Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7025 in Watches
• Brand: Citizen
• Model: BL8004-53E
• Band material: two-tone-stainless-steel
• Bezel material: two-tone-stainless-steel
• Case material: two-tone-stainless-steel
• Clasp type: fold-over-clasp-with-double-push-button-safety
• Dial color: black
• 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
• Two-tone stainless steel case and bracelet; Black 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
Fashionably stylish as an accent to your business wear, the two-tone Citizen Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 stainless steel men's watch with bracelet band will also make sure you never miss an important date. More than just pretty face, it features a perpetual calendar that automatically adjusts for odd and even months and leap years through 2100. It has a wide, round silver stainless steel watch case and bezel that features a thin, gold-tone outline. It's further complemented by a stainless steel bracelet band that mixes silver brushed and gold polished finishes.

The black 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, gold-tone hands (with seconds hand), a date function at 4 o'clock, and gold-tone 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

My first Eco-Drive
This review can't be completely comprehensive since I've 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 Rolex's, and 2 TAG's 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. I'm 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 you're 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 it's own quality-wise with any of the high dollar competition from Switzerland. Most people when they see it think it's 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.

Good timepiece, but not durable
After 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.

Beautiful watch!!!
This 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 haven't 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.