Citizen Promaster Nighthawk Pilot’s watch BJ7010-16F

Today I want to take a close look at one of the classic Citizen Promaster Eco-Drive watches: the BJ7010-16F. The BJ7010 is a Pilot’s or Flight (or as some Seiko pilot models are reffered to as – Flightmaster) watch. This means the looks and the functionality of the watch is designed with aviation in mind. Now, admiteddly, not many of us are pilots – either leasure or commerical. But that shouldn’t stop us from liking Pilot watches? After all they look great, have a nice history behind them (WW I and WW II saw some real good pilot watches) and did I say they look fabulous?

The watch is about 45mm in diameter including the crown. The dial is about 38mm in diameter. The BJ7010-16F comes with a genuine Citizen leather band and it is eco-drive – which means it is powered by light and you will never need to worry about changing batteries. It has a power reserve of 6 months which means once the watch is fully charged it can operate in dark for 6 months without any exposure to sunlight. Now that is never going to happen right. You are not going to keep a beauty as this locked in the closet and in all probability you are not going to be stranded in a dark cave for 6 months.

I really like the white color of the side rule bezel. This is where the marking are for Pilots to calculate the fuel economy etc. All the details about how to do that are there in the instruction manual that comes with the watch. So you will be accurately able to answer questions like ‘How long does it take an airplane flying at 180 knots to fly a distance of 450 nautical miles’ at the flick of a wrist!

It is 200m water resistant and has a screw down crown and back. That makes it really useful in case you have to crash land in water! Even if you decide to go scuba after the crash landing (pilot turns into a diver) the watch will do just fine! Another really cool thing about this watch is the 24-hour hand in the center. The just looks chick! (and works chick too!)

So all in all its just a great watch for a great price. Awaken the Pilot within you (or not based on how seriously you take this. Don’t want just any guy wearing a Pilot’s watch thinking of him as a Pilot and attempting to ..ahem..fly), and put one on today!