Citizen Men's BL5295-55E Eco-Drive Perpetual Calendar Black Ion-Plated Chronograph Watch

This is a good watch: solar powered, packed with functionality, and the black looks really good. You can read the pros of the watch in reviews of BL5180-57L (which uses the same movement), so I will not repeat them here. Instead, I will share with you my frustrations with the design.

1. Dual-time requires mode switching. There is no way to check time in the other zone with a quick glance; you have to switch modes (see point #2). If only we could make the 24-hour sub-dial display the hour in the second time zone (like Nighthawk) there would be no need for separate TME and L-TM modes! (Yes, this requires an additional motor, and I would have gladly paid for that. See also...Read more

Just to clear up any confusion, regardless of what the picture looks like, this watch is very BLACK.

I bought this watch for looks more than anything else. It is disappointing that the chronograph only runs for 1 hour and then stops. The 24 hour sub dial really is useless. If you don't know if it is AM or PM, you should cut back on your drinking. The local time mode is nice if you travel frequently, but keep the instruction booklet handy as setting up anything on this watch can be confusing. Note: the interactive instructions on Citizen's website for this watch are incorrect, you need to read the instruction booklet if you want to get this thing going properly.

Like I said, I bought this watch for looks more than function, and I think it does look pretty slick, so I'm not going to drop it's score because of a weak feature set.

I have owned this watch for over 1 year now (it is my second Citizen Eco-Drive) and I love the watch and its features. I am very disappointed in the bracelet part. The Ion plating wears off the stainless steel bracelet very quickly. I called Citizen to see if it is under warranty and they said that only the mechanical parts of the watch are covered and a new band would be $85. Not very happy.