Citizen BL5250-02L Titanium Eco-Drive Watch – $199.99
Looks great. Feels good. Build quality feels nice too. But it’s the operation. The using of this watch and all of its functions that can be a little frustrating. It will take some time (and reading) to figure out how to easily use all of it’s functions, but once you got it figured it out? It can be an almost constant companion, easily worn with a t-shirt and shorts all the way up to a casual cotton blazer and pressed chinos.
This watch is complicated. There’s a lot going on with it. And it’s far from the most intuitive in terms of doing the most basic things (y’know, like, setting the time). Pulling out the crown and twisting away will not immediately set the time. The key to operating this thing is the sub dial at six. That’s where the magic happens. Pulling out the crown one click allows you to select the mode this watch goes into. Want to set the time? You gotta have that small arrow in the 6 o’clock sub dial pointed at TME. Want to use the chronograph? Move it over to CHR. You also have an alarm, and this quartz movement also can tell you the time in a second time zone. It’s just the setup to get it going that can leave you scratching your head… especially since it doesn’t appear that the user’s manual is quite correct/clear with its instructions (just read the Amazon reviews).
But the good news is once you (finally) get it set? You’re good to go until the year 2100. That’s thanks to the perpetual calendar, so once you set the date you won’t have to roll it forward on months that are shorter than 31 days. Of course it’s a quartz movement, and it’s powered by Citizen’s super-dependable Eco-Drive light fueled technology.
At 43mm, it’s of course on the larger side, but the titanium case is light enough that it feels like a smaller watch on your wrist. Water resistance is a welcome 200m. Leather band is decently flexible right out of the box. Bezel does rotate, although they could tighten up the jumps between each click. The lack of torque leaves the bezel a little mushy.
Aviation inspired looks, plenty of functionality once you get a handle of how it works, and Citizen’s dependable quality. Not bad for the sale price of $200 at Jomashop (yet it’s oddly expensive through Amazon). Citizen may experiment with different designs from year to year, but this solar powered chrono has been an anchor in their lineup for what seems like almost a decade. Maybe more. And for good reason.
Enter here to win the Citizen Titanium Eco Drive Shown in this Post. One entry per person. Deadline for entry is 12:59 PM ET on 6/8/16. Many thanks to Citizen for providing one of their flagship watches for a review and giveaway!
UPDATE: Congrats to P. Held who won the drawing for this Citizen Eco-Drive!
