Good looking and well made Citizen watch.
Pros
Very Accurate Timekeeping, Sharp Styling.
Cons
Glare/reflections from having curved crystal.
The Bottom Line
All in all this is a very handsome and well made, hefty but not "chunky", watch that is most importantly Very Accurate.
Full Review
As of Jan. 2003 Citizen makes this watch, also known as their "Largo" (style) watch, in two dial colors: black with two-tone stainless/gold color band and bezel, and blue dial with all stainless band and case. The problem with any highly polished gold or gold *colored* metal is that it shows fine scratches too easily (and they can't be polished out without revealing the base metal in the case of gold plated or colored), so I opted to purchase the all stainless steel version with the blue dial. However, I wish that they offered more dial colors - such as white or black - in the all stainless version, and in calling Citizen they said that they *might* offer something different at some point in the future. This watch is considered a Chronograph with the stated ability to maintain accurate timekeeping to within +/-15 seconds a month, and mine is doing better than that at +10 seconds per month. It's refreshing to know that I can go a whole year without adjusting the watch and at worse I'll show up for an important meeting two minutes early (well... in theory anyway)! But I do have three minor problems with the watch: 1) There can be a rather extensive amount of reflections inherent to the curved crystal making the dial harder to see in certain lighting situations, particularly with reflections off of light colored ceilings or where there are overhead lights, bright windows in the background, etc. 2) The alarm sound isn't very loud at all, but I've found that to be typical of the many watches that have this function. BTW, my older (c1978) Seiko digital LCD - the first one Seiko ever made I believe - was loud enough to use as an alarm clock! 3) The several functions on this watch can be difficult to remember how to "program", and unless you use each and every one of them on a daily basis then you'd almost have to carry around the small but thick manual with you, which of course you won't do and therefore you'll probably never use many of the functions. If you wanted to quickly time some event, the event would probably be over by the time you figured out what dials to turn to and buttons to push. But in fairness, this is a problem with ALL multi-function watches. Finally, one further note: This watch needs light shining on the dial to recharge, and if you wear long sleeves all or most of the time then this may become somewhat of a minor annoyance. I take the watch off and leave it sitting on a well lit interior window sill every chance I can get during the weekends, and this seems to do the trick. It can, after all, go for some 9 months once fully charged - 4 hours of direct sunlight or 12 hours of overcast sunlight - with the help of its energy saving features, of which one is to stop the second hand at the 12 o'clock position while there's insufficient light as the hour/minute hands continue to keep the accurate time. It's kinda neat to see the second hand Very Quickly race to the correct time after exposing the watch from under your darkened suit/shirt cuff! Citizen recommends that the watch receive at least some light, sun or artificial, on a daily basis though. Shop around on the web and on eBay. for a good price, try using "citizen largo" as key words. I bought mine for $179 new and complete, in box with all documentaion and the manual and a 5 year USA warranty card properly "stamped" from an authorized Citizen dealer. Judge this type of watch (less complex mechanism but needs light) against Seiko's Kinetic (more complex mechanism and needs motion), they both have their pros and cons. If you can get it for between $175 to $200 this watch should be considered a Good Deal and is an Above Average watch with mainly the can't-be-helped (due to curved crystal) glare/reflection issue preventing it from being rated Excellent. 4 1/2 Stars to be exact.
Pros
Very Accurate Timekeeping, Sharp Styling.
Cons
Glare/reflections from having curved crystal.
The Bottom Line
All in all this is a very handsome and well made, hefty but not "chunky", watch that is most importantly Very Accurate.
Full Review
As of Jan. 2003 Citizen makes this watch, also known as their "Largo" (style) watch, in two dial colors: black with two-tone stainless/gold color band and bezel, and blue dial with all stainless band and case. The problem with any highly polished gold or gold *colored* metal is that it shows fine scratches too easily (and they can't be polished out without revealing the base metal in the case of gold plated or colored), so I opted to purchase the all stainless steel version with the blue dial. However, I wish that they offered more dial colors - such as white or black - in the all stainless version, and in calling Citizen they said that they *might* offer something different at some point in the future. This watch is considered a Chronograph with the stated ability to maintain accurate timekeeping to within +/-15 seconds a month, and mine is doing better than that at +10 seconds per month. It's refreshing to know that I can go a whole year without adjusting the watch and at worse I'll show up for an important meeting two minutes early (well... in theory anyway)! But I do have three minor problems with the watch: 1) There can be a rather extensive amount of reflections inherent to the curved crystal making the dial harder to see in certain lighting situations, particularly with reflections off of light colored ceilings or where there are overhead lights, bright windows in the background, etc. 2) The alarm sound isn't very loud at all, but I've found that to be typical of the many watches that have this function. BTW, my older (c1978) Seiko digital LCD - the first one Seiko ever made I believe - was loud enough to use as an alarm clock! 3) The several functions on this watch can be difficult to remember how to "program", and unless you use each and every one of them on a daily basis then you'd almost have to carry around the small but thick manual with you, which of course you won't do and therefore you'll probably never use many of the functions. If you wanted to quickly time some event, the event would probably be over by the time you figured out what dials to turn to and buttons to push. But in fairness, this is a problem with ALL multi-function watches. Finally, one further note: This watch needs light shining on the dial to recharge, and if you wear long sleeves all or most of the time then this may become somewhat of a minor annoyance. I take the watch off and leave it sitting on a well lit interior window sill every chance I can get during the weekends, and this seems to do the trick. It can, after all, go for some 9 months once fully charged - 4 hours of direct sunlight or 12 hours of overcast sunlight - with the help of its energy saving features, of which one is to stop the second hand at the 12 o'clock position while there's insufficient light as the hour/minute hands continue to keep the accurate time. It's kinda neat to see the second hand Very Quickly race to the correct time after exposing the watch from under your darkened suit/shirt cuff! Citizen recommends that the watch receive at least some light, sun or artificial, on a daily basis though. Shop around on the web and on eBay. for a good price, try using "citizen largo" as key words. I bought mine for $179 new and complete, in box with all documentaion and the manual and a 5 year USA warranty card properly "stamped" from an authorized Citizen dealer. Judge this type of watch (less complex mechanism but needs light) against Seiko's Kinetic (more complex mechanism and needs motion), they both have their pros and cons. If you can get it for between $175 to $200 this watch should be considered a Good Deal and is an Above Average watch with mainly the can't-be-helped (due to curved crystal) glare/reflection issue preventing it from being rated Excellent. 4 1/2 Stars to be exact.
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