Citizen - CZ Smart 44mm Unisex IP Stainless Hybrid Sport Smartwatch with Silicone Strap - Gold

I bought this as my husband’s birthday gift.He was happy and worth the price

Easily one of the best looking watches I’ve ever owned. Classic, timeless look, with just a subtle nod towards being a ‘smart’ watch. The e-ink type background works extremely well in bright sunlight, probably better than any other smartwatch I’ve ever owned, but it definitely struggles when the lights go down. You can (usually - it is somewhat hit and miss for me) activate an ‘old-school’ type backlight with a double-tap of the watch face, but it’s not overly effective; it helps, but my eyes still have trouble reading the screen. Speaking of the screen, the fonts are pretty small, and offer very little options to increase the size. If you normally wear reading glasses, you’ll probably struggle with this display, particularly when it comes to reading any notifications that come across. I don’t wear glasses on a regular basis, and only wear reading glasses occasionally, and I sometimes struggle reading the display. This is even more pronounced in low-light situations. Battery life is very impressive. I’ve been wearing the watch constantly (excluding shower time) for over two weeks now and the battery is at 36%. Based on that, it should easily surpass the promised 18 day battery life, which is also a welcome departure from the usual over-promise & under-deliver for most battery estimates. Speaking of shower time, I’m really disappointed that this watch is only ‘Splash Resistant’ rated. Given that this watch is advertised as a “Sport” smart watch, the lack of a more robust water resistance rating is a huge miss on their part. Factor in the price of the watch & this is almost unacceptable. As for sport functions, it does have workout tracking, albeit somewhat limited. It offers choices for run, walk, hike, treadmill, bike, spinning, weights, row machine, elliptical, and a generic workout option. It seems to use GPS (if connected to your phone) to track distance for walking (and I assume the other non-stationary workout types) activities, but it doesn’t track your route. Not really a big deal to me, but something to be aware of if you typically go back and look at your routes. The other fitness tracking aspect that I was disappointed in was the heart rate monitoring. It will report on your average, and max, but doesn’t report on the amount of time in each zone. The Smart YouQ app (at least for Android) is still a work in progress, but I do know that they’re working to improve it. If you have the patience, and the commitment, to take the requisite Alert Check tests at the prescribed times of the day, it will eventually populate with various insights. I’ve added a few screenshots that may help illustrate some of the insights. Overall, it’s a beautiful watch, with great battery life. If you’re looking for a classy watch, with limited smart functionality, you’ll probably be happy with it. However, and it pains me to say this because I LOVE how it looks & the battery life, it just doesn’t satisfy my needs for a smart watch, so I couldn’t recommend it to a friend.

I have long been a technology enthusiast, but this is the first smartwatch that I have embraced. Not because I have anything against smart watches, but because I am also a watch enthusiast. Over the years I have assembled a nice collection of watches and I consider wearing a watch to be a statement piece that complements my dress and the occasion. For this reason I have not embraced generic smart watches. I own other Citizen watches and have long been impressed by their precision, build quality and appearance. This Citizen watch easily meets that high expectation. First impression out of the box is that it is noticeably heavy and appears to be exquisitely engineered.The watch has significant weight and looks great on my wrist. I plan to use it for exercise and outdoor activities, and when it matches my clothing. The silicon strap makes it perfect for this function. The watch strap can be swapped out easily because it is the standard watch size. Thai Citizen watch is, as the title states, a hybrid design. What this means is that it is a traditional mechanical wristwatch with a black and white digital display faceplate. The face place display is limited to basic readouts. But it does update with the current readings. The time function is the traditional moving minute and second hands. The watch face is not interactive in any way, with the exception of that a double tap will slightly illuminate the watch face. The three buttons can be used to navigate the watch settings. To operate and control this watch it is completely necessary to download the Citizen Connectected App. Once you pair the watch and your phone, the watch is ready to use. Most of the watch functions and information can be controlled using the App. The App also gives you the option of selecting several different displays for the watch face. The App can also customize the functions of the three side buttons. Be sure to explore the App and enable any functions,notifications, and permissions for any Apps you wish to use with this watch. For example to share data with my Apple Health App I had to specifically select and allow that function. I had to do this in a few different places in the App and in my iPhone settings. I was able to receive alerts from my phone on this watch, but they were informational only. There is no audible beep from the watch, only one long vibration. It is not possible to answer a message or call with the watch, or even read the full message if it is longer than one line of characters.The watch measures steps, calories burned, sleep, heart rate, and oxygen levels. The accuracy of the heart rate and oxygen sensors requires that the strap be sufficiently tight for the sensors to get a proper reading. The watch can be used independently of the phone it is paired to, and will sync its recorded date the next time it is near the phone. Battery life is phenomenal. I was able to fully charge it in less than an hour, and after about a week of use the battery reads 70%. The rated battery life is 18 days, dependent on use. The greyscale, non-touch display significantly contributes to the long battery life. The included USB charger is a proprietary magnetic design. The battery strength is visible in the App and the watch face. I am very picky about watches, and this smartwatch is a welcome addition to my collection. As long as you don’t need or expect the full features of a smart watch, then the Citizen hybrid smartwatch is an excellent choice. I expect and am looking forward to many years of enjoyable wear and use.

