Need advice on the Eco drive stiletto AR3070-04L

Dinky1 · May 13, 2021

I'm seriously considering buying the slim eco drive with a blue dial to replace my long defunct citizen .
The previous eco- drive was my first 'luxury' watch bought just before the birth of my daughter. That was 14 years ago and I thought it's about time I got me another eco drive.
Id like some advice on this particular model regarding its longevity, any niggles , how it sits on the wrist etc.
Im buying it online, no question of foraging in a brick n mortar store considering the state of affairs in my part of the world.
In case y'all are wondering, I'm asking because my previous eco drive's capacitor went belly up on me after about 6 years of erratic use. Most probably I'm to blame for it but there's no better place in the world I'd get some good advice than here so kindly indulge me. Thanks in advance to all ye kind souls
Picture courtesy of Citizen website:

aafanatic · May 13, 2021

That looks like an awesome watch. The eco drive will last much longer if not put in a drawer or stored in the dark. If there is anyway that you could leave it on a shelf. These don't need that much light, but the problem comes in when we leave these in a drawer and forget about them

vmgotit · May 13, 2021

Dinky1,
I would send your old eco-drive to Citizen USA. I did so with an old Citizen Diver, Eco-Zilla, I had for like 10 years. Citizen, took it and put in a complete new movement, and sent it back to me at no charge. I also like the new model you are looking at. Vance.

tmathes · May 13, 2021

I have that exact watch, got it off eBay from a seller that's a Citizen/Bulova liqudation house. I got it last year October.

I can't say what the final longevity of the battery is but based on my experiences with other Citizens I've had for 8+ years the batteries hold up just fine (they use a rechargable BATTERY, not a capacitor). Keep them charged up and they'll last deades with zero issues. Not a single of my 6 Citizens has been anything but stellar watches.

As for sitting on the wrist, with my 7" wrist it sits just fine. The strap is OK, nothing special but not the complete garbage as I've seen in some Citizens. It is rather flat (ie no padding) to match the watch and decently flexible too. The back of the watch is also perfectly flat which is impressive. It's not EcoDrive One thin but plenty thin enough for me. Some watches have a taper to hide that they're not that thin really but not this watch, it's a flat plane on the back of the watch.

I will say that with the narrow bezel design this watch does wear a bit 'bigger' than expected visually since the dial is so large relative to the complete face of the watch. the lugs are short which helps though, I have zero regrets getting it.

Time keeping has been pretty good; I noticed the hand moves every 10 seconds so I set up the watch in October to be spot on at the 5 minute mark (the only way to properly set the minutes hand correctly on this watch) and then reset the watch at DST in March. It gained around 35 seconds is the best I could tell, that worked out to around +7-ish seconds/month. Not bad at all and having no sweep second hand that's plenty accurate for a 2 hander.

I'd say go for it, you will not regret it.

Dinky1 · May 14, 2021

Thank you all for the feedback. That’s all the encouragement I need. I’ll be ordering mine today.
And yes, Vance, I’ll definitely get someone to look at my old citizen and try to revive it.

James142 · May 15, 2021

Nice clean dial, accurate, solar, sapphire crystal, affordable - what's not to like? [emoji13]

Dinky1 · May 22, 2021

Ended up with this………for now ?

Need advice on the Eco drive stiletto AR3070-04L

Dinky1

aafanatic

vmgotit

tmathes

Dinky1

James142

Dinky1

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