labworm
US Veteran
Purchased this one in 1986
Keeps perfect time and is still ticking away, sort of like me.
Keeps perfect time and is still ticking away, sort of like me.
Seiko vs. Citizen
- Thread starter Texas Star
- Start date
DWalt
Member
Especially among the younger generation, watches and cameras are rapidly becoming superfluous and obsolete, as the ever-present cell phone. iPhone, etc. does timekeeping and picture taking, and even more. I never quite understood the expensive watch thing. Today, virtually all watches keep fairly exact time. If you pay any more than $20 for a watch, you are really buying a watch as prestige jewelry, not as a timekeeper. My wife had a fairly nice-looking Timex she bought for around $20 about 4 years ago, it worked fine until the battery ran down. Then she just bought another one.
Got my first Seiko automatic dive watch in 88/89.......after about 20 years it seemed to be losing maybe 2 minutes a month vs the TV clock......Got another .....................
Go on line to Overstock or Amazon....... Seiko Automatics MSRP >$400 on sale for $150 and up.....
DWalt makes a good point about watches and the younger generation..... my boys never wear a watch.... and are never without their phone
I like a nice looking watch but ...........I max out at Seiko Automatics w/ stainless bands! $250ish.
Go on line to Overstock or Amazon....... Seiko Automatics MSRP >$400 on sale for $150 and up.....
DWalt makes a good point about watches and the younger generation..... my boys never wear a watch.... and are never without their phone
I like a nice looking watch but ...........I max out at Seiko Automatics w/ stainless bands! $250ish.
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"DWalt makes a good point about watches and the younger generation..... my boys never wear a watch.... and are never without their phone "
That's just until the hipsters decide they're cool again
I like watches, and always wear one when away from the house. I think Seiko's are great. In the unlikely event the OP wants to read about them and others, forums.watchuseek.com is my favorite watch forum.
That's just until the hipsters decide they're cool again
I like watches, and always wear one when away from the house. I think Seiko's are great. In the unlikely event the OP wants to read about them and others, forums.watchuseek.com is my favorite watch forum.
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bountyhunter
Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2002
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My Seiko self winder is my workhorse watch. Works great.
A funny and true story about my first Seiko. It was digital and kept military time, which was an asset in the job I had during that period of my life. After a year or two, the battery died. Sears had a watch repair department that offered free replacement when you bought the battery there, and the back of the watch required a special tool to remove the back, so I went there in the early afternoon. The young lady behind the counter knew how to remove the back, replace the battery and get the back replaced, but when she went to set the time, and it read 13:00, she got a really strange look on her face. I knew immediately what had happened and told it was OK, the watch reads to 24:00, not two twelve hour turns. She something along the lines of "Thank goodness, I thought I broke something!". Reminded me of that Bobby Goldsboro song lyric that says: "Mickey Mouse says it's 13 o'clock, well that's quite a shock, but that's my boy."
Between me and my wife, we've owned four Citizen Ecodrive watches. Her first one finally bit the dust after about 18 years. We're happy with them. I wear a cheap Timex at work cause I'm hard on it.
Other than once or twice when the battery died and I didn't have the money to get it replaced, I've had the same Citizen Aqualand on my wrist since around 1989 or so:
It's needed a couple new batteries (obviously,) and a new crystal (once) and just keeps on going. I can generally tell when it's going to need a battery, as the stop watch / dive function quits working.
Sadly, it's only been used for diving once so far, doesn't help that the wife tried but can't get into diving...
It's needed a couple new batteries (obviously,) and a new crystal (once) and just keeps on going. I can generally tell when it's going to need a battery, as the stop watch / dive function quits working.
Sadly, it's only been used for diving once so far, doesn't help that the wife tried but can't get into diving...
italiansport
Member
I've been wearing a Citizen solar powered watch daily for well over ten years and it's never failed. I have a 40 year old Seiko that runs but needs maintenance (It stops periodically and is motion wound) but I have been told it isn't worth fixing. It was a present from my folks so If anyone knows otherwise please post.
Jim
Jim
BruceM
Member
I have two Citizen Eco-Drive chronographs and a similar Seiko. The first Citizen ran great for about 8 years before it malfunctioned. Set it to Citizen for service and they wanted more to replace the movement than I could buy the watch for at the retail level. Some time later, I found an identical NOS model which I bought. Hardly wore it more than once or twice a week. Had that one 13 months before you couldn't set it. Citizen no longer had repair materials but offered a "discount" on a new model which, again, amounted to more than you could buy the watch at retail for. Both sit in my drawer and are essentially junk.
