beautiful Citizen On: 2008-02-21I am not a watch collector by any standard, yet I have a managed a small collection of watches over the years from gifts and purchases. And this Calibre 8700 is right there at the very top in terms of styling and performance. I dont own any high quality swiss watches, but I have seen many; and this one looks as good as Omegas that are 5 times more expensive. I did an extensive research and finally ended up with this for mainly 3 reasons. Looks, dial size (I have an average wrist and hate BIG dials) and features. My budget was around what Amazon lists for this (~$ 3 5 0). Looks wise this is a gorgeous one, there is no doubt about it. The silver version (54L) doesnt look as good. And the big positive is that it serves the purpose of a dress watch too. The dial size is just perfect (40mm) for me, but would have appreciated if they had made the band a touch lighter by using titanium. Though after a month of use, I dont notice the bulk anymore over my leather strapped watches. On the features side I have a few complaints. Why doesnt Citizen offer Sapphire crystal for their Calibre 8700 series? Price couldnt be an issue as people would happily pay a little extra for this essential feature. My crystal is still pristine, but I am worried about it. Another small gripe is that they could have easily made the hour marks glow in dark like the hands. Apart from those 2 nitpicks, I have only great things to say about it. I kept looking at Seikos Coutura SNP series very hard just because of those 2 issues; but finally went with this and boy, I couldnt be happier. I set the time after receiving it to "time.nist.gov" internet server and after a month it was about 2 seconds slow, and that also could very well be a user error while setting it. In summary, its probably the best watch in its price range in terms of styling and performance. If you dont have the budget for a swiss automatic, you wont be disappointed. Awesome watch.. On: 2008-02-10I got absolutely no problems with this watch. I have been using it for last 3 months and I am really loving it. It looks exactly the same as its pic and you get a good feel of it. It has of course nothing to do with sports..but yes you will definitely love to put it on when you are dressed in BC/Formals..Its really one of the eye catching stuff..Its hard to get unnoticed when you are wearing it.. Dad loved it! On: 2008-01-01I bought this for my dad for Christmas. Hes a watch collector and very picky. When he opened it he could hardly take his eyes off it. He loved the richness of the gold and black face and especially liked the perpetual calendar feature. It looked great on him. He is an average size guy and the case is a nice size and flatter than most of the watches with so many features. Citizen makes terrific watches and this one is beautiful. poor quality  On: 2007-12-24very heavy watch, hard to read and you need to be an engineer to operate. Quality looked goofy. Wonderful On: 2007-05-24Best watch. Good Price. With wonderful service from amazon you cant go wrong. Had the watch within a week of order date with free shipping. Been using for more than a month and extremely satisfied. Get one if you can by: Anonymous On: 2007-04-30 This is my third Eco-Drive, and perhaps the single most beautiful watch in my collection of over 30 (including Rolexes, Breitlings, etc.). Brilliantly designed and built to Citizens usual high standards, possessing the legendary accuracy of the Eco-Drive system, this is an essential mens watch. Two-toned, it can function beautifully as a dress or sports watch. As others have noted, it looks quite expensive and easily rivals the beauty of far more expensive models like Rolex. Even at full retail price, its a bargain. Yet it can be found online for half that price. Its perpetual day-date calendar is an amazing convenience. Highest recommendation. We should call this piece a time piece - Not a watch On: 2007-03-10The top class of this timepiece will put you on the Vegas whale status line. The high rollers will think your in league with them. And for good measure, it stands on equal quality with the $2000 plus watches that look second class compared to this timepiece. Yes, call it a timepiece, not a common watch. The over priced Rolex looks cheap compared to this. It virtually set itself, when I pull out the dial and rotated to the leap year dial and the whole watch started setting itself automatically. It almost scared me as the dials and month days were moving to the correct time a date. How do they do that??? !!!! OK lets think if I can come up with any negatives. I wish they had the watch band adjust to micro lengths instead of having the watch man take a link or two out to fit your wrist, for perfect feel. I also wish they had the button to push that would light up the whole timepiece for night viewing. I guess with all the glamour dials it wouldnt fit. I can still live with both wish lists. We should call this piece a time piece - Not a watch On: 2007-03-09The top class of this timepiece will put you on the Vegas whale status line. The high rollers will think your in league with them. And for good measure, it stands on equal quality with the $2000 plus watches that look second class compared to this timepiece. Yes, call it a timepiece, not a common watch. The over priced Rolex looks cheap compared to this. It virtually set itself, when I pull out the dial and rotated to the leap year dial and the whole watch started setting itself automatically. It almost scared me as the dials