Citizen Men's Proximity Eco-Drive Black Ion Plated Proximity Watch AT7035-01E

First, let me preface this review by stating I've been in the IT industry for 16+ years.. I'm a total geek and have tons of gadgets (AKA I know what I'm doing)..

I was super pumped for this watch because of the geek factor. I have an iPhone5 with an Otterbox w/ beltclip so often times I don't hear / feel my phone ring.. Perfect solution, right?!?!

I think it would have been, had it worked.. For one thing.. When you get an "alert" (ie: Phone call, email, calendar appt) it is two very quick and very light vibrations on the watch.. So light you barely feel them.. Now, this wouldn't be a big deal if vibrated constantly until you acknowledge (ie: answer the phone or whatever) but it doesn't..

Then, it loses connectivity CONSTANTLY.. My watch and phone will literally both be on my body and it will STILL lose connectivity.. The repairing is supposed to be simple (hold the upper button for about 2 seconds) but it very rarely works.. I have to close the app, reopen, kill the app, open, turn off bluetooth, turn it back on, etc.. Only for it to get disconnected again an hour or so later.. FRUSTRATING!!

Then, it only works with IMAP email.. So, my Exchange accounts go out the window..

The pros are the simple fact that the watch looks amazing.. I love the looks and the feel and weight.. Very solid..

Pros:
*Looks
*Time syncs with iPhone (so basically atomic)
*Perpetual calendar
*LOOKS! :)

Cons:
*Vibrations are so quick and light you barely feel
*Vibrations are two quick and short ones then done.. Not constant (ie: a phone call)
*No alerting for text messages
*CONSTANT disconnects
*Reconnecting is a nightmare

So yea, I think in a few years we'll see way more watches with functionality but as of now, it's still no go.. :(

I've been wanting a Blu Tooth watch to sync with my iPhone 4s for quite some time. Citizen got this one right. Once you figure it all out, it's a breeze to operate. It comes with a USB instruction manual that guides you step by step to get you going. Once you sync your phone to the watch, the time and date is set perfectly. I checked it with atomic clock and it's spot on. If you loose your iphone, simply hold the two pushers down and your iphone will chime until you open the Citizen app. The watch will remain synced with the iPhone for 6 hours and it auto disconnects. It does this to save battery power for both the iPhone and watch. The watch does feature the Eco-Drive, so some may wonder why you would be concerned about the battery life. In the instruction it breaks down the life when using the Blu Tooth and when it's off. There is a considerable difference. Once it disconnects it's vey simple to re-connect. Simply hold the upper right pusher down for 2 seconds. It then reconnects and sets the time.

I've had the watch less than 24 hours so here are my initial ratings. With a scale of 1-10 and 10 being the highest.

Fit & Finish-8-The strap is OK. Retro looking, but average quality.
Weight -9-Very light weight.
Ease of use-7-Only a techie will fully understand and use all the features.
Crystal -6-Mineral with AR coating. I feel that at this price point they should offer Sapphire.
Features -9-I would give it a 10, but the Email feature doesn't work with the icloud. Perhaps in an update they will fix this.
Size- -7-For some the size may be just right. But I'm use to larger watches.

I've owned and still own a number of Citizen watches and they have proven very reliable. More reliable than my Seiko watches I've had in my collection. The Eco-Drive is much better than the Kinetic power supply Seiko uses. Seiko has started using Solar power in some of their newer watches. So Citizen must be on the right track.

I wanted an analog-type Bluetooth watch, and the Proximity seemed to be just the thing for me. It looks good, feels right, and is Eco-Drive powered, so no more batteries (for a long time, anyway).

On the other hand,

1. Why is the watch so imprecise on its own? Don't sync for a day, and the seconds are already off vs the phone. Does it absolutely depend on the connection to the phone for the proper time?

2. If so... Why does it cut off the connection after only 6 hours, with no way to change this limit? It's an Eco-Drive; a 24/7 connection should have been no sweat. Is Citizen worried about my phone's battery? Let *me* worry about that and charge my phone when it needs charging. Don't force arbitrary limits on me! Bluetooth 4.0 should minimize power drain, unless Citizen isn't actually using BT4 features...

3. But then again... Bluetooth connection with an iPhone 5 is iffy. Good luck getting to 6 hours without the connection dying.

4. Why is the vibration so pathetic?

5. Is there really no way for it to notify me of SMS?

Sigh. I don't know if an upgrade to the app can fix some of these. I sure hope so.