I am a little crazy about watches. I collect them. When I was abroad for work, I wanted to get a good watch, which I hoped would be my last to the collection. I didnt want to go for watches that were too costly (like Omega, Rolex, Movado, etc). I wanted a watch which was functional, and also having a exclusive feeling.
I was looking at various models include Tag-Heuer, but I finally zeroed in on the Citizen Eco Drive model. I liked the fact that there are no need for battery changes. The eco drive uses some technology wherein it converts light energy to power to run the watch. It was a perpetual calendar model - which means that you dont have to change the date every alternate month based on the number of days in that month. It had other simple features like month, day, date, 24 hr timing, alarms, ability to keep 2 timezones, etc.
The watch is able to take care of leap years also, based on its perpetual calendar functionality.
The dial I chose is white in colour, which makes it more easy to read. The roman numerals for the time look very good on white. The options in the dial are well spread out making it easier to read without worrying too much about the needle position. The watch looks both formal and casual and can be worn with anything.
The strap in this model is leather. It is not metal. But, the way the strap is designed is similar to a metal bracelet (the way you wear it - it has a deployment clasp with push button). It looks different and nice. It is also sturdy. The black leather strap looks very good with the pearl white dial and the black letters.
The watch has an intelligent feature wherein if it is kept in dark for quite some time, it goes to power saving mode. It doesnt use the same amount of power as it does when running normally. When we take the watch out of the dark to use, the needles start rotating fast around the dial till it comes to the current time. This is a very nice feature where power that was generated is saved for actual usage, and not wasted when kept in the dark.
The watch can be charged just by using it regularly. In case it is being used in very cold climates where there is no sun too, we are able to charge it by keeping it near a light source.
The charge holds very well, we dont have any idea when the watch is charging, which makes life simpler.
In case the charge goes down, then the seconds needle moves 2 seconds at a time, thereby giving an indication to the user that the charge is low.
It doesnt pick up scratches easily, as it uses non-reflective crystal. This is also very useful to view the watch in bright sunlight or very bright areas.
I have been using the watch for 2 years now, and there has been no issues.
Some of the major complaints about this watch are -
It is heavy - Some people dont prefer heavy watches. For them, this will not be a right choice.
Settings - The settings like changing time, setting alarms, etc are not very easy. Atleast the first 2-3 times, it is difficult to follow and do. There is a rotating knob, like any normal watch and 2 pressable switches on the right hand side. All changes should be done with a combination of these. It is not easy to use, as say a normal digital watch. But I would say we will not be using most of these on a regular basis.
The strap - Though it looks nice and different, in case you need to change the diameter of the strap (suppose you want to wear it loosely or tightly) then changing that is not easy.