REVIEW: Citizen Perpetual Chrono A-T

And for the CITIZEN ECO DRIVE PERPETUAL CALENDAR side of the watch, this is just a great function to have in a quartz timepiece. The Citizen can charge under a variety of lighting sources; once fully charged, it will remain so for up to 370 days. Of course, sunlight will work best to get things topped off.




At an or less on this is a compelling purchase. With the solar charging and atomic clock syncing, this is about as trouble-free of a watch you could hope for; this particular model will work well in a variety of settings with it’s size and styling.

You know who we’ve not reviewed here in quite some time? Citizen, that’s who. Today, we’ll have a look at a rather intriguing model in their collection, the Perpetual Chrono A-T.

By it’s name alone, you can tell some of the functionality in play – a chronograph and a perpetual calendar. A closer look at the dial will reveal the other technology tricks up its sleeves – solar powered, and atomic clock syncing. Let’s have a quick run-down of the dial:
At 10 o’clock, you’ve got a 24 hour indicator
At 2 o’clock, the subdial can indicate: chrono minutes sub-seconds, charge level, or day of the week
At 6 o’clock, this will set the radio you sync with, as well as indicate if you’re in timekeeping, chrono, or alarm modes


I will admit, many of the atomic syncing watches, especially those with analog dials, can be complex to operate (I’ve got one in my collection I have to carry a cheat sheet for). With this Citizen, though, it’s very simple to get the hang of, and the subdials clearly indicate what you’re doing.

What I'm using: Aukey Quick Charge 3.0 car charger

Quick chargers help your phone charge quickly. Here's a quick look at one.

I tend to not overthink charging. There's been so much ink spilled over AUKEY USB C cables that are out of spec and whether my phone is going to melt or irradiate my brain ... or worse.

I don't worry about such things. I just want to plug in and charge and trust the companies that are making the products I use. And to that end, I've been rocking the Aukey's dual-port car charger with Quick Charge 3.0 for a few months now. And as I've said before, this sort of product has changed the way I look at my phones.

So this is your basic plug-looking car charger. It sticks out from my outlet a little more than others I've used, but not so much that I can't get a cup in the cupholder when not in use. It's done up in glossy plastic, which becomes a bit of a dust magnet over time. (As you can see in these pictures. Let me never be accused of not showing you the real deal.)


A quick 20-minute charge on the way home means I don't have to worry about making it through the day.

But other than that? It's charging like a champ. This charger has two USB-A ports, as you can see. One orange, one green. And so that you don't have to worry about remembering which color does what, there's the Qualcomm Quick Charge logo beneath the orange port, showing that, indeed, it's the one with QC3.0. If you want to charge via QC3.0, this is the one to use. The other port sports Aukey's AiPower tech that "gives all your USB powered devices exactly what they need with up to 2.4A per Ai USB Port." You can use both at once if that's how you roll.

I get in my car. And I charge. If it's been a rough day for my phone, I'll forego hooking into Android Auto and use this instead. On my 15- to 20-minute commute, I can get upwards of 30 percentage points back (sometimes more, depending on the capacity of the phone I'm using) on the drive home. That's a game-changer. That's the difference between worrying about charging my phone after I'm home, instead of looking after the people I went there to hang out with.

And it's that simple. And inexpensive.