Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #705 in Watches
• Brand: Citizen
• Model: BL8000-03A
• Band material: Leather
• Bezel material: stainless-steel
• Case material: stainless-steel
• Clasp type: deployment-buckle
• Dial color: white
• Dial window material: Mineral
• Movement type: japanese-quartz
• Water-resistant to 330 feet

Features

• Ecologically friendly, light powered Eco-Drive Caliber E870 Japanese-quartz movement; Charges in natural sunlight or indoor light
• Max power reserve: 180 days; Low charge warning: 3 days; Charge time from stop state to max charge: Incandescent Light - 150 hours, Outdoors, Cloudy (10,000 Lux) - 45 hours, Outdoors, Sunny (100,000 Lux) - 8 hrs
• Durable, hardened non-reflective mineral crystal; Case diameter: 40mm; Retrograde perpetual calendar function; Alarm function; Dual-time function with 24-hour subdial
• Stainless-steel case; White dial; Month-day-and-date function: Day indicator between 2 and 3 o'clock, Date function at 4 o'clock; Screw-back case
• Water-resistant to 330 feet (100 M)

Amazon.com Product Description
More than just pretty face, the Citizen Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 stainless steel men's watch also has a perpetual calendar that automatically adjusts for odd and even months and leap years through 2100. It features a perfectly round silver-tone stainless steel watch case and bezel that's complemented by a supple black leather strap with crocodile-like texturing.

The silvery white dial background is accented by day-of-the-week and 24-hour subdials, as well as a mode subdial that displays the selected function (local time, calendar, alarm). It also offers luminous, black-outlined hands (with seconds hand), a date function at 4 o'clock, and Roman numeral dial markers. Other features includes a dual-time function for tracking a second time zone, scratch resistant mineral crystal with anti-reflective coating, and water resistance to 330 feet (100 meters).

This watch is powered by Citizen's unique Eco-Drive, which absorbs sunlight and any artificial light through the crystal and dial to recharge the watch continuously. With regular exposure to light, the Eco-Drive continuously recharges itself for a lifetime of use. This watch's Eco-Drive provides a 180-day power reserve, and it can be recharged with just 4 hours of exposure to light.

Summary of Features:

• Retrograde perpetual calendar
• Alarm
• Dual time
• Non-reflective mineral crystal
• Month-Day-Date functions
• 12/24 hour time
• Screw-back case

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

Amazing functionality but with some ease of use issues
A very very precise perpetual solar powered timepiece capable of tracking the time in two zones (you toggle between locations using the crown), pretty thin, at a great street price. The hands have nice night time illumination. The leather strap and deployant buckle are pretty plush. Some of the functionality is hard to use and there is a cheap look to the metal bezel (which marks easily; the glass seems tough enough).

This thing is really a time computer instead of a watch; when you change modes, the hands change function in such a way that to get back to the time you must be accessing a computer memory. Also, it has the cute (really) habit of napping when it has been in the dark for some long time. Then when you look at it, it senses light, wakes up and the second hand moves madly to catch up.

The crown:
It is way too easy to pull the crown out two stops into the setting mode, which could cost you the correct time, instead of one stop into the position where you can change modes.

The alarm:
To see what at time the alarm is set, you change to the alarm mode and it may take (really) a minute or more while the hands move to show that time (the minute hand actually goes round and round as the hour hand advances ... its a 24 hour alarm which is very nice, there's a separate indicator keeping track of 24 hour time). Then the same thing in the other direction when you need
the time again. The alarm is very very dim, I would not trust it to wake me up. When the watch is in the calendar mode where the second hand shows the month there is no way to see whether the alarm is on (that hand can only be used to show the number of years to the next leap year ... likewise when it shows whether the alarm is on, it can't access that leap-year function).

The second time zone:
Quite easy to use, its synched to the main time in hour increments. Just don't go to Teheran or any other place where time isn't on the hour, that isn't possible without resetting the main watch time. There's a 2ndary dial which tells you whether the 12 hour hands are pointed to am or pm in either time zone.
And it may take a long time to move to the 2nd time, if you need to check that, see the comments on checking the alarm time.

bottom line: the gaffes probably stand out more just because the good parts are so good. Its almost a perpetual motion machine!

What a great watch!!
What a fantastic piece of craftmanship. I have had mine for a few months now. Could not be happier. It is powered by any light with a power reserve of more than a year. No more batteries ever. It has all the appeal of an analog watch, with a beatiful classic design without the annoying need to correct the date for odd/even months. It will even correct itself for leap years. Besides date/day of week, it has alarm (soft, not the best if you are a deep sleeper, but useful nonetheless), calendar (showing the month) and dual time zone.

All that plus the Citizen tradition of quality backed by a 5 yr warranty. What else would you want?

Very impressed
I have owned this watch for nearly two years. The features and functionality are well balanced. The solar panel rarely sees daylight from underneath my shirt sleeves, yet the battery has never depleted. The leather wristband is comfortable and shows very little wear. After years of use, my only complaint is that the metal is very easily scratched. Fortunately, the crystal/glass has remained flawless. I have had many people comment on the beauty of this watch. I will only buy citizen after owning this enjoyable timepiece.

Update: November 14, 2007.
The watch is holding up well as the 5-year warranty comes to an end. It took over 4 years of wearing the watch nearly every day for the first scratches on the glass to appear. The wristband shows minimal wear, and the clasp has not given me any troubles. Still very happy with my purchase!