The Citizen CZ Smart 44mm smartwatch is a really good looking watch in my opinion. It has a few tradeoffs I would like to describe. First thing I noticed is that the electronic paper watch face only does grayscale. It’s very customizable using the Citizen Connected app with either your own design or a pre-made face but it’s still just grays, black, and white. In this 256 color world that may seem like an odd choice, but the benefit of this design over something like an OLED face is that the battery life of this watch will make an Apple watch user cry. A note about the battery charging- the watch comes with a magnetic charger, if you remove the charger (or the power goes out) while the battery state of charge is between 80 and 100%, the watch will not start charging again until the state of charge is below 80% to extend the battery life. I moved my watch from charging on my PC to my nightstand while the watch was barely over 80% and found this out. I’ve been wearing it for a solid week now and it’s still above 40% and I’ve been playing with it all the time so the battery life is amazing. I used the features of the Citizen Connected app to monitor my sleep, count my daily steps, and calories burned. It also does heart rate and blood O2 levels. Through the app you can set alarms and reminders but, strangely, the alarms make no sound in the watch, just vibrate. It says it has a speaker but I assume that’s only for Alexa? I don’t use that feature so I can’t speak to that. Haven’t found any place to turn on the speaker otherwise though. You can allow the watch face to display texts and caller ID, you can’t scroll to read the whole message or answer a call on the watch though. One benefit of that for me is that I work in a sometimes noisy environment and I wear my phone in a belt clip case so I can’t always hear the alert or ring of my phone or feel it vibrate but I can feel the watch vibrate. A quick glance at the watch and I know if I need to grab my phone or skip the spam call. So I like that. The watch band is made of a silicone material that has a little grip to it. Keeps it from sliding on my wrist even if I sweat. One other thing that surprised me is the water resistance rating on this watch. Splash rated only. That seems like a big miss on this? I did try to use this watch with Citizen’s other app, YouQ. This app promises to provide a “power gauge” to predict your energy level/alertness for the coming day along with alert checks and a power score. Once it has enough data collected, it determines your chronotype. I never got that far, though, because when you connect to YouQ, you disconnect from the Citizen Connected app and the watch face reverts back to it’s default, and any alarms and notifications you set are cleared. YouQ works with Google Fit so you must have that app installed also and be logged in to both Google Fit and YouQ on the same Google login. I tried YouQ long enough to get a power gauge reading, apparently I am dead. I will share a screenshot. The hands and hour markers will glow in the dark for a time after being exposed to light, you can also double tap the watch to turn on the built in lighting. The watch has a countdown timer and stopwatch function, they continue to run even if you set the watch face back to the main face. Resolution is one second. Countdown timer alarm is vibrate only when done, no noise. There are ten workout modes you can select, bike, run, walk, weights, etc. and it will time your exercise. If you’re the type that loses track of your phone, you can ring your phone from the watch to help you locate it. From the Connected app you can also locate your watch using your phone. There’s also a pretty basic music control, you can adjust the volume, pause playback, or skip to the next track. Can’t select albums, artists, or playlists though. Have to do that on your phone. From the main face, pressing the bottom button shortcuts to the music control. From the main face, pressing the top button shortcuts to heart rate, blood O2, and a dashboard that shows your steps, exercise minutes, calories, last sleep time, last heart rate, and last blood O2 reading. Long press on the top button hides the watch face, a second long press restores it. Long press on the bottom button shortcuts to notifications. If you long press the center button it will first go to the home face, if you continue to hold the button it will switch to another screen with a reset option or you can view the watch’s serial number.

