Okay, let’s talk about changing the time on Citizen watches. Sounds simple, right? But I messed up big time last week and bricked my old Chronograph for two days. Rookie mistakes. Here’s exactly how it went down, step-by-step, so you don’t pull a me.
The Dumb First Try
So daylight saving ended Sunday, right? Grabbed my Citizen Eco-Drive after breakfast. Didn’t even pull the crown out fully – just yanked it to the first click thinking “this’ll take five seconds.” Started spinning the crown like a DJ scratching records. Hour hand went backwards fine, but when I pushed the crown back in? Date flipped at noon. Dead giveaway I’d screwed the AM/PM cycle. My calendar window showed 15 instead of 3. Facepalm moment.
Un-Bricking the Watch
Panicked when the date wouldn’t budge next day. Pulled the crown all the way out again to position 3. Did the slow-mo tango:
- Turned hour hand clockwise 12 hours to unstick the date mechanism
- Watched date snap back to previous number – finally
- Advanced time past 4 AM before touching date again (critical!)
Took eight full minutes of knob-twisting just to unfreeze the stupid calendar.
The Right Way (Finally)
Reset everything to midnight. Crown to position 3, spun hands till date clicked. That’s your baseline. Then:
- Crown to position 2 – bumped date to current day (29th? Turned 29 times. Tedious!)
- Back to position 3 – set exact time with second hand stopped at 12
- Waited for phone clock to hit :00, slammed crown home
Double-checked at noon – date flipped sharp at midnight. Victory lap achieved.
Mistakes That Almost Broke Me
Don’t be like past-me:
- Never change time when date’s mid-change (9PM-4AM)
- AM/PM confusion? Advance hands past 6PM while looking at date flip
- Crown position 1 is useless for corrections – go straight to fully out
Wasted two lunch breaks fixing this. Your turn? Maybe ten minutes if you don’t touch the crown before coffee.
