Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #182 in Watches
• Brand: Citizen
• Model: BL5180-57L
• Band material: stainless-steel
• Bezel material: stainless-steel
• Case material: stainless-steel
• Clasp type: fold-over-push-button-clasp-with-safety
• Dial color: blue
• Dial window material: Mineral
• Movement type: japanese-quartz
• Water-resistant to 330 feet

Features

• Ecologically friendly, light powered Eco-Drive Caliber E811 Japanese-quartz movement; Charges in natural sunlight or indoor light
• Max power reserve: 120 - 270 days with Power Save; Low charge warning: 5 days; Charge time from stop state to max charge: Incandescent Light - 43 hrs, Outdoors, Cloudy (10,000 Lux) - 12 hrs, Outdoors, Sunny (100,000 Lux) - 4 hrs
• Perpetual calendar; Chronograph feature
• Brushed stainless steel case
• Water-resistant to 330 feet (100 M)

Amazon.com Product Description
This men's Eco-Drive timepiece is powered by light, so it never needs a battery. The sculpted stainless steel bracelet bears the flawless execution on your wrist. The deep blue dial presents large, polished markers, luminous hands and a date indicator. Other features include 12/24 time, dual time, alarm, perpetual calendar, and 1/20 second chronograph with measurement up to 60 minutes. The screw-back case provides you with 100M of water resistance.

The Citizen Watch Brand

The company was established in 1924. The founding fathers selected the name Citizen so it would be "Close to the Hearts of People Everywhere" and soon after adopted the company’s formal name, Citizen Watch Company.

During the last seventy-five years Citizen has expanded its business throughout the world and has achieved recognition as the global brand. The past twenty-five year period has coincided with the company’s dramatic rise to its current position as the world’s largest watchmaker, a distinction Citizen has held every year since 1986.

Beyond sheer size, Citizen is also recognized as a worldwide leader in advanced technology. From the world’s slimmest LCD watch to the first voice recognition watch and the world’s first professional dive watch with an electronic depth sensor, Citizen’s record of "world’s firsts" is unmatched.

More recently, Citizen has staked out a new position as the leader in Ecologically Friendly timekeeping with its Eco-Drives watches that are light powered. With models ranging from dress models to sports models to professional dive watches, Citizen Eco-Drive runs continuously in any kind of natural or artificial light for a lifetime of use. Fueled by light, it never needs a battery.

Eco-Drive Frequently Asked Questions (See the full Citizen Eco-Drive FAQ here)

How can you tell if the Eco-Drive watch is getting enough light?
In normal use, the watch displays the time and the sweep-second hand moves in one second intervals. A very important feature of Eco-Drive is the Low Charge Warning Mode which as a result of low battery voltage, causes the second hand to jump two seconds at a time (while still keeping correct time).

How long will an Eco-Drive watch run after it is fully charged?
If your watch is put away where no light is available to it while in a fully charged state, depending on the model, it will run for from 45 days to 5 years.

How can the Eco-Drive watch be recharged?
Besides sunlight, it can be safely charged by exposing it to a fluorescent desk lamp, with the dial (face) up and within about 8 inches or an incandescent lamp (regular light bulb) no closer than 20 inches. Never use a halogen lamp since the heat generated by it can cause damage to your watch. The most efficient and the quickest is in direct bright sunlight (not windowsill) and never on the dashboard of a car.

Customer Reviews

Great watch... lots of great features... Looks great...
The watch is great... it is full of features and above all it is a Citizen EcoDrive, which is a very important element here. EcoDrive has the ability to convert light to energy, therefore the watch never needs a battery. This function is very important since the watch is full of features and if it was not an Ecodrive then you might kill the battery in a 1 year.