This watch is unique in many ways. It looks like a traditional, albeit massive watch. The design tries very hard to make it look like a traditional sports watch. It has the three large buttons like a chronograph. These are three push buttons, not a rotating crown. That would've been useful. Then it has the non-rotating dial. Blue in this case. It looks classic, but it's form, not function. Then another ring inside the glass makes the face appear larger than what it really is. The hands are real, and unlike traditional watches, they are also used to point to things or move sideways to guide to data on the screen. The screen is an E-Ink screen but sadly is black and white. A missed opportunity since later generation Pebble watches came with color E-Ink screens that were a bit more useful. I'm using the watch with an iPhone. Initial setup took several trials, until I restarted the phone and it finally connected, however I noticed that the Bluetooth range is very short. With the phone a few ft. from the watch, it looses connectivity. The Citizen Connected app is fairly simple and intuitive. Works well and doesn't have any major issues. It's used to control notifications on the watch and to sync with Apple Health. Took a while to find that setting but it works. However I had to manually sync the watch with the app (Pulling down to refresh). It's supposed to be automatic. The watch continually measures heart rate, and can be manually set to take a more in-depth HR measurement and blood oxygen, which is a great feature although not automatic. The watch has a microphone but doesn't have a speaker. It can be set up with Alexa, through the phone, and one can press a shortcut or activate from the main menu and speak to Alexa, but it replies with text on the screen instead of voice, because there is no speaker. Data on the screen is configurable, it has several themes and it's configurable through the app. I think it's simple enough to do and can add up to four configurable 'complications'. I chose HR, steps, date and weather, in addition to numbers on the dial. Notifications work well although they are read only, and can be set to sync with the phone (clearing from the watch clears it from the phone and vice-versa). At dark, the handles and dial glow in the dark, slightly. Double-tap on the glass turns on internal lights. It works but it's not the most readable. Battery is outstanding for a smartwatch: It's rated at 14 days. I charged it almost fully and a week later is at 60%. The charger magnetic but it's not an induction charger: The back of the watch has two tracks and the charger has tiny pins that connect to the track. I don't find this ideal but it works. Overall, it’s a beautifully but unnecessarily massive watch. Real handles and e-ink screen makes it look like a traditional watch with a very long battery.

If you’re looking for a watch with some smart functionality the Citizen CZ smartwatch may be for you. The watch is very attractive to me, though the band is not my favorite and unfortunately according to Citizens website it’s not swappable. I’m sure you have to be able to replace it but maybe not as easy as other smartwatch bands, I mean if it goes on it has to come off! Connecting the watch to my 14 pro max was easy and honestly has more functionality than I thought it would mainly due to Apples ecosystem. The citizen app where you can customize the watch is is good and allows for limited customization as the watch doesn’t have a color display so, it will allow you to use your own pics as a background but they’ll be in black and white. In terms of smart functionality, it’s a mixed bag for me coming from an Apple Watch. You’ll get notifications but the display doesn’t light up when you get a notification. The display has a backlight that will light up when you double tap the display, it’s sufficient but not very bright. There’s not a lot of watch faces to choose from, like I said it will allow you to use a pic, but it’ll be in black and white. In terms of battery life the thing is amazing, dropping only 13 percent since a full charge after three days of use. When synced to your phone and a call comes in, you’ll get a notification on the watch to answer or reject, but you can’t take the call on your watch. When you press the answer button it sends it to your phone. The watch does a good job though with activity tracking and you can set one of the side buttons to quick launch a workout or other functions. The Citizen CZ hybrid smartwatch is for the person that is looking for that classic watch look with some smart functions . If you don’t want or need all the stuff of a full blown smartwatch, it’s an attractive watch with great battery.

