We're Moving!

Image
Click for more info.

Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Watch and watch accessory reviews posted by members.
Post Reply
User avatar
Sussa
MoT Member
Posts: 1265
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:48 am
Location: Massachusetts
Has thanked: 2520 times
Been thanked: 4968 times

Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by Sussa »

I was so struck by the Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E in person that I needed to write a review. I’ve always liked it well enough, but wrote it off as too busy, too big, etc. The discontinuation of the model and a recent sale at Amazon made me reconsider. For the first time, I noticed the dual-track second time zone. Small but meaningful design touches like that will win me over every time. I took the plunge, and Amazon had it on my doorstep two days later.
cherry.jpg
First impression was that it looks better in person than in any rendering or photo. The brushed steel case, glossy black dial, and crisp dial text are highlights. There was no instruction manual in the box, just a card directing me to download the Citizen app to register the warranty and download the manual. Inconvenient, but okay.

There’s a screw down crown and two setting positions for the crown: the furthest position adjusts the hour and minute hand and the GMT hand together. This is the feature that won me over: the white plan hits the white dual-time track, indicating morning hours. The red plane hits the red track in the afternoon. 24-hour GMT – how cool is that? Set the GMT hand to the desired second time zone, set the minutes, then push the crown in to the middle position. Now you can adjust the local time hour hand and the date. This quick-change hour hand capability will come in handy for traveling.
pocketshot.jpg
Sizing the bracelet was easy thanks to split pins. I removed five links and it fit my 6.5” wrist perfectly. The dual-lock clasp has three micro-adjustment positions. While I don’t normally like bracelets, especially on larger watches, the 22mm-18mm taper makes this one very wearable and the taper was still smooth after removing that many links. Total weight with the bracelet is 133g. Larger watches can sometimes cause me a little wrist pain, but the Nighthawk was comfortable all day.
taper.jpg
The slide bezel is something I need to practice more to really understand. I watched a video, it made sense, but trying it myself it was still a little confusing. Really looking forward to being able to convert miles to kilometers on the fly. If I can figure out how to do Celsius to Fahrenheit conversions, I’ll be good to go.

I found that the busy-ness of the dial isn’t really a problem. The local time is very readable. Kudos to the designer for cramming so much useful information and functionality into a fairly small space and making it all work together. It takes skill to keep things on the right side of cluttered. While I was initially apprehensive about the 42mm case size on my small wrist, it works. I wouldn’t want this much functionality and information on a smaller dial.
wrist.jpg
Lume seems good. I didn’t test the duration, but it was visible moving from a sunny windowsill to further in the room. This was taken after 15 minutes or so outside on a sunny day, then going into a dark basement.
lume.jpg
Enough gushing. There are three small issues, but all are minor enough to not get hung up on. First, the bracelet is squeaky. Not noticeable on the wrist, so no big deal. Second, the end links have an odd angle that doesn’t seem cohesive with the case. See how it juts out? Again, not a deal breaker but I would like to understand the designer’s thinking. Lastly, no drilled lugs. That's going to make removing the bracelet a pain.
endlink.jpg
Overall, I strongly recommend picking up one of these watches while you can. Regular retail, if you can find it, should be around $150-200USD. Used on eBay, they trend around $100-120USD. A great price for a solar powered, dual-time watch with a very useful (so I hear) slide bezel.

(Edited to add a third negative thing.)
Last edited by Sussa on Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
TheJohnP
Global Moderator
Posts: 11015
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2018 10:29 pm
Location: Atlanta
Has thanked: 46874 times
Been thanked: 35267 times

Re: Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by TheJohnP »

Thanks for sharing your review!
Click Icon To Contact Me



Far and wide I will find 'em and I ride 'em
Bricks and mortar get my licks just for kicks
AD or authorized I don't analyze
Retail, wholesale never fail
Online or offline, I find I don't redefine
Too big to fail or yard sale they all hale
Run or hide just for fun deals I find
yinzburgher
MoT Member
Posts: 5191
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:52 pm
Has thanked: 21228 times
Been thanked: 23299 times
Contact:

Re: Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by yinzburgher »

Great review. I agree that the GMT display and functionality on this is really cool. And I've always thought this bracelet looks really good. At one point I passed on a really good deal for the Havana colorway. 🤔 I probably should have bought it. Enjoy your new watch!

