First the summary: I really like this watch for what it is but I am also glad that I read ALL the reviews before I ordered it so I was prepared for most of its quirks. Since I have owned it only for a short period of time I cannot comment on its long-term reliability. It keeps the time to within less than 1s error per week. I like the very low weight for a watch of this style & size and in contrast to one of the other reviewers I don't think that this contributes to a cheap look-and-feel, rather the contrary. The white hands on an almost black background make it easy to spot the time on a first glance. All indicators including the small additional function hands and the date window were precisely aligned upon delivery and stay so in normal use. The date does not start shifting around 11pm as it happens with other watches but it simply switches at 12am, ensuring that one can always easily recognize the correct date at any time. Setup from scratch can be a bit cumbersome during the first time. So, yes, you sure need the manual but it isn't rocket science either. As for the looks of it, it is more shiny than the official Citizen images suggest, you get a more realistic idea by looking at the photographs provided by other amazon customers. But again, I don't agree that this necessaryily gives it a cheap appearance. It is simply a matter of personal preference and I like to look at it. The things that kept my rating down at 3 stars are the following: 1) Switching between alarm setting and time display modes is indeed a pain in the neck. While it still has something charming to it when the hands are making their rounds when switching between the alarm and time modes, I don't understand why the hands are not always taking the shortest route between the two settings. For example, instead of going 9 hours backward (CCW) they spool down 15 hours forward (CW). I haven't figured out yet why this is the case since the hands can run in both directions, CW and CCW. And one thing that is really disturbing is the fact that even if one does not want to change the alarm setting but only switch the alarm on or off, one still has to wait (sometimes for minutes) until the watch has completed its entire multi-roundtrip to display the alarm time setting. Only then can the alarm be switched on or off after which the watch has to make it all the way back to the time display. Now to my taste this is pushing it a bit far. 2) The alarm is as quiet as many others have described it. You don't want to use it as a spare travel alarm clock or as a meeting reminder in any other but the most quiet office environment. It is the quietest alarm that I have ever found in any watch. 3) If a watch has an alarm and a second time zone mode, I think the alarm should also refer to this second time zone if desired. Unfortunately this is not the case for this watch. Second time zone, yes, but the alarm setting always refers to the original zone. Kind of limits the practicality of the second time zone mode. But then if you can't use it as an alarm clock anyway...So in the end I don't regret it at all that I bought it. In fact I like it a lot for its overall design and apparently fine engineering. And last not least the idea to use light and a non-toxic battery to power it. But if any of the abovementioned downsides are of any concern, one should think twice before getting this watch. These quirks are real with no workaround in sight.