I was looking for a new analog watch with a reasonable (under 500 dollars) price tag, and a friend of mine recommended checking out the Citizen line. I decided on the Calibre 2100 with a silver face, based on several factors.

1) I was instantly attracted to the look of this watch, it just looks cool.

2) It's solar powered like most of the other Citizen watches, so you never need to hassle with the battery changes that other watches require.

3) It is a solidly built watch. When you put this thing on, it feels like a tank on your wrist, and has a very high quality feel to it.

After owning this watch for a few months, I feel I can speak of its strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

Very high quality look and feel. If you have this watch on, you will get positive comments on it. It's heavy, and the case and band both look and feel very rugged and durable. I did manage to put a scratch on the side after a night of heavy drinking--don't really know what I did to it, but it must have been a pretty crazy impact.

Very good timekeeping. The watch has deviated only +3 seconds in a 3 month span compared to a clock that is calibrated with the atomic clock in CO. Also, the stopwatch moves in 1/5 second intervals, so the movement is very smooth, almost like a sweeping action.

There's an alarm. I don't expect an analog watch to have an alarm, but this watch does. It's good if you decide to take a brief nap and don't want to fiddle with your cell phone alarm.

The luminescent dials and markers are bright at night. If you expose this thing to normal artificial light, you'll be able to see the dials all night, which also happen to be nice and big. I've had watches where they became invisible after a couple hours of darkness.

Battery never needs changing. I live in a place where there's not much sun, so the watch is primarily charged by artificial light. The power meter has never dropped below full with normal (every other day or so) use.


Weaknesses

The date is not perpetual. This is my biggest gripe with this watch...it would be nearly perfect if you didn't have to change the date at the end of months without 31 days.

The crystal isn't sapphire. But at this price point, I don't really expect it.

Overall
I like this watch a lot, despite the relatively minor drawbacks. I chose the silver face over the black, because I already have a black-faced analog watch. This was a slight concern because the hands are silver, and I thought this might make reading the time difficult. However, I'm happy to report that this has not been an issue. The sizing was a little difficult for the person at the watch store, so make sure you go to a person who's experienced--there are some small parts in the band that could get lost. Also, this is a pretty large watch. If you have small wrists, it may not be for you. Finally, look around online for a good price--I was able to get this piece for 250 delivered.



Recommended: Yes