Eco-Drive BL5250-53L Men’s Watch From Citizen: Review (Part 2/2 88%)

We started looking yesterday at look at the Citizen Eco-Drive BL5250-53L watch. In this final part of the review, we look at how to use the thing.

Using the watch
First off, we have to say the watch looks fantastic. It’s really attractive and well made.

It’s light on the wrist, comfortable to wear and the high contrast white hands against the black face makes it very easy to read the time from all angles, with very little reflections from the high quality glass.

The strap – with its ‘push button’ safety deployment clasp – is lightweight, tough and secure, although you’ll probably have to visit a jeweller to get the strap adjusted (or break out your DIY mini screwdriver set).

Mind you, with all this technology on tap, it’s not surprising that we were forced to RTFM read the manual before we could set the watch up fully, but once you’ve got your head around the way it works, it’s pretty straightforward stuff (albeit a little slow in operation).

One thing that does take a bit of getting used to is seeing the hands speeding around the watch whenever you change functions (if ever you want to inflict an act of cruelty on an ‘enhanced’ person at a rave, just set the dials spinning when they ask to see the time.)

The chronograph and dual time worked exactly as advertised and the alarm made just about enough noise to wake us up from a light sleep (like most waterproof metal watches, you’re never going to get that much noise out of the things, so heavy sleepers should invest in a trusty alarm clock or use their mobile’s alarm instead).

One thing we didn’t like about the watch was that once or twice we managed to accidentally knock the mode dial, so when we went to check the time we were momentarily confused to see something completely different on the dial.

But these are minor grumbles from what it a really attractive, eye-catching and solidly built timepiece that should last way past the manufacturer’s five year guarantee. What’s more, its light powered energy source means that you can do your tiny bit for the environment too.

The Citizen BL5250-53L (snappy name, by the way guys!) retails for £299 – but can usually be picked up online for around £240.

Citizen

The verdict:
Ease of use: 70%
Build: 85%
Features: 88%
Pose factor: 87%
Glow In Bed-ability: 82%
Blokey tech-appeal: 89%
Value for money: 75%
Overall: 88%