Well i was in the market for a good watch after my last one turned out to be a dud. My last watch was a mechanical variant from Titan and was around the 18K mark, the watch had problems after my trip to Goa where i played quite a lot of games like squash, badminton, etc. The watch had sustained internal damage because of excessive force well that's what Titan people told me. They refused to fix it under warranty and i had to shell out 4K for it but even then the watch slowed down without reason and 24hrs lasted 30hrs according to the watch.
I also had a bad experience with a quartz watch after a watch guy had not sealed the back properly and my watch got water logged. After several calls Casio did change some of the parts because ProTrek parts are not available freely but its digital part was a lost cause.
The only way forward seemed to be sola/light powered and i had zeroed in to a Citizen Eco Drive with a analog-digital interface Citizen JV0000-01E and Citizen JW0071-58E were the choices but i could not find them in Shimla or Chandigarh. I was told by the First Citizen shop to wait for 2 months and then maybe they will get the JW0071-58E in stock. Also be aware you will get tones of other Citizen models with analog-digital interface but different model numbers they are not meant for India. The shop keeper will sell it with international warranty but they are limited to 1 year and also are sometimes already active. A seller showed me a wonderful Citizen JY0050-55L for Rs.34K but after checking out the serial number warranty status it had only 3 months international warranty left.
I then moved to the cheapest good looking eco-drives with date, this lead me to BL7110-51L and BL7110-60P but their dial is very small looks like a ladies watch from a bit far not to mention quick glances need more concentration. The only watch above these i like was the BL5250-11L but at 21K it was worthless.
I had gone to Titan World after leaving First Citizen store to complain about the mechanical watch and there is where i first saw the HTSE series a quick search on the cell yielded no info on the watches. I had to ask about them from the same person i was shouting at :bleh: for the mechanical watch. I liked three model 1540KL02, 1539TP01 and 1539NP01 but the 1539TP01 was out because it had no date and 1539NP01 was out because it appeared smaller in real life than the 1540KL02. The price difference among them was just 1K and around 11-12K they were very good bargains instead of the Eco-drives. This will get me tied over till i get a proper Analog-Digital light powered watch.
I went to First Citizen again tried the BL5250-11L and compared it to Titan 1540KL02 but since it was around 10K more than the Titan i dropped the idea and got a 1540KL02 from Titan store instead. Its a very good purchase since i never used most of the chronographs features "Protrek" day to day their missing is not much of a problem. What i needed was day and date but even the mighty BL5250-11L did not have day. Now its been some weeks with the watch and i have tried brutally shaking it, playing catch with it and even threw it on my bed it all good and i am happy to say it much more durable than the Titan mechanical series, a truly everyday watch.
Bits- The HTSE is suppose to use a type of Seiko solar setup according to the seller. My Titan Mechanical watch has gone in for its 5th service i am just so sad i bought that thing i should have bought a mechanical watch from HMT instead
The 1539TP01 and 1539NP01 have similar sized solar panel but 1539NP01 dial looks smaller due to the date dials and 1539TP01 has no date just 24hr time and sec.
I also had a bad experience with a quartz watch after a watch guy had not sealed the back properly and my watch got water logged. After several calls Casio did change some of the parts because ProTrek parts are not available freely but its digital part was a lost cause.
The only way forward seemed to be sola/light powered and i had zeroed in to a Citizen Eco Drive with a analog-digital interface Citizen JV0000-01E and Citizen JW0071-58E were the choices but i could not find them in Shimla or Chandigarh. I was told by the First Citizen shop to wait for 2 months and then maybe they will get the JW0071-58E in stock. Also be aware you will get tones of other Citizen models with analog-digital interface but different model numbers they are not meant for India. The shop keeper will sell it with international warranty but they are limited to 1 year and also are sometimes already active. A seller showed me a wonderful Citizen JY0050-55L for Rs.34K but after checking out the serial number warranty status it had only 3 months international warranty left.
I then moved to the cheapest good looking eco-drives with date, this lead me to BL7110-51L and BL7110-60P but their dial is very small looks like a ladies watch from a bit far not to mention quick glances need more concentration. The only watch above these i like was the BL5250-11L but at 21K it was worthless.
I had gone to Titan World after leaving First Citizen store to complain about the mechanical watch and there is where i first saw the HTSE series a quick search on the cell yielded no info on the watches. I had to ask about them from the same person i was shouting at :bleh: for the mechanical watch. I liked three model 1540KL02, 1539TP01 and 1539NP01 but the 1539TP01 was out because it had no date and 1539NP01 was out because it appeared smaller in real life than the 1540KL02. The price difference among them was just 1K and around 11-12K they were very good bargains instead of the Eco-drives. This will get me tied over till i get a proper Analog-Digital light powered watch.
I went to First Citizen again tried the BL5250-11L and compared it to Titan 1540KL02 but since it was around 10K more than the Titan i dropped the idea and got a 1540KL02 from Titan store instead. Its a very good purchase since i never used most of the chronographs features "Protrek" day to day their missing is not much of a problem. What i needed was day and date but even the mighty BL5250-11L did not have day. Now its been some weeks with the watch and i have tried brutally shaking it, playing catch with it and even threw it on my bed it all good and i am happy to say it much more durable than the Titan mechanical series, a truly everyday watch.
Bits- The HTSE is suppose to use a type of Seiko solar setup according to the seller. My Titan Mechanical watch has gone in for its 5th service i am just so sad i bought that thing i should have bought a mechanical watch from HMT instead
The 1539TP01 and 1539NP01 have similar sized solar panel but 1539NP01 dial looks smaller due to the date dials and 1539TP01 has no date just 24hr time and sec.