Sales women: "eco-drive isn't quartz"
I went to the local mall with the family the other day, noticed a god awful citizen watch spiderman edition sign out side an average looking jeweler. So naturally I walked in to peruse their selection.
I don't own any citizen watches, but their variety is intriguing and I'd love to add an eco-drive to the collection.
A sales women noticed me and asked if I needed any help. I told her that I had seen alot of these models online and I wanted to see them in person. She then told me that eco-drive watches aren't really good for putting in a drawer for a long time because it will completely die and need a new battery...
I told her that I was more of an automatic/mechanical watch fan but I wanted to get a quartz watch for my dad because he could just set it and forget it. To which she replied "well eco-drive isn't quartz."
I raised an eyebrow, smiled and inquired "well what kind of movement does an eco-drive use?" She answered "well I'm not a watch expert but the quartz watches say quartz on the front". I said thank you and left...
To be fair most AD's treat me like I'm made of spiders, this girl was trying to help but she seemed like she wasn't very good at selling citizen watches...
Can the eco-drive die like she said though? I do really dig citizen's flight watches, so complex and unique. But their star wars designs are terrible and don't get me started on the marvel watches. They're fun I get it I just wish there were cooler designs, seems like a real biffed opportunity.
I'm new to all of this and it is a genuinely interesting subject that has been a welcome distraction to the nightmare that is day to day life now.
I just bought a Citizen Eco-drive and it will charge under any light source and at full power can last 6 months in complete darkness. After that it will stop working and need light again but if your watch is in a drawer longer than 6 months maybe you shouldn’t buy it.
I don't really pay much attention to sales people especially in department stores. I have quite a few Citizen watches and I like them a whole lot.
Some of my Eco-Drives:
All of my solar powered watches live in a case by a window.
I even have a Citizen ecodrive from the mid 90's that's never missed a tick.
This saleswoman should learn more about the products she's selling I think
Lithium batteries like to be topped off, and deep discharging them, and worse, storing them discharged, will shorten the battery life. Same is true of your cell phone. I've read reports of Eco-Drives fished out of a drawer not holding charge. Hard to know what really went wrong, though. Citizen says they charge in indoor lighting, but I wonder if they charge enough. My solar G-Shock charge has dropped a bar after a week or two under indoor lights.
I've had my two Citizen Eco-Drive watches for over a decade and neither have had any issues so far with battery life. Theres been long streches of time where they recieved little to no light and after a few good and long charges in direct sunlight the battery meter went right back up. The manual speaks at length about the watches behavior during long stretches of darkness and the time required to recharge the battery.
It's a good question. As has been said above, I undersatnd that full discharge of Li cells should be avoided if possible. Something like once fully discharged, it can only be recharged to x% of the design capacity.
I'm so cringingly embarrassed for that sales person. Wow!! I sold diamonds for twelve years, so that caused my lungs to bleed when I read your story. Down to the Eco-drive. I have a lot of experience with them. You can stick one in a dark drawer and it will hold a charge for up to six months generally and will spring to life when you take it out. My Perpetual Calendar I bought in 2004 has never skipped a beat. I just calibrate the second hand every few months with one of my Multiband 6 Casios.
Oh lord!...'not a quartz because it doesn't say it on the front.' That's like saying a box of condoms aren't what they are because they don't say 'rubbers' on the package.
Apart from the fact she didn't know here subject matter! I have had a Citizen Eco-drive (my daily watch for many years) and after 13 years its still running and it loses 1 minute of time every other years. Plus it still has one of the nicest face I have seen on a watch and I have more than a few watches......LOL
All of my solar powered watches live in a case by a window.
I even have a Citizen ecodrive from the mid 90's that's never missed a tick.
Same setup...glass case with all my solar watches on my nightstand by my window... Always ready to go