Old Skyhawk revived!
In about 2004 I purchased a Citizen eco drive Skyhawk in an airport duty free somewhere in the far east.
I had no knowledge of watches or movements at the time but the idea of eco drive appealed so I went ahead and bought it probably paying over the odds...I can't remember how much but to me at the time it was by far the most I had spent on a watch.
Many years past and it was my only time piece.
It stopped working after about 10 years. I researched getting it fixed but understood it had to go back to Citizen and the cost seemed just not worth it and it languished in my office drawer.
Fast forward to October last year and I succumbed to watch addiction quite badly.
I made various modest purchases and after a while thought back to my discarded skyhawk.
For Christmas my wife bought me,in addition to a Hamilton Khaki Field , a basic watch repair type kit from amazon. I ordered a battery (quite expensive!) to get the ecodrive fired up again and then set to work taking the back off and digging around on the innards.
Hey presto my beloved old beater is up and running again and it now occupies a reserved place in the watch box as my precollection watch.
I realise such a modest feat of maintenance does not make me a watchmaker but hey! You gotta start somewhere and the fact my old Citizen is back amongst the living gave me a warm feeling..
NB
Now I have a modicum of watch knowledge I don't particularly like chronographs as I think there is much to much going on in the face and it's not the easiest watch to read but I'm still quite attached to it!
An enthusiast and collector for two years. Got it worse now than when I fell down the rabbit hole! The more I learn the greater my affliction becomes... A particular interest in titanium divers and vi...
Excellent. My wife bought me a Citzen Eco Drive for my 40th birthday. I'm 58 now, the thing is still going and has never been serviced. I'm in awe of this watch. I pretty much wore it every day for 15 years, now that I'm watch obsessed, I retired it and fondly let it rest in a special place at my watch alter. Not sure I will fix it when the time comes,
I'm the same age and had that skyhawk since I was forty by weird coincidence?
I bought another cheaper eco drive on a plane about five years ago and then after my watch affliction was diagnosed my Citizen Ray Mears which is a firm favourite . Eco drive generally under appreciated in my opinion!
I was so excited to DIY my Eco-Drive diver back into existence by replacing the capacitor that I made a video for it. It's not the best quality, but I tried to keep simple so those that like to tinker would feel confident in tackling the repair. I love reading the comments, like yours above, of enthusiasts delighted that their old friend is back on their wrist! It's so fun to "gain" a watch back into your collection/rotation. I had previously sent this watch to Citizen for other repairs, before I became a tinkerer myself, so I can say that is also a good option. But if you have a few tools and the right OEM part, you'll bond with your watch even more after successfully completing this repair.
https://youtu.be/YwHTEBRUg9I
Thanks my friend! I could have done with seeing your video before I did my own attempt! Amazing the satisfaction even such a relatively simple task can generate!
Amazing this calibre is so old, considering everything it can do. What is the calibre reference? When was it introduced? Is it now 20+ years old? Citizen - there is no substitute!
I don't have any original packaging or instructions for it.
And I couldn't find out much about it on line. Pretty sure it's discontinued. Definitely more than 20 years old!
I wanted to change mine, but having taken the back off, it turns out it’s a more involved one where I would have to keep taking bits off to even get to the battery — and I can’t find any tear downs for it. Annoying, as the battery alone is thirty quid, and knowing my luck it will cost more than the watch is worth to get it changed.
But I will.
Good luck! Yes the Citizen batteries are very expensive relative to the bog standard quartz batteries. Probably because they are capacitor units to keep holding a small charge over many years....I think? I now have four eco drives in total including the old skyhawk which so far is the only one that died. Though having said that it did last about twelve years I think on the first battery!