Rugged but less than expected at this price point
I've owned several Eco-Drive watches over the years and I've always loved Citizen's reliable, "set-it-and-forget-it" solar quartz movement. But I wanted a more rugged field watch with a high degree of water resistance and enough versatility to be a daily wearer, so I had high hopes for this watch. I like the brushed (not polished) titanium-coated steel case and sapphire crystal, both of which are highly scratch resistant. I like the screw-down crown, the 200-meter water resistance rating, and the anti-magnetic resistance built into the case. I also like the clean, uncluttered aesthetics of the dial layout, especially in this unique olive-green color. The paltry pictures provided on this website simply don't do justice to the subtle two-tone green coloration of the dial, which is nicely complimented by the brushed sheen of the bezel. However, several things about this watch disappoint me, especially because I have such a high expectation of Citizen and because this is a fairly expensive timepiece. One is the date window. I'm not the first to find this tiny aperture impossible to read. Either make the window large enough to read with a background that matches the color of the dial, or just ditch the date window. Other premier brands manage to do this simple thing quite well. Surely Citizen's designers have heard the complaints, yet they keep pumping out watches with a functionally useless and aesthetically ugly date window. Second is the lume. I fully expected the lume on the hands and hour indices to be bright and long-lasting. After all, this timepiece is rugged enough for camping, hunting, swimming and even diving, and therefore I expected the dial to be well-illuminated in murky or dark conditions. If you give the dial a good dose of light the hands initially give off a pleasant two-tone color, the hour hand green and the minute hand a pleasing powder blue. The tip of the second hand is also illuminated in green and the hour indices glow green. But this illumination quickly dims and doesn't have much staying power. It's definitely not going to last through the night. I find this very disappointing for this kind of purpose-built watch at this price point. It's a deal-breaker, frankly. Third - and most critically of all for this kind of quality Eco-Drive timepiece - the second hand does not line up precisely to the second indices on the chapter ring. I had seen a YouTube video review of this watch before purchasing in which the reviewer made a point of noting the precision of the second hand in landing exactly on the indices with each tick, yet my watch does not. The second hand is off the mark on each tick, landing somewhere between the second indices and off-center on the hour indices. This too is a deal-breaker, because I have such high expectations for the precision of Citizen's Eco-Drive movement and the build quality of this watch. I can live with the absurd and useless date window, although I'd rather not have it at all since it is so poorly executed and mars the aesthetics of an otherwise attractive dial. But I cannot accept lousy lume on this kind of watch, which is either a manufacturing defect of this particular watch or a case of Citizen being too cheap to furnish this watch with adequate lume. I also think the imprecision of the second hand in relation to the indices on the chapter ring is an unacceptable defect. I may have a defective watch that can be replaced by Citizen, but I suspect the fit and finish of this otherwise excellent all-purpose "tool" watch is simply not up to par and that's disappointing.