Citizen Campanola Grand Complication Review

as the operation is about as logical as it can be, and you would not want the watch littered with buttons. It you are familiar with the mechanical alternatives to this watch, then you will know that the operation of those watches can be outstandingly complicated. Even requiring a trip to the dealer to just change the date, no joke.Regardless of the fact that the face has an array of dials and hands, legibility is quite good. This is often a concern with watches that try to do too much. You have so much going on, that your eyes are strained in just trying to figure out what time it is. The Citizen Campanola Grand Complication employs a *** yet very effective tactic to battle this. The periphery of the face involves the placement of large beautifully painted Arabic numerals (Roman numeral versions are also available). The choice of font for these number is impeccable. Reminiscent to me of luxury without pretension. Much like the numbers used on large European clocks in the 18th Century. The hour and minute hands are white in contrast to the darker face in order to permit a better reading. They are not luminescent, meaning that night viewing is not available.My only qualm about the movement is the ticking second hand. This however is more or less required (unless you have a Seiko Spring Drive) in a quartz movement, and Citizen tastefully understates the seconds hand by placing it in a sub-dial. Giving this movement a sweeping seconds hand, such as in the Seiko Spring Drive would exceed the technology as it exists today, and require a far more expensive movement. Having a ticking versus sweeping seconds hand is a small negative. Some Citizen Campanolas have eco-drives (not this model), meaning that are solar powered. These however must make visual sacrifices as they need to let light in through the face for the energy generation function to work.Due to the high number of complications in this watch, there is a small learning curve required in order to figure out how to use them all. For example, to use the chronograph, the watch needs to be in chronograph mode. This requires pushing down the push-button below the crown which aligns the hands for time-measuring operation.