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Review Citizen PMD56-2952

121K views 96 replies 38 participants last post by  Robbie_roy 
#1 ·
I received my new PMD56-2952 from Japan yesterday and here are my first thoughts on it. My criteria were quite simple. I wanted an Eco drive watch with a titanium case and bracelet, uncluttered black face, good clear luminous features and waterproof to 20 bar. Nothing sold in the UK gave me all 5 of those features and I decided to buy what I really wanted rather than taking second best.

I bought it through "Shopping in Japan" who have an online shop as well as putting items on eBay. The price was $690 or 57,700 Yen. I did see it cheaper on some Japanese language sites but none answered emails so I don't know whether they would post abroad and if there would be postage etc. on top. Amazon JP list the watch for example but won't post it outside Japan.

Anyway, 7 days after ordering it arrived and I had good emails from them with tracking so I was very happy with their service.

Firstly, it is even nicer in the flesh than the pictures and seems a very nicely put together watch.
A couple of things surprised me. Firstly that even though I have fairly small wrists (7 ¼") the bracelet almost fitted without any adjustment. I needed to remove a single link to make it the right size for me but I wonder if someone with big wrists would find it large enough. The bracelet also has a three position catch which adjusts about ½" in total.
Second item was the way the time adjusts. I realize that in Japan it is automatic but if it has to be manual it is a bit tedious. You need to pull the winder out and twist one way or the other. The watch then either adds or subtracts one minute with the second hand stopping at the 12 O'clock position. OK for small adjustments but this watch was on Japan time of +9 hours so it took about 15 minutes to alter. Hopefully I'll never need to alter that much again.

The instruction booklet is in both Japanese and English and I attach the English instructions as a pdf.

Some pictures below
 

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#2 ·
Thanks for your review. I'm close to pulling the trigger on this model. The only thing that gives me pause is the way you describe the process of setting the time. I've read on another forum that this model (PMD56-2952) has a quick set for the hour hand. Are you able to adjust the hour hand in hour increments?

Thanks in advance,

Randy
 
#5 ·
99% sure it does. Being bought in March, it hasn't had a 30 day month yet but the second hand stopped on setting to show what the current month was. It stopped at 3 (in March) which I think shows it is set to the third month (and I presume it is set to 2012).

For what its worth, the accuracy so far is excellent at less than 1 second deviation in a month
 
#6 ·
Hello,
Id like to chime in on this model which I had for a time.
1) Accuracy simply awesome wear it and forget it.
2) Perpetual calendar "Yes"
3) Loved the titanium plus duratech protection helping to stop
light damage that would occur otherwise, plus lightweight.
4) Sapphire crystal with a nice dome to it.
5) What surprised me to the good was the size of the day/date
window that being larger than I thought it would be which I liked.
6) Lume ..... not that great and kind of surprising.
7) Size.. well if it had been at least 40-42 I would still have mine for sure.
8) Nice easy adjustable bracelet.

For me a 9 out of 10 just needed to be larger but congrats
on your pickup.

Dan
 
#7 ·
Second item was the way the time adjusts. I realize that in Japan it is automatic but if it has to be manual it is a bit tedious. You need to pull the winder out and twist one way or the other. The watch then either adds or subtracts one minute with the second hand stopping at the 12 O'clock position. OK for small adjustments but this watch was on Japan time of +9 hours so it took about 15 minutes to alter. Hopefully I'll never need to alter that much again.
Thanks for your review. I'm close to pulling the trigger on this model. The only thing that gives me pause is the way you describe the process of setting the time. I've read on another forum that this model (PMD56-2952) has a quick set for the hour hand. Are you able to adjust the hour hand in hour increments?
I'm a few weeks late here but I figured I could chime in. I just got a Citizen PMT56-2732 today and went through the same thing before I realized that if you give the crown several quick twists in a row the hands begin to move automatically (and fairly rapidly) around the dial. Just let them continue to move until they get close to where you want them then turn the crown a little the opposite way and the hands will stop (this works in either direction). At that point turn the crown normally and the minute hand will advance in one minute increments until you get to where you want to be. The instructions actually mention this process but the details are pretty vague. It turns out that setting the time is one of the more clever aspects of this watch.
 
#9 · (Edited)
#11 ·
Hi

Size is near enough 40mm from the 8 o'clock to the 2 o'clock. To the crown (9->3) it's around 43mm.

I've had one for a couple of weeks, and it's nice. The time setting is pretty straightforward when you get used to it - I travel across Europe a lot so set the watch forward or backward an hour about 6 times a week.

I have a 7" wrist and this is a perfect size for me.

I've not regretted it, tough watch, looks good smart and casual and it's just a little bit different from the ordinary.

Good luck with your decision.

Cheers
Spikelops
 
#14 ·
While I recognize there are differences between the two, as an American (and, thus, someone who lives in a place where the radio updates are unavailable), are those differences worth the $600 difference in price between this watch and the BM6400-00E?

This model is titanium, has a sapphire crystal, perpetual calendar (?), day of the week indicator, and (useless in the US) radio control. But both are about the same size and have identical faces. Both have eco-drive. Both are presumably extremely accurate. So, what am I missing? Are the aforementioned differences worth the cost? (I do like the green-faced version, but I won't pay $600 for it.)
 