and month days were moving to the correct time a date. How do they do that??? !!!! OK lets think if I can come up with any negatives. I wish they had the watch band adjust to micro lengths instead of having the watch man take a link or two out to fit your wrist, for perfect feel. I also wish they had the button to push that would light up the whole timepiece for night viewing. I guess with all the glamour dials it wouldnt fit. I can still live with both wish lists. Review on Calibre 8700 BL8004-53E  On: 2007-01-11Love the watch! But I had a minor hiccup with it. The "Day" indicator arrow slipped off its mark and only pointed IN-BETWEEN each day (not ON it). No jeweler could repair it and I had to send it back to the manufacturer for the repair. At this moment Im awaiting the return of the watch. However aside from this problem, the watch is beautiful and Ive had many compliments on it! Great Technology! On: 2007-01-11I bought this watch for my boyfriend and he absolutely loves it! Its very versatile in its style because it can be dressed up or down. Works great and the technology on it is just amazing. I would highly recommend it. Great Watch On: 2006-12-30I agree with everyone this is a great watch. I too researched watches and decided on this one. My only complaint is the crown. The crown has a lip on the end that gets caught when I reach into my briefcase and in some instances on the inside of my pocket. The crown catches and pulls out much too easy. The watch stops when the crown is pulled out. I almost missed a flight thinking I had plenty of time but in reality the watch was stopped. Keep an eye on the crown. Magnificient piece of art On: 2006-12-03I was doing a lot of research for the past 3 months and found that the Citizen Eco-Drive watches are above class.And this watch in particular is outstanding. I like the perpetual calendar and the overall classy look. Anyone who has seen this watch has only compliments for the watch. You will hear constantly phrases like "Wow","Great Watch","love that watch" etc. The other thing I like about this watch is that it will never need a battery. It is powered by all sources of light. IT IS WORTH THE MONEY. awesome watch On: 2006-11-12I bought this watch for my brother who absolutely loved it! It has an attractive face with its bright two tone color and many great features included in the watch. Plus I got it at a reduced price which added to the excitement. Overall the design of the watch is magnificient! Beautiful watch!!! On: 2005-11-29This is an absolutely beautiful watch. I was looking for a versatile watch that would go with whatever my spouse wears and this watch is it. I found it at a wonderful price and am very pleased. I havent given this gift yet but I am sure he will be as thrilled with it as I am. His last Citizen watch lasted him years and he works on a construction site, so I hope this one turns out to be just as durable. I would definately recomend this watch to anyone looking for a good quality and attractive watch. My first Eco-Drive by: axxlp On: 2004-12-18 This review cant be completely comprehensive since Ive only had this watch for two weeks now, but it sure is attractive, comfortable and easy to use. I typically shy away from quartz watches except as cheap work knock-abouts. My best watches are all automatics. I have several Omegas, 3 Rolexs, and 2 TAGs and a Breitling. All Automatics. I also have a Luminox as my "cheap" quartz knock-about. I feel that it is silly to have an expensive watch and it be reliant on using a battery. A good watch should be self-sufficient. Citizen has performed an amazing technological breakthrough with the Eco-Drive movement. It is powered by light through a solar cell underneath the face. The cells are so efficient that they are invisible and it is impossible to tell it is there. They seem to have overcome any limitations of face design, and they now come in a multitude of colors and configurations. The watches are claimed to never need a battery. The solar cell keeps a capacitor charged and the watch needs amazingly little light exposure. A few minutes a day is all that is needed. Not only that but the power reserve on some Citizen models is meaured in years. Im not sure about this one but I think it is at least 6 months. AND, the watch can go into a power save mode where the movement is disabled and still keep time. Take the watch into the light for a minute or so and the movement resets and youre back in business. This watch has a perpetual calendar that knows the month, date and leap year status so the date calendar is always right. This is a terrific touch. There is a little dial that tells you the day of the week, as well as 24 hour dial. Mine the two tone model, gold on a black face and looks terrific. It has an alarm that while low in db is at a frequency that seems to be able to wake anyone from a deep sleep. Did I mention that this watch is classically beautiful and can hold its own quality-wise with any of the high dollar competition from Switzerland. Most people when they see it think its a Breitling. The bracelet is heavy and is in my opinion superior the the Rolex Submariner bracelet in terms of feel, comfort and heft. Plus, the clasp has these two little tabs on either side for a nice positive lock similar to the Omegas. Both watches make the normal Rolex Sub bracelet and clasp look cheap, flimsy and unworthy of the price. I find almost nothing to fault about this watch, but I would have liked to have luminous markers, but the hands glow well and