Citizen BM8475-26E – $131.25
First it was the green dial
Citizen’s BM8475 watches all have the same basic setup. Black plated matte stainless case, aviation style hands, big flight dial numbers at the quarter hours, textured crown, and they’re all powered by the easy to like Eco-Drive movement. Even if you prefer automatics, it’s hard not to appreciate the fueled-by-light engine that’s in these things.
This new option stands out for the obvious, orange shaded reasons. The orange numerals, hands, and hash marks look surprisingly good next to the cognac-leaning band. It’s unique but it’s not obnoxious. More important is the feel. It’s a nice, medium weight and it feels like it could sustain getting roughed up. The crystal is mineral, but with a setup like this, a few scratches will only add character.
Unlike the other two versions of this watch, Citizen put a leather band on this one. And it’s surprisingly soft right out of the box. Not a bit of stiffness in this band. The polar opposite of the band on the Sturhling Tuskegee Skymaster. Cream colored stitching is perfect, as is the squared off (not pointed) band end.
42mm in diameter but seems to wear slightly smaller. It’ll look big on a smaller guy’s wrist, but it won’t look too big if you’re of average size or a larger human. Easily one of the best looking, if not the best looking casual watch Citizen has on the market right now.
I like it. All weekend I have been looking at the blackout version. I saw this while searching. Thanks for the review Joe. You have peaked my interest!
Love this thing. Wish I was in the market for a casual watch.
Nice watch. Too bad the day/date just ruins the face of it.
This is definitely the best-looking of these Citizens so far. Too big for me, but my wallet is ok with that.
I’m not usually a fan of blackout watches, but that one is nice… very nice.
And I hate being a grammar snob, but this quote always helped me:
“I peeked at a peak, and it piqued my interest”
oh boy, do want.
Seconded.
Nah. Looks like a kid’s watch.
I do that all the time. Not say the quote, but say “peaked” my interest. I might remember it’s piqued next time (but, let’s not get our hopes up…)
Be careful. Followed the link above to Amazon and the watch’s day is in Spanish. It shows “JUEV” for “Jueves,” i.e., Thursday. Citizen’s Spanish site shows the same model number as the English and the images use the English day. Not sure what would show up if you ordered the one from Amazon. Great looking watch, by the way, although I think I like the blacked out version best.
Lots of watches have two settings for the day of the week. One is English, the other… not English. Once you pick one though it’ll stick to it. Glad you like the looks of the watch!
i did the band, not sure on the watchface.
I’d like this band on the similar, dark-green faced BM8475-00X quite a bit more. It’d have a nice Jaguar-ish green and tan leather thing going, and it’d lose the informality of the canvas strap.
Now if Citizen had omitted the day/date feature, I’d have been sorely tempted. At 42mm, its the perfect size even for tiny wrists like mine!
I think I prefer the look of the Timex flyback chrono around the same price (link below)…which I bought a few months ago, and love it.
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/timex-intelligent-quartz-flyback-chronograph-watch/3234289?cm_cat=datafeed&cm_ite=timex(r)_'intelligent_quartz'_flyback_chronograph_watch:394763_2&cm_pla=jewelry:watch&cm_ven=Froogle&mr:referralID=NA&mr:trackingCode=C9E0B604-96EF-E011-8116-001517B1882A
The Christopher Watd C8 mark II is way nicer and way better value….although it will cost you $300 more. But for that you get ETA Swiss movement, sapphire christal case, nice leather strap and great customer service. I know. Ause I got the C11 recently and it’s a awesome.