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Thursday, June 9, 2011

Citizen Men's BL5250-02L Eco-Drive Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Watch

Citizen Men's BL5250-02L Eco-Drive Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Watch


List Price:$400.00
Price:$240.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
Average customer review: 

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #72 in Watches
  • Brand: Citizen
  • Model: BL5250-02L
  • Dimensions: 5.12" h x 5.12" w x 5.12" l,
  • Band material: leather-pig-skin
  • Bezel material: Titanium
  • Case material: Titanium
  • Clasp type: Buckle
  • Dial color: black
  • Dial window material: Mineral
  • Movement type: japanese-quartz
  • Water-resistant to 660 feet

Features

  • Ecologically friendly, light powered Eco-Drive Caliber E812 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
  • Leather strap; perpetual calendar
  • Chronograph functions with alarm, 24-hour, and 1/20th second sub dials; unidirectional rotating bezel; alarm and date functions; tachymeter inner chapter ring
  • Water-resistant to 660 feet (200 M)


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Product Description
The Eco-Drive Perpetual Calendar features a titanium case and deep blue dial. The timepiece features a 1/20 second chronograph that measures up to 60 minutes, 12/24 time, dual time, alarm, date indicator, and power saver function. Additional features include an inner calendar, which automatically adjusts to the proper date as well as leap years through the year 2100. Independent hour hand adjustment makes changing time zones simple and precise. The genuine leather strap features attractive white contrast stitching and buckle closure.

The Citizen Story
 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.


Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
121 of 125 people found the following review helpful.
4Fantastic Watch!
By Charles R. Carroll
I am what many would call a watch nut and own over 30 ranging from Timex to Rolex. For me to buy a watch there has to be "something there" for me to get excited about. At $240, this is one of the very best buys on a fantastic watch that you can find! I was so impressed with this watch I purchased a second one as a gift for my father in law who by the way, was very impressed with the watch himself.

Before getting into all the things I like about this watch I want to point out one of the other reviewers posted a problem with the buckle on his watch having some "points" on it that dug into his wrist and made the watch uncomfortable to wear. This must be a factory defect as this is not the case with either of the two that I purchased. While the watch strap is not usually covered by warranty I know from 1st hand experience that Citizen has a dedicated and friendly customer service department and I believe if he contacts them he will find a new strap coming to him rather quickly. Also as to the strap, I have been disappointed somewhat in the past when purchasing a watch and the strap that comes with it is not substantial in length. I have a 7.25 inch wrist and this has not caused me a problem but I would readily notice if someone had a larger wrist they would have to go out and purchase a new and larger strap to be able to wear their new watch. The strap that comes with this citizen will allow someone with a larger wrist than mine to be able to wear this watch with the strap that comes on it. This is very good as I believe the supplied strap is very handsome on this watch.

The BL5250-02L is a marvelous little piece of technology at a very good price! At a suggested retail of $400 I have routinely found the watch at local authorized dealers at around $300. My watch was purchased on line for $240 with free shipping and for an additional $5 you could have "next day" shipping.

This watch comes to you very user friendly right out of the box. Along with the user manual also comes a mini disk that when played will have you understanding all the features, time settings and adjustments. You will have your watch set and on your wrist in about 10 minutes. Also, if you lose this information you may go to Citizen's web page and pull up the same info on an interactive video.

The Echo Drive models have a power cell in them that is charged by available light so there is no battery change ever! The perpetual calendar allows you to set the watch once and then it recognizes short months along with leap years so there is no further adjustment for that. Also, there is a duel time zone feature. I use this for setting the second time zone to address the yearly time change of one hour. Doing this with the simple turn of the dial my watch snaps into Daylight savings time mode and then back with another turn when the time comes to go back. It just does not get easier than that.

The rotating bezel certainly may be used for more than just looks. One of the ways I use mine is when I plug a parking meter. I just rotate the bezel so my minute hand moving toward the marker allows me to quickly see when I need to be back at my car. The alarm function works but it is not very noticeable. I have two Seiko's that have a very audible and piercing sound. In this area I have to say Citizen could improve the watch. However, I do notice it if I am awake. I just don't know if it would wake me from a deep sleep.

The finish of the watch is very nice and the strap is very comfortable to wear. The watch while feeling very solid is not as heavy as you may would expect and it wears very nicely on the wrist. The watch is advertised as a "deep blue" face and that is an understatement. For all purposes except in direct sunlight it is black. This does not bother me at all because it looks great and again, in direct sunlight it does have a blue hew that looks good also. Besides great function and price another strong point on this watch is the luminosity of the hands and markers. With over 30 watches my Seiko's seem to have a lock on that area but this citizen comes in a very, very close second. After being outside all day I can read my watch all night long from my darkened bedroom.

Last but not least, this watch comes with a five year warranty and as I stated before, Citizen has great customer service.

I have just touched on the many features of this finely made watch and for you that do not like straps and would prefer a bracelet, Citizen offers the same watch on a bracelet as model number, BL5250-53L. It retails for $500, local price around $400, web price $300.

I rate this watch a solid 4 out of a possible 5 stars. I would have given it 4.5 if the alarm were more noticeable. I am very picky and I did not even rate my Rolex 5 stars. I highly recommend this watch and would but purchase it again. In fact, I did when I purchased one for my father in law. If this watch appeals to your eye buy it! Price, functions, ease of use, warranty, and customer service is just icing on the cake!

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful.
3Great but not perfect.
By Axel
As others have said, this is a wonderful watch for many reasons. Made of Titanium and steel, it is a proper large size man's watch, but not heavy to wear. The leather band attached to it is heavy duty and will last, and the watch is beautifully designed and eye catching. The bezel (outer ring) is a little loose but easy to turn, and the dial is surprisingly clear and easy to read due to the strong design of the sword hands. The luminosity is brilliant too, as these things go, and will last a decent period. (You will be able to read the watch for the first few hours at night after you switch the lights off. No watch, from any company, luxury brands included, really lasts very long.) It has a perpetual calendar, so once set, you never have to think about it again, as long as it gets enough light.

The watch does have some quirks. You require patience to set it. As others have pointed out, changing the settings requires you often to wait until the hands travel back or forth from whatever time they're currently set at, to the new function you're changing to. Be careful of date setting. Depending on the setting, you have to wait for a few revolutions of the smaller hands before the date window moves, one date. If you're changing the date from the 2nd to the 29th, you'll be there a while. This watch requires commitment! The alarm is not only soft, but SHORT! About 15 seconds at best. The watch is a not really a chronograph. Those extra sub-dials you see don't really function in that way. Yes, there is a limited chronograph function but it is so poorly designed so as to render the watch useless for that function. The second time zone is handy but the alarm is not sychronized to it.

On the plus side, the watch is accurate, never needs to be fiddled with once it's set AND as long as it gets regular light, is very comfortable to wear and gorgeous on the wrist. I changed out my stitching for a Hirsh carbon black strap with white stitching, and it looks fantastic. The lesson is, buy this watch if you'll wear it regularly and don't really care too much about the fiddly details. If you're likely to forget it in closets or cupboards for long periods, beware!

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
5My favorite watch
By Joel M. Poppleton
I have many watches that I really like, but I hate to wear them to work for fear that the crystal or case will get scratched. I decided I needed a watch with no sentimental value to worry about. In looking for a watch the criteria I was looking for included solar power movement, perpetual calendar, and a bezel. I also wanted something that would be comfortable to wear. The fact that the case is titanium (and therefore quite light for its size) s just a bonus.

This has been just a terriffic watch, and I'm extremely satisfied. It has exceeded my expectations in all particulars!

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