Looked great on Amazon's website when I bought it. But not as impressed when I actually got it. However you might feel differently about the attributes that I am dinging the watch on.

My problem with Citizen is that in spite of their eco-drive technology, they just never seem to get it right. They are so close and then they screw it up. They need to hire some better design folks.

In case folks from Citizen are reading this, here's my wish list. And based on my rather frequent visits to watch forums, this is what every hot-blooded watch seeker wants:

- Eco-drive, you got it, kudos.
- Perpetual calendar. Readable.
- Luminous hands or indiglo. The brighter and longer lasting the better (go borrow Seiko/Timex technology)
- Get rid of half ass chronographs. No one needs them. Half the folks like proper chronographs on their watches, the other half (without Ferraris) have absolutely no use for it.
- Keep your stupid modes off the dial of the watch. We don't want to see a subdial with Alarm and Chronograph and other details on the face of the watch. Figure out where else you can put it. That's your job.

Ok now that my venting is done, let's talk about this specific watch:

PROS
- Eco-Drive. No complaints there. Simply awesome.
- The watch has a classic expensive retro look (blue hands, white face...think Cartier)
- Love the retro calendar. I am a big fan of day and date features

CONS
- The face has a strange finish. It is not white like it looks on the photograph. It looks like a plasticky white. I guess it is necessary to let the light in for the eco-drive to work, but it makes the face look like plastic.
- The calendar date circle font is too small to read, even when you are not in a rush
- I could never get the date and day to work in the same 12-hour cycle. The date and day always changed 12 hours apart.
There's some funky specific instructions to set it, and try as I might,  I just couldn't get it to work. And I have a few fancy watches.
- There is no lume, so the hands don't light up in the dark. At this day and age, this is simply unacceptable. I know Citizen is trying to make it look like a "classic", but find a way already. Borrow Timex's indiglo or something.
- It's not a perpetual calendar. Why not? Seriously? Just stop producing watches without perpetual calendar...please.