Citizen Ecozilla

[Jockinho]

The Citizen zilla-series is one of Citizens most famous divers togheter with the classic Aqualand. It has a unique appereance and is well known among dive watch fans. When I became intrest in dive watches about 3years ago I never cared for the Ecozilla, I thought it looked odd with it's round shaped design. But the more I got into dive watches the more I started to like it and after some thinking I got one two months ago.

Some info

The Ecozilla comes in two versions, a steel one and one made in titanium. This review is for the one in titanium. There is also a automatic version of it avalaible with a higher WR (1000m instead of 300m as for the Eco-versions). The "Autozilla" also cost a lot more.

On to the review....

Case

This version of the Ecozilla is the titanium. I've only handled one or two titanium watches before but the zilla is very wellmade. It has a nice brushed finish and the darker color of the titanium makes it look very tool. There are, compared to the steel version, no polished parts on this one.



The watch is quite heavy, especially for being in titanium and with a rubber strap, around 180g. Another thing that will distract most people from this watch are the spec. It's 50mm width with 18mm thicknes, that is quite a lot. But in reality it doesn't look that huge, it's acctually quite small consider what I thought it would be. The lug to lug are around 48mm, the height is there though but it feels well proportioned. It never feels big even on a smaller wrist

My wrist are 6 1/4 inches and it look fine.




The caseback is another nice feature, it looks great and I love the design of it. In my opinion it's allways nice to see a quality made caseback and Citizen really did a great job on this one. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good photo of it but Boris Leung captured it nicely: http://www.seiko5ers.com/CitiNew/CitiTi300m%20f.jpg

Dial and crystal

The dial is sort of a matt black dial that looks more grey than black in some angles. The crystal is mineral, some may prefer sapphire but I have never had any problems with mineral. It has AR-coating on the inside, a very effective one. The crystal reflect very little and it's easy to read the time in most angles.

The dial is wellmade, there are no flawness at all. The lume is probably one of the best you can find, also it's blue than the normal green. Glows like a torch for lot's of hours.

There are only one thing that might be a bit negative, the date. For a size of this watch the date window seems kind of small. I would also personally have prefered the watch without a datefunction. Except for that it's a stunning wellmade dial!



Strap

The deal with this watch is that the lugs are special. You can not just replace the rubber with a leather/zulu, for that you need adapters made from Suppa or Walter's. And since they are only available in steel and not titanium I can't see myself buy one for it. To me the watch would have been even better if you could swap out the rubber without need to buy adapters. But still it's a minor issue becuase the rubber is great, it feels secure and balance up the heavy case. There's no cheap feeling to it, it's thick, has a great clasp and also is not that long which is good for the smaller wrists out there...



Movement

It's driven by the Eco-drive movement, which means it has a battery that's being charged by the sun. When I got the watch there where no sun at all, tried to charge it under a lamp but that didn't help much. However the next day the sun was shining and after around 10min it was fully charged. The watch keeps great time. I'm normally not a big quartz fan but just like Seiko's Kinetic movement I like when companies invent something a bit more fancy than just a standard quartz-movement.

Overall

I'm extremly pleased with this watch, it has a unique look to it and works great even on a small wrist. If you are looking for a fun diver I would highly recommend it. For the money I paid, around 400USD with 70USD of customs, I think it represant great value. It's wellmade, has an intresting movement and wears well on the wrist. Also Citizen being one of the most famous companies out there and that has produce divewatches for quite a long time I can't see it will fail me.

Last a photo of it with another great diver, the SKX007... two divers with an amazing value for money


Thanks for looking

//Jocke

[zippofan]

Great review Jocke!

I love my Ti EcoZilla too, and like you I prefer the rubber strap. I've never had the desire to get the adapters for different straps though I will say I've seen some nice strap combos on the 'Zilla.

I think it is one of those watches that grows on you. When I first saw them I thought "holy cow, that's huge!". When I bought it I was into large tool style divers so I had to have one. Now that I have sold off the majority of my big auto divers, I've kept my 'Zilla (and Aqualands). There is just something about the 'Zilla that makes me want to keep it even though I only wear it about once a month or so, more often in the summer when at the lake.

Here's a funny story for you. I was in the JCPenney department store at our local mall, hanging around the watch counter as usual. I pointed out the 'Zilla in their display case to my wife just as the salesperson came over. My wife doesn't really approve of my watch 'habit' and sort of groaned. The salesperson looked at her and said something like "who would wear a watch like that?", so I rolled up my coat sleeve and there was my Ti 'Zilla. The salesperson turned bright red and my wife laughed out loud.
I just smiled and we walked away...

Mine says 'hi'



Cheers,
Griff