The Citizen CZ is a switch up from my previous smart watch. I opted for the Citizen CZ because I wanted something in assuming with all the benefits of the smartwatches with color watch faces. This one can be tailored with included faces and you can design your own. With the 90’s trends circling back I used to love my black and grey digital watch faces. That’s what you get here but they are greatly enhanced with smart features like: music, text, heart monitoring, and more. My favorite part of the watch is that this is the first watch in over a decade that I can comfortably wear to sleep. I haven’t been able to do so with my previous watch. Sleep is super important to your health during the day. I haven’t been sleeping well so I tried the watch and I never felt it during my sleep. I am loving the break down of my sleep patterns and when I’m having my peak sleep cycles. It’s helping me more conscious decision of when to jump in bed and how to avoid tv. The design is pretty sharp and jazzed up just enough to add flare to my work suit with my white button up and tie. It is also not a distraction like other smart watches that buzz all day. It keeps life simple. Overall a great option for anyone wanting a smart watch with bells, whistles, and awesome features. I’m still learning more about the AI forecasting and I can tell I’m really going to love this on my runs. The silicone band is by far the most comfortable watch band I’ve ever had. A side note: I love watches and I have over 20 of them. None are super luxurious but this one has me stuffing and storing my other watches away for now.

This is not a typical smartwatch. I suspect the targeted customer would not at all be attracted to the likes of the Apple Watch or the Pixel Watch. This is a second-generation CZ Smart Hybrid. It does not have a battery-hogging OLED display. It looks like you would think a large (44mm) stainless steel sport watch would look, with a crown and a real mechanical analog hour and minute hand (but not a mechanical second hand). Of course, it is not powered by winding a watch spring. You charge it with the supplied cable, and it takes about an hour for a full charge. How often must one charge this watch? How about once every 18 days? That’s right. The charge lasts for more than two weeks, and pretty close to three. If have not used it for three weeks yet, but after 3 days, the charge indicator is at 90 per cent. As I said, this is not your typical smartwatch. Not by any stretch. Any Apple or Google watch owner will stand in complete awe of this kind of battery life. It looks great and has some heft. The sport band on the model supplied to me is made of blue silicone. It has a stainless-steel buckle. It is said to be water resistant to 90 feet, and I have no reason to be skeptical of the claim. The manufacturer’s warranty extends for two years. So, since it is an analog watch, how is it smart? This watch is able to measure your heart rate, your blood oxygen level, keep up with your steps and plan and time your workouts. All of those functions are done in the watch. But it also communicates with your smartphone, Ios or Android. In fact, when the watch was fully charged, I downloaded the Citizen app from the iPhone App store and configured and synced the phone and smartwatch via Bluetooth in just a few minutes. The digital display on the watch face provides a plethora of information, once set up with your phone. You use the crown and the buttons on the top and bottom of the crown to select the function you want to access, such as local weather, music, notifications, stopwatch, workout, wellness and settings. The watch can be set up to work with Alexa. The digital display of pertinent information is on the watch face itself. The display is clean and legible, and a backlight is furnished for night viewing. The app also allows the user to design their own watch face to match their particular needs. I set the watch up for all the typical notifications: email, messaging, CNN, Facebook and the like. When I sat at lunch with friends, the watch vibrated unobtrusively when a new message came, and the header was displayed. If I wanted to read the full message, I would access my smartphone to read it. Convenient and practical. If you like this design and are attracted to this type of watch, I think you will be pleased with its performance and practicality. I recommend it.