#15 ·
Until you have the PMD56-2952or1 on hand.. you won't realize how much of a difference there is. The Titanium itself is worth it along with the micro-just clasp, perpetual calendar, also the ability to change the timezone without affecting the time (no stopping second here), very accurate on the second-second hand... beautiful lume, much better quality and I hate the metal around the arabics on the BM6400.. so yes, very much worth it. Like an Invicta to Omega.
 
#17 ·
I've been trawling this forum and threads about the PMD56 range for some time now and having owned the BM6400 (the non-standard one with the promaster logo on face and crown) for several months have finally just taken receipt of my PMD56-2951 (green face)
Doubtful I am allowed yet to upload a pic of the 2 side by side for comparison (searched everywhere but couldn't find one so taking a pic of them was the first things did!) but just wanted to say how greatful I am to all those who have commented on threads relating to this model, the comments, owner reviews and pics put up have been invaluable to helping make my mind up to purchase from a japanese supplier and this watch in particular. Thanks again
 
#22 ·
The larger date is most definitely noticeable and the day is a welcome addition, i think that in all future watch purchases size of date window will be factored in much more, or I would look for one without entirely rather than settle for tiny. I guess these kind of learning curves are what it all about!
 
#23 ·
Good discussion here, convinced me to pull the trigger on the green one (PMD56-2951) from shoppinginjapan, can't wait to get it. I had a ProMaster Mission Antarctica for a time and loved it. This model will be a nice successor, similar styling. I've been searching for same thing as OP: titanium, sapphire, arabic numerals, day/date (side by side, not on a subdial) and perpetual calendar. As far as I can tell, this is the only thing out there that meets that criteria. The fact that it's also fly-by-wire is nice and I might even use the RC for kicks with a JJY emulator.
 
#24 ·
Likewise! Mine just arrived earlier this week from Shoppinginjapan...



Loving it so far!
 
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#25 ·
Got mine this week too, been wearing it for a few days now. I like it, exactly what I was looking for (ticks all the boxes for this type of watch). I did try syncing it to the online JJY simulator and the the Japanese Android app emulator just for kicks. While it did sync, it never got the right time (supposed to send over PC/phone local time).

I do really like the fly-by-wire crown control, though wish the hour hand could move independently. For changing time zones (assuming 1 hr offsets), you press the recessed button at 2:00 and the watch shows your offset from Japan standard time (-15 in my case) and then you move the crown forward and backward in one hour increments. Press the button again and the hands move to the local time and the actual timing (for the seconds hand) is stored internally and adjusts. Pretty cool.

The Duratect titanium is shinier than my last one (Mission Antarctica) but looks good and no scratches so far. In my experience Citizen's titanium plating is the best. The micro-adjust on the clasp is nice too, I only took out one link for my 7.5" wrist. Note this is a pin and collar design. It's rated at 200m, I wonder how the recessed button and the RX button at 4:00 are protected from water, anyone know?

Some pics:

 
#26 ·
Congratulations on the new watch, it's a real stunning looking timepiece. I've been searching around for people's impressions of it because it really has me under a spell. I love that it looks like a handsome three handed watch that could be mistaken for something quite simple but is in fact very high spec with a long long list of great features. I think citizen really hit this one out of the park and I'm a little surprised that there isn't more chatter about it. Thanks for the wrist shots guys, looks great.
 
#27 ·
I'm three weeks in with this one, and I think I've only -not- worn it twice. My automatics are all saying "Wtf, man?!"

A year+ ago I had a few false starts with an Archimede OutDoor Protect (had issues, sent back, more/new issues, etc.) and gave up on it. Recently the field watch bug hit me again, and this one checked alot of the same boxes as the OutDoor, albeit quartz... but titanium!

The dial is simple yet alluring, including the Promaster logo above the six which is reminiscent of military inverted fork insignia you see on a lot of vintage mil spec watches. Honestly I think the Eco movement (vs automatic) gels great with characteristics of the perfect field watch - tough and no maintenance. The hunter green dial changes color depending on lighting and secretly stokes one's yearning for the great outdoors.

So far mine has gained about 1.5 secs over 3 weeks. Pretty good considering I'm not in Japan radio signal area.

Anyone know what grade titanium Citizen uses here? Grade 3 or 5?

Eric
 
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#28 ·
Same here Eric, my autos are sitting dormant except for a brief Christmas party swap out for an IWC. An often overlooked feature I LOVE on this watch is the fly-by-wire crown. If you're a stickler for minute-second hand alignment as I am, you can't get better than this. It's perfect all the time and if for some reason it gets knocked hard, you can reset the alignment. There are pages full of discussions on the HAQ forum on this issue with very slick, accurate and expensive movements (e.g. Seiko 9F) that don't hit the mark as well as the Promaster. Of course, it's not HAQ and for the life of me, I don't understand why Citizen hasn't released a world sync version of this piece, but I guess that's what makes it unique. It is, however, very easy to sync to internet time with the second hand going to 12 automatically.
 
#29 ·
I swapped out the bracelet last night for this green Zulu. Figured I'd post a few pics...

Btw, weight is 58.2g in total on this strap!

 
#42 · (Edited)
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