Talk:Eco-Drive

Tutorial moved here
WP:NOT : Wikipedia is not a tutorial. -- 75.24.105.157 05:26, 5 August 2006 (UTC) This will have to be changed to some kind of "feature list" for this thing.

How to set an Eco-Drive Watch
The English-language instructions for setting Eco-Drive watches are close to incomprehensible. Here are instructions for one particular model - BL5XXX - that probably hold for similar Eco-Drive watches. This particular model has three small dials in addition to the main face, two buttons and a stem. Its functionality includes an alarm clock, a chronograph (i.e., stop watch) and a perpetual calendar.

Here is how these instructions will refer to the various elements of the watch:

Main Face: The place where the main minute, hour and second hands are. Dial A: The upper left small dial numbered up to 24. Underneath it says "Chronograph" and "Alarm" Dial B: The upper right small dial numbered 0-8. Underneath it says "Perpetual calendar" Dial C: The bottom middle small dial. It has four labels that repeat around the circle: TME (time), CHR (stop watch), L-TM (local time) and ALM (alarm) Button A: The top button Button B: The bottom button Stem In: The stem in its normal position, full pressed into the watch Stem Mid: The stem in its middle position Stem Out: The stem pulled out all the way into this third position.

Turning the stem to the right means giving it a half turn or so in a clockwise direction.

Changing modes
With the stem in, give the stem a little twist in either direction. This will cause the hand on Dial C to move, changing the mode of the clock from TME (normal time), CHR (using the stop watch), L-TM (local time) and ALM (setting the alarm). Depending on the function, changing modes may automatically change the big hands on the main face.

Setting the Perpetual Calendar
Make sure Dial C is set to TME. (See Changing modes above.)

Set the stem to mid. Turning it to the left will set the date. If you give it a full turn instead, the date will change continuously until you give it another little spin. (It can be difficult to get the stem spun just right to start the continuous date changing.)

The second hand points to the month. E.g., if it is pointing to 1, your watch thinks it is January. If it points at 12, your watch thinks it is December. Press B once to advance the second hand by one month.

Now you have to tell it when the next leap year is coming. Dial B controls that. If the hand on Dial B is pointing at 0, then your watch thinks it is currently a leap year. If it points at 1, it thinks it was a leap year last year. If it points at2, it thinks it was a leap year two years ago. And if it points at 3, it thinks it was a leap year three years ago (and that therefore next year is a leap year).

Push the stem all the way in. Your watch is now set to keep track of dates for the next few decades.

Setting the time
Make sure Dial C is set to TME. (See Changing modes above.)

Pull the stem to its out position. The second hand should advance to 12.

Turn the stem to the right or left to cause the big hands to turn. (To the right moves the hands clockwise.) The hand in Dial A will turn. Give the stem a little turn in the other direction to stop the movement. (NOTE: Dial A tells you whether the big hands are showing AM or PM; if you are setting the watch to 7:00pm (or 19:00, if you prefer), for example, the hand on Dial A should be pointing at 19. To make the hands move faster, give the stem two or three fast turns. (NOTE: This doesn't always work.)

Push the stem in all the way.

Setting the date
Make sure Dial C is set to CHR. (See Changing modes above.)

Pull the stem to its mid position.

Turn the stem to the left to cause the date number to change. (Give the stem a little turn in the other direction to stop the movement.) The big hands will move as the date is set. (NOTE: This doesn't always work.)  To make the dial move faster, give the stem two or three fast turns.

Push the stem in all the way.

Using the stopwatch
The stopwatch, or "chronograph," can measure up to an hour.

Set Dial C to CHR. (See "Changing modes" above.) The second hand will advance to 12. Button A starts and stops the stopwatch. Pressing Button A continuously resets the stopwatch to 0. Dial B records minutes.

Using local time
Set Dial C to L-TM. (See Changing modes above.)

Pull the stem all the way out. Turn the stem left or right once for each hour you want to advance or setback the time. When you're done, press the stem back in. So long as you are in L-TM mode, the watch will show local time. If you set the mode to TIM, it will show the time where you started.