A few months back a bought a Seiko solar chronograph similar to my Eco-Drives. Looks and runs great but full size sweep second hand on that model only works when using the watch as a stop watch. Seems dumber than a brick in my opinion, especially in view of the fact that the sweep second hand is illuminated to be visible in the dark. Don't most folks use a stop watch in near total darkness??
Bruce
A few months back a bought a Seiko solar chronograph similar to my Eco-Drives. Looks and runs great but full size sweep second hand on that model only works when using the watch as a stop watch. Seems dumber than a brick in my opinion, especially in view of the fact that the sweep second hand is illuminated to be visible in the dark. Don't most folks use a stop watch in near total darkness??
Bruce
I've had just a Seiko watch watch that I bought about 10 years ago in a department store. I've replaced the battery a couple fof times, and I think that time may be coming again soon: the second hand moves in two second jerks instad of one.
I have the Citizen Eco-Drive radio controlled perpetual calendar WE 200.
If I set it at night in one spot, it updates the time at 02:00, 03:00 and 04:00 every day.
I use it to set my gold Rolex date adjust that's just a piece of expensive jewelry that needs a cleaning that's not cheap every 5 or 6 years..
If I set it at night in one spot, it updates the time at 02:00, 03:00 and 04:00 every day.
I use it to set my gold Rolex date adjust that's just a piece of expensive jewelry that needs a cleaning that's not cheap every 5 or 6 years..
I think both are good brands. Used to be Citizens were considered sorta down market, and Seikos upscale, in Japan anyway.
I bought a Citizen Eco a coupla years ago and, gotta say, it runs like top.
Twenty or more years ago -- I dunno nowadays -- we used to buy Rolex, etc., high-end, brand-name, knock offs in Taipei/Singapore/Seoul and have fun with 'em. If ya want 'em for showing off, a great bargain. I gave away a couple to friends who admired 'em, way back when. (I did tell 'em they were fakes. And, examined up close, or at a distance by a watch aficionado, of course you can tell the difference between an original and a fake.)
I bought a Citizen Eco a coupla years ago and, gotta say, it runs like top.
Twenty or more years ago -- I dunno nowadays -- we used to buy Rolex, etc., high-end, brand-name, knock offs in Taipei/Singapore/Seoul and have fun with 'em. If ya want 'em for showing off, a great bargain. I gave away a couple to friends who admired 'em, way back when. (I did tell 'em they were fakes. And, examined up close, or at a distance by a watch aficionado, of course you can tell the difference between an original and a fake.)
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OP
Texas Star
US Veteran
Colin-
Yes, that means your battery is dying. I think that's in the manuals for all three of my watches.
I'm a "watch guy" too, with such exotica as Omega and pre-TAG Heuer chronographs, but the daily wear items are the Seikos, all autowinders. I think I only own one battery watch.
Orange Monster diver and an SKX007 modded to look similar to a Vietnam-era Benrus military divers watch, and a 1977 vintage 6309-7049 diver I restored last summer.
Orange Monster diver and an SKX007 modded to look similar to a Vietnam-era Benrus military divers watch, and a 1977 vintage 6309-7049 diver I restored last summer.
Attachments
Drifty but relevant
There was speculation that all of our microcircuit planes would drop out of the sky in the vicinity of a nuclear blast. When Victor Belenko defected in his MIG 25, among many things we found was that THE USSR WAS STILL USING VACUUM TUBES IN PLANES. Maybe not as stupid as it sounds. They made super-tough vacuum tubes which were also much more likely to survive an EM pulse.
And just to stay closer to the subject. My Dad when working for the RR was required to own a Seiko Quartz when they first came out in 1969.
There was speculation that all of our microcircuit planes would drop out of the sky in the vicinity of a nuclear blast. When Victor Belenko defected in his MIG 25, among many things we found was that THE USSR WAS STILL USING VACUUM TUBES IN PLANES. Maybe not as stupid as it sounds. They made super-tough vacuum tubes which were also much more likely to survive an EM pulse.
And just to stay closer to the subject. My Dad when working for the RR was required to own a Seiko Quartz when they first came out in 1969.
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brigeton
Member
It's not just kids that don't wear watches anymore. I haven't had a working watch in a few years now. There's 5 or 6 clocks in the house. I don't have a smart phone but my stupid phone has a clock. Yesterday I forgot my phone when I went fishing but there's a clock on my GPS in the boat. There's a clock in my truck. And being retired I just don't care that much what time it is.
Purchased this one in 1986
Keeps perfect time and is still ticking away, sort of like me.
Like John Cameron Swayze used to say, takes a licking but keeps on ticking.
Exactly, I buy Timex for 20-30 bucks at Wallyworld. When it stops I buy another. Usually get 2-3 years out of one. I buy a watch so I know what time it is.
