Citizen Watches BL5250-02L Eco-Drive Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Watch

**Update, 7/23/15** This watch is still in my daily rotation. I wear it 1-4 days a week depending on daily activities. The leather band looks fantastic. No flaking, tearing, and the stitching is still bright and tight. There are a few tiny scratches on the watch itself, but that comes of daily wear and tear and should be expected. Still a great value-- weirdly, this watch is about $75 more on Amazon than when I purchased it. I might sell it and get something else. ****My girlfriend recently dropped my well-worn Invicta Pro-Diver automatic watch. The watch shop quoted me a repair price of $150.00, and informed me that the thing was incredibly worn down after about 3 years of daily use. $150.00 to repair an $80 dollar watch? Not likely!I did a few weeks of research on watches within the $100-$300 price range. What would look the best, what would last the longest, what kind of maintenance should I expect to pay out for a few years down the road, how accurate, how durable--and so on. This watch stood out as being attractive, durable, and low maintenance, with consistently positive reviews. I purchased this 02L a month ago. Here are my impressions so far:Looks--10/10:This is a beautiful chronograph-style watch. The pictures do not do it justice. Period. The watch face is in fact a deep navy blue, not the black that you see in the picture. This isn't a complaint; both shades look excellent. In fact, this is such a nice watch that, depending on your job (social worker) and your day-to-day activities, you may need to invest in another "beater" watch for daily use. After two weeks of daily wear I finally realized this, and bought a Casio G-Shock for $90 to wear for field work and recreation. The 02L I wear for meetings, nights out, family dinners, and every other time where appearance matters. Be advised--this watch gets loads of compliments, so be prepared to discuss it.Band--7/10:The band could have been a little nicer. If you are a thick-wristed guy this might be a tight fit for you. I'm 6'3, 205 lbs, with a 7.5" wrist, and it's got 3 holes to spare. The band also has a nice lining so that sweat doesn't soak into the leather. It's also a fairly narrow/tapered band, given the size of the watch body. But it works. This is too nice a watch to throw onto a Maratac watch band like I did with my old Invicta Pro Diver. Just something to consider.Functions--7/10:There is an alarm; never used it, but all reports say it is very quiet and functionally useless. Likewise for chronograph functions; never used them. The perpetual calendar is complicated to set; you will NEED to follow the specific instructions in order to do it correctly, as some factors such as month and leap year are set via arbitrary dial movement (for example, turning a subdial to 9 to set the month as September). It isn't as complicated as other reviewers make it out to be, but you will need to follow the instructions. Once set, you won't need to play with it again. It took me about ten minutes to get it set up.After almost 5 weeks, the watch has lost about 2 seconds--I can live with that. The Eco-Drive also works great. Keep the watch case (or use your own watch stand) and keep the watch on display when it's not on your wrist and you will never need to worry about charging it up. For as long as you own the watch. Can't beat that. The case is also constructed of titanium and surprisingly lightweight. This ensures that it can withstand, say, being dropped to the kitchen tile by wives or girlfriends. The illuminated dials are nice for maybe 10 or 15 minutes of total darkness, but beyond that they aren't great. That is to be expected however, so no surprise there.Final impressions--10/10:This is a great watch for the money. The looks cannot be beat for this price; it looks like something in the $500-plus range. With the (relatively) modest price, the maintenance-free Eco-Drive, and the sharp leather band, this can easily function as your go-to chronograph for both formal and informal occasions. In the time that I've owned it, every time I wear it I have gotten compliments and other guys asking to look at it. It's really that nice a watch. If you're in the market, and willing to shell out the money, you won't regret it. For me, coming from an Invicta Pro Diver, this was a huge upgrade, and I actually use a G-Shock for daily wear as this watch is so nice. That's the only real caveat I would say to be mindful of--that this watch is actually too nice, so you may wish to factor in the cost of a "beater" watch if you don't already own one. There is also a 5-year limited warranty, so it's safe to buy with confidence. Free shipping through Amazon.com doesn't hurt either.Happy watch shopping!

