9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
An overall master piece
Date of Review: Sep 3, 2006
The Bottom Line: This is a masterful crafted classy design with features beyond most people's requirement. Definitely worth the price.
As a user of this watch JR3060-59F for a few weeks, I like to share some of my experience with it. I have to say that I love this watch and enjoy to look at it any time. In stead of going through its features, I will focus my feel about it. The feature list or instruction is available on the manual or web.
DESIGN
I believe the overall design of this watch is outstanding. Its contour shape suits for casual and business occasions. Its casing migrates to the integrated links in an elegant way, so it is a very good balance of fashion and classic. Its Titanium gray color is unique, though kind of bland, yet emits an understated prestige and it matches the high-tech image too. The whole color tone is well organized, Gray in link and casing and LCD, black in bezel numbers and dial face, white in hour & minute hands and marks on face. The yellow second hand becomes a beautiful highlight without disturbing the whole color tone. The chrome circles on the sub-dials correspond to the crown and buttons on the right. I think its overall design is comparable to those vantage watches that are much more expensive.
FUNCTIONS
This watch packs all the possible daily use functions with easy access. The 24 hour local time will become very useful in timeless environment like Casino. Its switch between local and other parts of the world is very easy. Though it has over 20 cities, you can choose to set off some cities that are not needed frequently.
The timer function is limited due to the design of crown. The watch has to be removed from wrist to pull out the crown for timer setting or any other settings. This is a major design negligence. Some horizontal groove on the crown can easily solve this issue.
The bezel is useful even for non-pilots. It can do multiplication or division easily for 2-digits numbers. The resistant feel of the bezel is very professional, not too loose and not too tight either. It is the bezel grip design need to be improved.
WOW FACTORS
Imagine when you get off the plane in another continent with your colleague and you switch your Skyhawk's main dials to the local time by press the two buttons at the same time, your colleague will very likely amazed at seeing your Skyhawk sweeps the hour hand to local time in a few seconds. By the time you told him that your light-powered Skyhawk can run at complete darkness for 4 years, he will surely rethink why he has to wave his arm on purpose every single day to wind his "automatic" jewelery. Then you can tell him that your Skyhawk never gains or losses more than 4 seconds a month, he will be willing to trade his 8000USD Breitling with yours:)
THINGS CAN BE IMPROVED
1. Non-reflective coasting on crystal and dial is desirable.
2. The marks visibility can be improved using IllumiBright or Tritium. Night-light would become unnecessary at all if the marks are more visible. Who needs to set the watch or using chronograph at complete darkness?
3. Some horizontal grooves on the crown will enable pulling out crown without moving the watch off the wrist. This is something Citizen should correct right away, even by offering some replacement to the current crown design.
4. User manual asks to avoid using buttons or crowns in water. This greatly limits the usability even it is rated Water Resistance 100M. If water-proof buttons are used and can be used under water, it will help those swimmers to measure lap times.
5. The grip of the rotation bezel can be improved by using a more conventional bezel design. The four shallow sinks on the current design does offer enough grip for rotation operation.
TO BE VERIFIED
Not sure about the light power charge in winter when long sleeves or even coat covers up the watch all day long. Do we have to put the watch under a lamp every night to charge it for normal use? If that is the case, it will not be ecological anymore.
SUMMARY
The whole watch is a great design and enjoyable experience to look at and use. Its long list features offer great help and easy access makes life easier. Even with a long list of wished improvements, I still love it a lot.