last all night. This watch gives up nothing to a $2500 Breitling. I am not a watch chauvenist by any means, but I have always like the autos better knowing I am not reliant on an outside thing such as a battery without which my expensive watch is nothing better than a fancy paperweight. I am satisfied with the Eco-Drive concept. Like most watch guys I value accuracy and this watch has it. I have all my autos tuned to be within a few seconds a month when worn. Wearing an automatic watch in the different arm positions throughout the day averages out the mechanical factors that lead to inaccuracies. In reality and normal use even the best quartz watches generally cannot keep time like a well-tuned automatic. If a quartz movement is +3 seconds it will always gain no matter if worn or in the box so the time drifts. With an automatic, it may be +3 sec up, but -2 down and +1 sideways etc. When worn a lot the averages stay at near zero variation. Maybe I got lucky with this one, but I set it to my atomic clock 2 weeks ago. As of this writing it is to the second with the atomic. Your results may vary but I suspect that Citizen has done their homework in the QC department. This watch is inexpensive yet looks very expensive. The quality of the watch is what I have come to expect from a watch in the $1,000 - $2,500 range. Fool your friends. This watch is a bargain at $475. At the Amazon price of $235 it a steal. I may buy another of a different color. Yes folks this is that good. Buy one and see for yourself. My first Eco-Drive On: 2004-12-17This review cant be completely comprehensive since Ive only had this watch for two weeks now, but it sure is attractive, comfortable and easy to use. I typically shy away from quartz watches except as cheap work knock-abouts. My best watches are all automatics. I have several Omegas, 3 Rolexs, and 2 TAGs and a Breitling. All Automatics. I also have a Luminox as my "cheap" quartz knock-about. I feel that it is silly to have an expensive watch and it be reliant on using a battery. A good watch should be self-sufficient. Citizen has performed an amazing technological breakthrough with the Eco-Drive movement. It is powered by light through a solar cell underneath the face. The cells are so efficient that they are invisible and it is impossible to tell it is there. They seem to have overcome any limitations of face design, and they now come in a multitude of colors and configurations. The watches are claimed to never need a battery. The solar cell keeps a capacitor charged and the watch needs amazingly little light exposure. A few minutes a day is all that is needed. Not only that but the power reserve on some Citizen models is meaured in years. Im not sure about this one but I think it is at least 6 months. AND, the watch can go into a power save mode where the movement is disabled and still keep time. Take the watch into the light for a minute or so and the movement resets and youre back in business. This watch has a perpetual calendar that knows the month, date and leap year status so the date calendar is always right. This is a terrific touch. There is a little dial that tells you the day of the week, as well as 24 hour dial. Mine the two tone model, gold on a black face and looks terrific. It has an alarm that while low in db is at a frequency that seems to be able to wake anyone from a deep sleep. Did I mention that this watch is classically beautiful and can hold its own quality-wise with any of the high dollar competition from Switzerland. Most people when they see it think its a Breitling. The bracelet is heavy and is in my opinion superior the the Rolex Submariner bracelet in terms of feel, comfort and heft. Plus, the clasp has these two little tabs on either side for a nice positive lock similar to the Omegas. Both watches make the normal Rolex Sub bracelet and clasp look cheap, flimsy and unworthy of the price. I find almost nothing to fault about this watch, but I would have liked to have luminous markers, but the hands glow well and last all night. This watch gives up nothing to a $2500 Breitling. I am not a watch chauvenist by any means, but I have always like the autos better knowing I am not reliant on an outside thing such as a battery without which my expensive watch is nothing better than a fancy paperweight. I am satisfied with the Eco-Drive concept. Like most watch guys I value accuracy and this watch has it. I have all my autos tuned to be within a few seconds a month when worn. Wearing an automatic watch in the different arm positions throughout the day averages out the mechanical factors that lead to inaccuracies. In reality and normal use even the best quartz watches generally cannot keep time like a well-tuned automatic. If a quartz movement is +3 seconds it will always gain no matter if worn or in the box so the time drifts. With an automatic, it may be +3 sec up, but -2 down and +1 sideways etc. When worn a lot the averages stay at near zero variation. Maybe I got lucky with this one, but I set it to my atomic clock 2 weeks ago. As of this writing it is to the second with the atomic. Your results may vary but I suspect that Citizen has done their homework in the QC department. This watch is inexpensive yet looks very expensive. The quality of the watch is what I have come to expect from a watch in the $1,000 - $2,500 range. Fool your friends. This watch is a bargain at $475. At the Amazon price of $235 it a steal. I may buy another of a different color. Yes folks this is that good. Buy one and see for yourself. |