Initial Impressions.
The watch was received in Citizen's packaging
with an attractive green leatherette covered cylinder
enclosing the watch all packed in a matching cardboard
box. Contained in the box were an instruction manual
written in 7 languages and a warranty card. The packaging
is excellent and often used in jewelry stores to display
these watches. I
removed the watch from the box and inspected it for
scratches and defects. As is usual for this manufacturer
none were found.
Bezel
I checked the bezel and found it to be very smooth and
somewhat "notchy" as it is turned. There is
about 1/2 a minute "play" in the ratchet so
alignment is sometimes slightly off. The marker at the
zero position glows green and makes it easy to spot
against the blue glow of the hands and markers.
Comfort
The watch sits perfectly on my wrist with no side to side
movement. Two links were removed from the bracelet and
the spring bar in the clasp was moved to the center
position to give it a perfect fit. The clasp is excellent
with a hinged fliplock which must be opened then two
spring loaded pushbuttons must be squeezed before the
clasp will open. No accidental openings with this watch !
Legibility
The textured dial on this watch prevents the glare
problem that occurs in other Eco-Drive watches which have
smooth dials.
The hands and markers all glow very
well at night and remain readable (although dim) in he
early morning. Nighttime glow is much better than other
Citizen watches I have, although not as bright as the
Seiko Diver's watch.
The hands are not as thick as other divers watches and
when they are close together they can still be read
instead of combining into one big "lump".
The second hand is very thin and sometimes gets
"lost" in the dial. A small amount of glow
paint on the pointer end can actually be seen at night.
Overall the readability of the hands is pretty good.
The date on Citizen watches has
always been small (too small in my opinion). Newer models
attempt to correct that by adding a magnifying lens to
the front of the crystal. This helps somewhat, but when I
look at the date I seem to see a small date down in a
thick "well" in the Eco-Drive face. Citizen
should really put a date wheel with bigger numerals on
their analog Eco-Drive movements.
Movement
The movement in the 200m Diver is a standard
Eco-Drive quartz movement with date and is very accurate.
Unlike other Citizen watches I have the second hand
aligns perfectly with the markers all around the dial.
The movement has no "power saving" mode and
runs all the time whether light is hitting it or not.
This is necessary in a watch which may be used to dive
since you would not want the watch dropping into power
save mode during a dive.
Accuracy
The movement is quartz and is quite accurate usually
varying less that Citizen's published standards of +/- 15
sec. per month. In the three weeks I have had this watch
it is about +4 seconds.
Closing Thoughts
A rugged divers styled watch with the low maintenance of
Eco-Drive. This one will get a lot of wrist time.
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