For example, if you are visiting some place three hours ahead of your home, you would go into L-TM mode, pull the stem all the way out, and turn the stem three times to the right.

NOTE: If in setting local time you go past midnight, the calendar date will change.

Using the alarm
To set the alarm, set Dial C to ALM. (See "Changing modes" above.) The hands move to whatever time the alarm had been set to previously.

Pull the stem out fully. Set the time you want the alarm to go off by turning the stem. Check Dial A to make sure you have it set for AM or PM. (For example, to set the alarm to go off at 11:30 PM, Dial A should point to one tick before 24.) Push the stem in. The alarm is now set.

To turn off the alarm when it is beeping, press Button A.

To un-set the alarm so it won't go off at its appointed time, set Dial C to ALM and pull out the stem. Pressing Button A toggles the alarm on and off. You can tell whether it's on by looking at the second hand. If it is pointing to 41 minutes after the hour, the alarm is on. If it is pointing to 37 minutes after the hour, it is off.

Features?
Again, if there are factual features available in the above text, the please feel free to reword in a descriptive tone and add back to article. -- 67.116.255.168 06:41, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Battery lifetime
192.127.94.7 20:10, 12 November 2007 (UTC) Is there any evidence that batteries last longer in an Eco-drive than in a conventional quartz watch? (The answer for Kinetics appears to be "no"...) 192.127.94.7 20:10, 12 November 2007 (UTC)


 * From experience, i have owned and used a Eco-drive piece for the last 15 years. It has had one servicing to replace the crystal, and to give the movements a cleaning. The battery itself was not touched and the piece runs almost as well today as it did when I got it. Seeing all other watches I have used require a battery change at least every 2 years.. Yes, the batteries last considerably longer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.79.116.73 (talk) 23:25, 18 July 2013 (UTC)


 * The Promaster Eco-Drive AP0440-14F Diver's 200 m shown in the article manufactured in may 2000 still runs well on its original secondary battery as does another Promaster Eco-Drive AP0440-14F Diver's 200 m also manufactured in 2000.--Francis Flinch (talk) 07:03, 19 July 2013 (UTC)


 * My experience was that the battery in my Eco-Drive watch (used in an office environment year-round) had a life of about 30 months. When sent in and "Reconditioned" it lasted another six months before ceasing to charge even after whole days in direct sunlight. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.105.173.102 (talk) 04:40, 23 November 2013 (UTC)


 * So, what do Citizen charge for maintenance of these watches? My experience of a Seiko perpetual calendar watch is that the battery needs changing about every 7 years, at a cost of about 50 GBP (80 USD?) Moreover, the mechanism was knackered at the first change, which cost a further 80 GBP. You can't take these to a highstreet shop to change the battery as they are sealed under vacuum. Is this the case for Citizen too? 51kwad (talk) 04:53, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Rename, rethink?
The article starts: ''Eco-Drive is the brand of solar-powered wristwatches. . . .''

I think an article on (Citizen-nonspecific) solar-powered wristwatches might be more helpful. (This could of course have a section specific to Citizen's "Eco-Drive", if Citizen got there first, does it better than its rivals, or is otherwise particularly notable.) Unfortunately I have no knowledge of the subject, and so can't volunteer.

(A quick look at several articles on wristwatch companies doesn't convince me that the writers have much knowledge either. For all I know they have and use disinterested sources, but if so they usually don't mention them.) -- Hoary (talk) 01:02, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Notability

 * Merging Eco-Drive to solar powered watch denies the fact that not all Eco-Drive watches were light powered. There were also temperature difference and hybrid powered models produced that were offered as Eco-Drive watches. The article name regarding fuel efficient driving is currently Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors.
 * Citizen shop states; "At present, Citizen is the largest producer of watches and movements in the world. At present Citizen is currently most renowned for their Eco-Drive movement, which allows the watch to be powered by light as opposed to a standard battery (a solar powered watch in other words)." The Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd. article points out that the Eco-Drive line is a commercially successful product line. Tough always subject to personal points of view one can make a case that this line of mainly light powered watches by a major watch producer can be regarded as a notable product line since the producer stated that it made up 80% of their watch production in 2011.--Francis Flinch (talk) 13:21, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

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