Image
User avatar
Split-Time
MoT Member
Posts: 2492
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:05 pm
Has thanked: 22315 times
Been thanked: 10865 times

Re: Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by Split-Time »

Sussa wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2020 6:54 pm I was so struck by the Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E in person that I needed to write a review. I’ve always liked it well enough, but wrote it off as too busy, too big, etc. The discontinuation of the model and a recent sale at Amazon made me reconsider. For the first time, I noticed the dual-track second time zone. Small but meaningful design touches like that will win me over every time. I took the plunge, and Amazon had it on my doorstep two days later.

cherry.jpg

First impression was that it looks better in person than in any rendering or photo. The brushed steel case, glossy black dial, and crisp dial text are highlights. There was no instruction manual in the box, just a card directing me to download the Citizen app to register the warranty and download the manual. Inconvenient, but okay.

There’s a screw down crown and two setting positions for the crown: the furthest position adjusts the hour and minute hand and the GMT hand together. This is the feature that won me over: the white plan hits the white dual-time track, indicating morning hours. The red plane hits the red track in the afternoon. 24-hour GMT – how cool is that? Set the GMT hand to the desired second time zone, set the minutes, then push the crown in to the middle position. Now you can adjust the local time hour hand and the date. This quick-change hour hand capability will come in handy for traveling.

pocketshot.jpg

Sizing the bracelet was easy thanks to split pins. I removed five links and it fit my 6.5” wrist perfectly. The dual-lock clasp has three micro-adjustment positions. While I don’t normally like bracelets, especially on larger watches, the 22mm-18mm taper makes this one very wearable and the taper was still smooth after removing that many links. Total weight with the bracelet is 133g. Larger watches can sometimes cause me a little wrist pain, but the Nighthawk was comfortable all day.

taper.jpg

The slide bezel is something I need to practice more to really understand. I watched a video, it made sense, but trying it myself it was still a little confusing. Really looking forward to being able to convert miles to kilometers on the fly. If I can figure out how to do Celsius to Fahrenheit conversions, I’ll be good to go.

I found that the busy-ness of the dial isn’t really a problem. The local time is very readable. Kudos to the designer for cramming so much useful information and functionality into a fairly small space and making it all work together. It takes skill to keep things on the right side of cluttered. While I was initially apprehensive about the 42mm case size on my small wrist, it works. I wouldn’t want this much functionality and information on a smaller dial.

wrist.jpg

Lume seems good. I didn’t test the duration, but it was visible moving from a sunny windowsill to further in the room. This was taken after 15 minutes or so outside on a sunny day, then going into a dark basement.

lume.jpg

Enough gushing. There are three small issues, but all are minor enough to not get hung up on. First, the bracelet is squeaky. Not noticeable on the wrist, so no big deal. Second, the end links have an odd angle that doesn’t seem cohesive with the case. See how it juts out? Again, not a deal breaker but I would like to understand the designer’s thinking. Lastly, no drilled lugs. That's going to make removing the bracelet a pain.

endlink.jpg

Overall, I strongly recommend picking up one of these watches while you can. Regular retail, if you can find it, should be around $150-200USD. Used on eBay, they trend around $100-120USD. A great price for a solar powered, dual-time watch with a very useful (so I hear) slide bezel.

(Edited to add a third negative thing.)
Oh wow...I never knew about the GMT function! That is a very interesting implementation (and now I sort of want one :? ). Thank you for pointing that out as well as the rest of the great review and observations.
User avatar
Sussa
MoT Member
Posts: 1265
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:48 am
Location: Massachusetts
Has thanked: 2520 times
Been thanked: 4968 times

Re: Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by Sussa »

yinzburgher wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2020 3:12 am Great review. I agree that the GMT display and functionality on this is really cool. And I've always thought this bracelet looks really good. At one point I passed on a really good deal for the Havana colorway. 🤔 I probably should have bought it. Enjoy your new watch!

Image
I actually like the Havana and Blue Angels versions better than the black dial, but not enough to pay the premium. Considering how much I catch myself unconsciously admiring the black dial, maybe it worked out for the best.
Osteoman
MoT Member
Posts: 92
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2018 9:35 pm
Has thanked: 65 times
Been thanked: 256 times

Re: Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by Osteoman »

Great review and I agree 100% with your comments. I have many watches and this one gets wrist time over many costing far more. In general I really like the citizens because even when the dial looks busy, the time is really easy to read at a glance anyway. I have the blue angels version as well and actually prefer the black.

Great watch and thanks for the review.
User avatar
DogOnTime
MoT Member
Posts: 317
Joined: Sat Jul 06, 2019 12:21 pm
Has thanked: 246 times
Been thanked: 918 times

Re: Citizen Nighthawk BJ7000-52E

Post by DogOnTime »

A great review to an amazing classic. I was personally enamoured by this watch upon my early WIS days and to no surprise, is one of Citizen's most popular Eco-Drives... I'm surprised they discontinued the black model; hoping their successor variant will have some more premium offerings like a sapphire crystal.
Post Reply