Citizen Eco-drive: Batteries are not included

Your active lifestyle need not be hindered with antiquated personal, everyday accessory like your wristwatch.  Gone are days when you have to crank up your watch every day, adjust the date at month’s end and disrupt your daily routine just to replace your watch’s battery.  With the Citizen Eco-drive line, all you need is light to be unstoppable. 

Citizen Eco-drive Satellite Wave watch

Citizen Eco-drive watches are solely powered by light.  Introduced years ago, Citizen Eco-drive watches apply today’s advanced technology for a more convenient and user-friendly products.  Under the guiding principle “fusion of beauty and technology”, impressive are the Citizen’s timepieces with its exquisite beauty in modern features and design. The new line of Eco-Drive products showcase the Radio Controlled watches, the Twin Date Perpetual calendars, Aqualand diver’s watches, Sports watches and the Complication series.

The old ways of discarding used battery had become obsolete with the Eco-drive models.  This line relies on light power for its multiple functions.  Through the photovoltaic process, the crystal and dial on every timepiece converts solar energy to electrical power.  This makes it possible to harness the power of light from any natural and artificial source.  When sufficiently charged, excess power is then stored in a special energy storage cell that can last up to 40 years. 

Eco-drives watches must be regularly exposed to light but it is so energy-efficient that it only requires very little light for normal use.  Even in total darkness, a fully-charged Eco-drive watch can run for 45 days to 5 years depending on the model.  Low maintenance, free charging and environment-friendly, the Citizen Eco-drive can be your lifetime wrist companion.

For active world travelers, the Global Radio Controlled watches can provide precise time
anywhere in Europe, the United States and Japan.  Radio transmissions from Germany, United States and Japan are channeled through the watches by choosing a local area for the most accurate world time.  These watches can show time in your home city, UTC time, local time and date so that any trip through different time zone are more manageable and convenient.  Breeze thru 43 cities and 29 time zones with the interchangeable display of the home time and local time with the radio controlled timepieces.

When you switch into different time zones, this can make your calendar date quite confusing.  With the Eco-drive perpetual calendar models you have access to a big date display with two disks.  Each disk has its own motor for separate control and adjustment.  Time difference will automatically change whether in advance or reverse over a 24-hour period.  With the light power feature and the perpetual calendar, you are totally free from battery changes and date adjustments.

On top of the Citizen diver’s watches is the Aqualand Eco-Drive.  It is the first light- powered diving watch that starts measuring depth, temperature and diving duration as soon as it is underwater.  Its bold asymmetrical form and coloration highlights the many features that compliment the diving experience as technically-sound and worry-free.

Sports watches require precision and reliability that is critical to the game.  Eco-drive watches have both functionality and reliability.  One hand moves on 1/5 of a second and instantaneously returns to 0 (zero) position as needed.  The stylish solid case and detailed face of this watch comes very elegant for a sports watch.

The Complication series only means that these particular models “fuse complicated functionality into refined style”.  The Eco-Drive Minutes Repeater has chimes to announce time with a distinctive face design.  Other models sport an asymmetrical design with minute measuring display on a semicircular design.  Different functions can be changed by simply adjusting the crown.

A special power save function can also be found on some Eco-Drive models.  This feature allows the watch to conserve power when light is not readily available.  This allows extended run times from a single full charge.  Some functions may cease to operate with insufficient light but correct time is always kept internally.  So, there is no time to wait. Get going with Eco-drive now.

First posted on June 7, 2010.