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What is Eco-Drive?

Introduced to the world in 1995, Citizen Eco-Drive watches became an instant hit! After all, who wants to bother with changing batteries every couple of years? It's too much of a hassle! Welcome to our Citizen Section, and if you haven't already guessed, today I'll be talking about Citizens Eco-Drive series. Ready? Here we go.

Before we start, when I describe some parts of the watches, I might refer to something called "caliber movement". That is just Citizen's version of a Module (which is what gives the watches their features).

As mentioned before, the Eco-Drives came out in 1995. The technology that made it possible was the Caliber 7878 movement. This particular movement was the first one to be able to absorb light, by leaving enough room for tiny solar cells to sit directly on the dial. These cells were so small, that unless you were specifically looking for them, you wouldn't be able to find them.

In order to take full advantage of a solar watch however, you'd need batteries that would hold the charge. Just a solar panel isn't enough. That's why the Eco-Drive movements included titanium rechargeable, or secondary batteries. Thanks to those secondary batteries, once the watch is fully charged, they'll last 180 days before you need to charge them up again.

Here's the best part though. Unlike true "Solar" watches, Eco-Drive could absorb light from any source, whether sunlight, or electrical! And because the batteries themselves are rechargeable, that pretty much eliminates the need to change the batteries, unless they themselves fail.

Citizen could have just coasted on this achievement, but they decided to go further. In our Citizen Section of the store, you'll find simple analogue watches, but you'll also find other types. Some with Chronographs, even Diving watches. The evolution of the movements ensured that Citizen could still offer Eco-Drive watches and make them more advanced! There are watches that pilots use, as well as Wave models (which synchronise themselves with a GPS Satellite, perfect when travelling overseas).

Check out our range of Citizen Watches, and if you don't find what you're looking for, give us a shout! More and more models will be making their way here soon!