Appearance:

The watch is very attractive, very elegant looking, and it is worth every dollar. the color of the dial however is completey different from the picture. In the picture the color of the dial is blue but the watch itself has a very dark gray or even a black dial. under very bright ligh (like sunlight) you might notice a little blue color in the dial but 90% of the time you are only going to recognize the color of the dial as a black or dark gray. Does is look bad? No, the watch looks very elegant and its color looks great.

The features:

Before you touch anything you MUST READ THE MANUAL. this watch is very complex. if you are looking for something that you can setup in 1 minute, put on, and start using right on arrival then you might want to look for a different watch, this watch is going to take some manual-reading and some understanding. The good thing is the watch actually comes with an INTER-ACTIVE CD that you can play on your computer and watch step by step instructions on how to setup and use the watch - very nice, i was impressed -.

alarm: the watch comes with an alarm feature which actually can be setup for am or pm. you can have the alarm wake you up at 6:00 am or at 6:00 pm, i think that is very impessive since i have used other analog watches that their alarm failed to offer am and pm settings.

Calander: might be the most impressive feature of all. you will never need to adjust the date at the end of the month using this watch. after you setup the watch for the first time, the watch will recoginze how many days are in the current month and will display the correct date based on that. also, the watch recoginzes leap years... great feature i think...

Local Time: this one is okay...when you switch to local time mode, the watch arms will move to the local time you seted up. however, if there are more than 4 hours difference then you might sit and watch your watch spin for a while, which is my case here ( 6 hours difference for local time) so local time is not so great for me.

Chronograph: great feature and offers the same great features as any other chronograph watch.

finally, the watch looks fantastic, loaded with features, unbeatable price on amazon. just remember, the first time you lay hands on your watch you are going to have to go through some reading and a thing called a Zero-Reset. also there is alot to learn and read inorder to use the watch correctly, otherwise, if you don't read the manual the watch may drive you crazy.

Final rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Beautiful, No Battery Needed, Perpetual Calendar Watch
This is the finest watch I have ever owned. It comes in stainless steel with a big front that is easy to simply look down on my arm and easily tell the time. I don't have to squint as I did with my old Fossil watch.

This watch has many pluses. First, it never needs a battery. It is solor powered. At night I take my watch and place it on my dresser and it simply leaves the second hand at 12 until the sun shines through the next day (or I cut on the light). Second, it has a perpectual calendar which means I don't have to change the date. The calendar runs until 2100 and even leap years are not missed with this watch. Third, it is waterproof. And fourth, is can be worn for any occassion.

A great watch!

Fantastic All-Purpose Timepiece
Purchased this direct from Amazon - it must have been one of, if not the last one in their inventory, and was selling for quite a bit less than you can find it for now. Having said that, I would still pay more for such a quality watch. Citizen has a long-standing reputation for making solid, practical watches with innovative features, and this model does not disappoint.

It is a visually beautiful watch. The stainless steel band and case work very well together, both mechanically around my wrist and in appearance. The clasp is perfect - easy to remove but will not release until you want it to. This is literally a watch you will feel confident wearing anywhere; from a black tie affair to playing around with the kids or swimming. The face is easy to see from any angle. The flat crystal and its glare reducing coating alleviate problems with other watches I've owned. Weight is a non-issue - it is certainly there, but very reasonable for a steel band watch. If you have fragile wrists, you may want to look for a canvas band watch or something in titanium, perhaps a ladies style..

The mechanical and technological features are practical and useful. Eco-Drive is a great concept and seems to be implemented very nicely. If the idea of never thinking about your watch battery again appeals to you, you'll enjoy the Eco-Drive. The Perpetual Calendar is accurate and adds to the non-existant maintenance this watch provides. Chronograph is useful and works well. I didn't buy this watch for an alarm function, but it exists. Someday I may try it out.

I really can't say enough about this watch. Especially considering the price I scored, I am thoroughly pleased and would make the purchase again. Abundant resources are available to assist you with the easy setup, shipped with the watch in form of a manual and an instruction CD, as well as an interactive movie available through the Citizen Watch website.