Citizen Orca Review -- BL0016-04L

Citizen Orca Review -- BL0016-04L

Authored by: NoDecoDiver

Adapted from Original at http://www.thetruthaboutwatches.com

I saw this model when it was newly released in a Citizen store at alocal mall. I don’t even remember how long ago that was. Ever sincethen, I’ve seen them pop up on forums for sale, and seen them go ondeep discount from some of the Singapore dealers, but I always had someother project I was saving up for that got in the way. That, and neverhaving actually put one on my wrist, I was a little concerned by thealmost circus-like looks, even though the watch continued to catch myeye whenever I saw it.



Thankfully, for me, I was in a position recently to pick this watch up,and I’m honestly trying to understand what took me so long.



I guess the lesson learned here is that after I log more than 100clicks of any given watch online, I should probably just go ahead andget it. If someone could explain that to my wife, I’d appreciate it.Luckily, I was able to sell a few of my less used collection pieces andgot this one at basically break even. She will never have to know aboutit.



Case
The case on the Orca is pretty straightforward.Nothing super fancy, just a polished silver finish on a moderatelysized Titanium case with a stainless steel caseback.






Of course, it features a screw down caseback, which bears all thetypical Citizen markings. Also, a screw down crown with the doublearrow Citizen logo stamped on top.





The case wears great, and is large enough to stay planted in the middleof my wrist. One of my giant turn offs for certain watches is theirtendency to ride high or low on your wrist, regardless of how tight thestrap/bracelet is.



Crystal
The Orca has a slightly domed mineralcrystal, which only distorts at extreme angles. It was relativelydifficult to photograph, as the bezel gets in the way, but here is anidea.






The crystal seems to be pretty high quality, but if there is any ARcoating, it’s thin at best. This crystal is a reflection magnet. Itried every trick in the book to photograph it, but it’s generallyimpossible. It should be important to note that the crystal does extentpast the bezel if only by the width of an eyelash. Potential scratchesin our future, yes?


Movement
I have not had the Orca long enough to get amedian or average timekeeping stat, but over the last 24 hours, it’slogged slow by 1 second at one point, and right now it’s within amillisecond of correct. The E168 Eco-Drive is supposedly a prettyreliable movement, but this is the first watch I’ve owned that uses it,so I will update this review in a few months with my findings.



As if some watch manufacturer somewhere in Japan heard my lowlyscreams from Georgia, the SECOND HAND LINES UP ALL ACROSS THE DIAL.
I’m going to give that a minute to sink in.





Look at it, in all it’s glory. Appeasing my OCD. I love you Citizen. Itake back all the terrible things I said about your Quartz movementswhen I was an elitist Automatic snob.



Lume
While not on par *exactly* with Seiko, theOrca’s lume is plenty good enough to satisfy my tastes. It died out inabout four hours after one hour in sunlight. Citizen’s blue lume,although not possessing any quantifiable one-ups on Seiko, is by far myfavorite lume. Even if it doesn’t last as long, the color sells it.



This is exactly why I fell in love with the Zinex Trimix.



Seiko’s lume is by far the best, but I think Citizen wins in the looks category.






In conclusion, I feel like the Orca should have been added to mycollection quite some time ago, and I’m still left scratching my headtrying to figure out how I got this far without one.