The Citizen Eco-Drive is fully charged when the second hand on the watch starts to move in a smooth, continuous motion around the dial. This typically takes about 10-12 hours to fully charge the watch.
However, it is important to note that the watch will continue to charge as long as it is exposed to light, so you may not need to charge it for the full 10-12 hours.
In addition, the watch will automatically enter a “sleep” mode when it is not being worn to conserve energy.
When the watch is in this sleep mode, the second hand will move in a jerky motion instead of a smooth, continuous motion. Simply expose the watch to light to wake it up and continue charging it.
how to check battery level on citizen eco drive?
There are a few ways to check the battery level on a Citizen Eco-Drive watch:
Check the movement of the second hand:
If the second hand is moving in a smooth, continuous motion around the dial, the watch is fully charged. If the second hand is moving in a jerky, intermittent motion, the watch is in a “sleep” mode to conserve energy and may need to be charged.
Check the power reserve indicator or display:
Some models of Citizen Eco-Drive watches have a power reserve indicator on the dial or a power reserve display on the digital display. This feature shows how much charge is remaining in the watch and can help you gauge when it is time to charge the watch.
Charge the watch and check the time:
If you are unsure of the charge level on your watch, you can try charging it for a few hours and then checking the time to see if it is keeping accurate time. If the watch is not keeping accurate time, it may need to be charged for a longer period of time.
Especially with the power reserve indicator (of some watches), checking will be more convenient for you. This feature of this watch shows you the power reserve level.
When your watch is fully charged, this indicator is at the highest charge level-3. It means that you don’t have to charge anymore. Besides, at this stage, this power reserve is full of running all the features of your watch and delivers optimal ticking performance.
However, your watch can operate all the features and functions with the highest charge level for approximately 160-210 days.
Yet, if the charge level of the watch reaches level-0, it means that there isn’t enough power to run your timepiece. So, to ensure its optimal performance, you have to charge your Eco-Drive solar watch immediately.
Moreover, the overcharge protection feature of your watch stops recharging just after it is fully charged. Therefore, by checking this, you can also ensure the charge level of the Eco-Drive watch.
How long does it take your Citizen Eco-Drive watch to charge fully?
How long it takes your Citizen Eco-Drive watch to fully charge entirely depends on some factors such as your watch model and design, the source of the light to charge your watch, environmental condition, etc.
As I said before, the Citizen brand produces its solar watch by providing Citizen’s proprietary solar technology. Therefore, this Eco-Drive watch features solar rechargeable cells that can draw power from sunlight and artificial light.
And then, this solar cell converts the light into electrical energy and stores the power with the help of the power save function of the watch.
So, whenever you feel like your watch needs to be charged or gives you a low charge warning, you need to put your watch under the light.
And, it really doesn’t matter if the light source is natural or artificial; however, the timing of charge depends on the type of light source.
For example, exposing your Citizen Eco-Drive watch to natural light, whether it’s sunny or cloudy, takes less time to charge fully. On the other hand, exposing it to an artificial light source like an office lamp takes a long time to charge your watch fully.
And also, depending on the light source, the illuminance or lux level of light varies, which also affects the charging time.
Well, here is a charging timing chart to help you know how long it will take to charge your Citizen Eco-Drive watch fully.
| Light Source and Weather Condition | LUX level | The Time Needed to Charge the Watch | The Time Needed to Charge the Watch | The Time Needed to Charge the Watch | The Time Needed to Charge the Watch |
| – | – | For two-hand watch model | For two-hand watch model | For the three-hand watch model | For the three-hand watch model |
| – | – | For one-day usage | For full charge | For one-day usage | For full charge |
| Natural light with sunny weather | 100000 lux | 2 minutes | 7 hours | 3 minutes | 3 hours and 30 minutes |
| Natural light with cloudy weather | 10000 lux | 4 minutes | 20 hours | 7 minutes | 9 hours |
| Artificial light with 20 cm and 30W fluorescent lamp | 3000 lux | 12 minutes | 57 hours | 20 minutes | 24 hours |
Can you overcharge your Citizen Eco-Drive watch?
As you may know, overcharging puts the watch’s battery in bad condition. However, this is not the case with your Citizen Eco-Drive watch. This watch basically doesn’t need a battery at all as it uses solar rechargeable cells to charge. Besides, it comes with an overcharging protection function.
This function eliminates the risk of overcharging as this feature includes in your watch system. So, you don’t need to worry about overcharging your watch.
Here, if your Eco-Drive watch is fully recharged and the power reserve has reached a sufficient level, this function stops the watch from charging. Thus, it ultimately prevents overcharging of the watch.
Final thought
All right, in this article, I have tried to give you a detailed idea about the charging time of this Citizen Eco-Drive solar-powered watch. Therefore, you can know how long it takes to charge a watch, how you check the watch’s full charge level, and much more.
Eng. Matthew Joseph Nandirio is the Founder of walkingsolar.
After graduating from the University of Houston in 2002, matt started working as a Solar Electrical Engineer for several multi-national solar energy companies.
He has a wide range of experiences including solar system requirement analysis, planning, maintaining, debugging and even solar device development through research.
He now shares his 20 years of expertise through his articles on the walkingsolar website.
Further, he is also the author of two books on Solar Technology, “Solar Power for Villages” and “DIY Solar System for Dummies”.