This watch is a great value for the price. Overall I might have given it 4 stars because of the shininess of the band and the bezel, but when you factor in the price and the features it's a 4 plus. It's a good looking watch with a handsome deep blue face that looks black and dark grey dials and shiny bezel. I found the leather band a little cheap looking and feeling at first - maybe a bit too shiny or something but it seems to have gotten better looking with wear. From a distance the combination of the leather band, titanium case and dark blue face is quite nice.Like the other reviewer mentioned the bezel is a bit too shiny depending on the light which can make it look like cheap chrome. Not exactly bad and it depends on how the light hits it, but it may not be your thing.I was concerned this watch might be too thick because of a review of this watch with the metal band - but I found it to be in the same range as other watches I own. Certainly not as chunky as a Casio Atomic Solar G-Shock. The titanium is quite light. I tend to like watches with some heft so for me this might be a slight drawback, although I like the idea of extra strength. Not that I ever have or expect to break a watch case!I don't know how other chronometers work but I expected the dials to spin more. On this one they don't - the second hand does most of the main timing with a smaller dial keeping track of the minutes and if a button is pushed, the fractions of a second in 0.2 sec increments. I thought all the dials would spin simultaneously but maybe that is how chronometers work.When I first set up the watch I thought the function dial was broken. Turns out all it needed was a full charge. So don't despair until you've charged the watch up fully. The manual was short, but I found unlike the other reviews, that it had as much as I needed to know in it including how to center the date in the date window.The watch has a great and unusual combination of solar power, perpetual calendar, plus chronometer and alarm. The alarm is too quiet and not practical to wake up to as others have said. It might work if you're awake and cooking something.I got this watch from the Watch Spot which delivered it really really fast with no problems.Update on 4/16/10: I decided I really didn't like the original brown leather band no matter how much I tried, it just seems like it is made of cheap leather. So I replaced it with a 20mm black Kevlar band found on Amazon for around 20 bucks, and presto - it looks fabulous and like an entirely new watch! I love it now: Kevlar, titanium and steel what more do you want for under $300? I always loved the midnight blue face of the dial and with the modern band it looks like a much more expensive Breitling now, with great solar functionality. I'm also considering a black waterproof leather band with the dual raised ridges as an alternate band. If you get this watch I'd really recommend springing for a better band.

The Citizen BL5250-02L Titanium Eco-Drive is craftsmanship, style, and functionality defined, all wrapped up in one expertly manufactured package. Having owned many luxury watches in my lifetime, I can say without hesitation this particular model from Citizen nearly tops the list.When it comes to buying a watch, there are two questions you want answered: does it look good, and does it function the way its expected? This watch passes both tests with flying colors. It's comfortable to wear, easy to set up upon removal from the box, and can be paired with casual or formal attire.Pros:- High quality leather band is extremely comfortable on the wrist- Watch face appears heavily resistant to scratching- Eco-drive technology eliminates the need for a battery- Each feature functions as expected- Relatively lightweight on the wristCons:- None to report after months of usageIf you're in the market for a watch that checks all the boxes, look no further. For some, it may be a tad on the pricey side of things, but in my honest opinion, this is money well spent. Barring the needs of a collector, this could very well be the last watch you ever own.

Tenía años de no usar un reloj ya que con el celular realmente no tiene sentido, pero siempre me han gustado, ahora en el Buen fin encontré esta belleza en un super precio, el tacto y peso del Titanium es increíble y con la combinación de la correa en piel se ve muy elegante. Es facil de leer incluso en la oscuridad y trae funciones interesantes como el calendario perpetuo y el cronografo. No le pide en nada en construcción y materiales a relojes de marcas de lujo de 5 veces su valor. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Fantastic master piece

添付英文の取扱説明書とネット日本語取扱説明書で押すボタンが反対だったので、セッティングに苦労した以外は、見やすいし、デザインがとても気に入ってとても満足しています。

Che dire, l'orologio è semplicemente bellissimo. Leggero, elegante, solido e curato. Vale tutti i soldi che ho speso (circa 240 Euro) e, a dire il vero, l'effetto che fa è quello di un orologio di categoria superiore rispetto al prezzo. Lo consiglio molto vivamente, anche come regalo.