Have really been loving this watch since purchase. Looks great, feels rugged. Brushed metal really complements the olive face. Strap is stiff but sturdy. Perfect for the wilderness; love to take it outdoors and off-roading. Really appreciate the reliability that Citizen offers in both make and performance. Great value.
I'm a sucker for green watches and I love Citizens so I bought this when Citizen was unable to repair another watch I had sent in to be fixed. I know there were some complaints about the included band (which I like the look of), but I also ordered the SS band for the other version in case I had issues with the one it came with. Later I ended up finding a very nice higher-end dense twill NATO strap that matches the watch perfectly. In my opinion this should be the strap that comes with the watch. I've included an image, with this NATO strap installed it is now in my top 4 favorite watches, which is pretty good since I am up to around 57 now.
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I am a mid-range watch collector. I own several Citizen watches. This one is quite a bit different than others. First of all, it's a monocoque design resulting in no case back. Along with a screw-down crown, it gets a true 200M water resistance rating. You can actually go swimming wearing this watch with no concerns. The lumination is amazing. Even low light charges up the hands and hour markers pretty well. Shock and heat resistance are also great features on which to rely. I like a watch that can take a beating, and this one certainly qualifies. It has a Duratect coating, which is supposedly scratch-resistant. We'll just have to wait to see if that's true. I will update this post if I have any issues which contradicts this review. I guess I need to address the military green Cordura® ballistic fabric strap. It has a silicone rubber lining, which is very stiff. Because of this, it doesn't seem like it will ever "break in" like leather or canvas usually does. At first, it bugged me a little bit, because the strap is pre-formed straight, while my wrist is curved. So, only parts of the band make 100% contact with my skin. But this "issue" ended up not being so bad. After wearing it for only two days, I could barely tell any difference between this and leather or canvas. It also breathes very nicely, preventing sweating. At first, it wasn't an easy watch to remove, due to band stiffness. But, both keepers being floating (sliding) helps that process along. Just slide both of them back to easily unbuckle the clasp. This is not just a heavy duty watch on paper. It FEELS heavy duty as well. I hand-washed some dishes while wearing this watch, just for the fun of it. I'll continue to abuse it, within reason, during the 5-year warranty period. Citizen says I get an extra year warranty if I register it online. I've done this four times now, and have yet to recieve any confirmation or verification that I have indeed recieved any extra warranty time. Online registration is not asociated with their online customer accounts! That's just stupid! I would love to see all of my registered Citizens on my account page. Hopefully, I'll never have to use the warranty. My oldest Citizen Eco-drive is about 7 or 8 years old, and has yet to require any service or repair. It just keeps chugging along. review image
Just so you know where I'm coming from, I am a mid-range watch collector. I own several Citizen watches. This one is quite a bit different than others. First of all, it's a monocoque design resulting in no case back. Along with a screw-down crown, it gets a true 200M water resistance rating. You can actually go swimming wearing this watch with no concerns. The lumination is amazing. Even low light charges up the hands and hour markers pretty well. Shock and heat resistance are also great features on which to rely. I like a watch that can take a beating, and this one certainly qualifies. It has a Duratect coating, which is supposedly scratch-resistant. We'll just have to wait to see if that's true. I will update this post if I have any issues which contradicts this review. I guess I need to address the military green Cordura® ballistic fabric strap. It has a silicone rubber lining, which is very stiff. Because of this, it doesn't seem like it will ever "break in" like leather or canvas usually does. At first, it bugged me a little bit, because the strap is pre-formed straight, while my wrist is curved. So, only parts of the band make 100% contact with my skin. But this "issue" ended up not being so bad. After wearing it for only two days, I could barely tell any difference between this and leather or canvas. It also breathes very nicely, preventing sweating. At first, it wasn't an easy watch to remove, due to band stiffness. But, both keepers being floating (sliding) helps that process along. Just slide both of them back to easily unbuckle the clasp. This is not just a heavy duty watch on paper. It FEELS heavy duty as well. I hand-washed some dishes while wearing this watch, just for the fun of it. I'll continue to abuse it, within reason, during the 5-year warranty period. Citizen says I get an extra year warranty if I register it online. I've done this four times now, and have yet to recieve any confirmation or verification that I have indeed recieved any extra warranty time. Online registration is not asociated with their online customer accounts! That's just stupid! I would love to see all of my registered Citizens on my account page. Hopefully, I'll never have to use the warranty. My oldest Citizen Eco-drive is about 7 or 8 years old, and has yet to require any service or repair. It just keeps chugging along. review image
I have the Black dial & the Green dial versions. I like them both....But,there is very little Lum on the minute hand...both versions. I don’t think Citizen even knows this
I own several high-end automatics. I wanted a good-looking and reliable beater. The Promaster seemed to fit the bill. I’ve owned the watch for a couple of weeks. My only problem, which would stop me from buying the watch again if I had a do over, is the strap. I like how it looks and feels, and it is very sturdy. But it is too long for me and the holes are too far apart to size it comfortably. Because of the length of the strap the uncentered buckle and the second keeper pull the watch face off toward the side of my wrist. Because of the spacing between the holes (8 mm), the strap is either too tight or too loose. I “fixed” it by using a soldering gun to burn an extra hole, and a hacksaw to shorten the tail. Now it fits, but it looks like it went to war. I’ll need to spend another $40+ for a replacement strap that is 75mm X 115mm. That reduces the value proposition, and is annoying. Citizen: offer the watch with a choice of strap length, or with an adjustable deployant buckle.