I bought this watch roughly a year ago.  Shortly after I bought it, I traveled by train all around Western Europe.  It performed perfectly.  It was fun to pull up into a Swiss train station where they have clocks with big, highly visible, second hands along the track.  The watch was always absolutely dead on.  With this watch there's no BS when it comes to time:  you know exactly, precisely what time it is.  Period.

I also have a Breitling, a Tag, and a vintage Rolex, as well as a number of other fine watches.  Even though I bought this watch for the trip a year ago, I simply can't seem to take it off.  There's something about knowing that you've got perfect time on your wrist, and you never have to wonder. I've learned to have absolute confidence in the watch.  Rather than becoming bored with it, I've found that it spoils me.  It has become my comfort zone.

As you've probably already figured out, Citizen makes very good watches for the money in looks, quality, and features.  To me, they're number one in overall value, and this watch is no exception.

I use the timer for steaks when I cook out and I use the dual time-zone feature periodically as well.  I've used the alarm a few times with no issues.

There are just a few compromises in the design.  The hands do get in the way of the displays, but there is literally no way around that.  I've made some notes to remind myself of some of the menus.  The daylight saving time management is somewhat unintuitive, but, if you take the time to read the manual and write down the steps, it's no big deal.  I've put a set of steps at the end of this review that might help you get and keep a grip on time zones and on daylight savings.

I've never had a problem keeping it fully charged.  Every two or three months, I've left it out in the sunlight for about 15 minutes just to be sure, but it probably wasn't necessary.  Ten minutes in the sun is supposed to charge it for six months!  If you do anything in short sleeves outdoors, like golf, you can just forget it.

Other reviewers have noted that the titanium band scratches easily.  The only spot that shows wear on mine is the bottom of the clamp on the band where I tend to rest my wrist while I work at a computer.  It would probably buff out, but why bother?  The rest of the band looks like new from a couple of feet away.  It does feel very light, but in no way does it feel cheap.  The bezel and crystal still look brand new.  I haven't babied the watch, but I haven't worn it while working on my car, either.

From what I've said, it should be obvious that if I could only have one watch, this would be it, hands down.  Nothing else has made me completely lose interest in wearing another watch.  Only for the most formal occasions will I wear something different, and I'm always glad to get back to this one.  If you're wondering whether you'll be glad you bought this watch, I'm betting you will.

Here are my steps for making two of the more involved settings.  You'll find that all these steps won't be necessary, because some intermediate settings will already be what they need to be.

To choose a city:
The small LED window at left is your home city.  This determines the time shown on the analog display.  This window should represent where you are, because it determines which frequency is used for radio reception.  (In Europe, it should show a European city.)  To change cities, pull the crown out one stop.  Set the watch to TME mode (orange mini hand at the bottom points straight down).  Leave the crown out one stop.  Upper and lower buttons now move the city choice up and down in the right window.  Push both buttons simultaneously to swap cities between windows.  When the desired combination of cities is reached, push the crown in to leave it in TME mode or rotate the crown to put in the CAL (calendar) mode, for example.  Finally, push the crown in.

Setting daylight saving time:
The watch uses SMT to mean Daylight Saving Time.  This can be confusing in the manual.  SMT means Summer Time and is the abrieviation used in the UK.  SMT can be set manually, city-by-city, or it can update automatically.  I found that the automatic update is not reliable, but you may find it works fine where you live.  To set SMT for a specific city, get the city to show in the right-hand window.  Set mode at the bottom to RX-S.  Pull out the crown two stops.  Push the lower button to get mA showing, which means manual.  Set the mode to WT-S at the top of the circle.  If SET is not flashing, push the top button until the upper entry in the window (immediately below the city name) is flashing.  Push the bottom button to switch from OFF to SET and back, and leave it at SET.  Push the top button to get the bottom entry flashing -- it will flash either ON or OF.  Push the bottom button to select between ON and OF (off).  ON means daylight savings time is on for that city.  Reset the mode as desired and push the crown back in.

Tim Naff