A 50th Anniversary Every Watch Fan Should Celebrate

In the world of outdoor products, any technology that lasts 50 years is amazing. And technology that lasts 50 years and is still innovative even by today’s standards? That’s unheard of. That’s what makes Eco-Drive, the light-powered tech that drives the majority of Citizen’s watches, so remarkable. While other watch brands have chased data tracking, Citizen has remained laser focused on pioneering and perfecting the industry’s most effective environmental tech.

What makes Eco-Drive so innovative is that it’s light-powered, not just solar-powered. It’s passively charged by all kinds of light, including artificial light. That means that your watch is powered by both the sunshine on your morning hike and the mood lighting at your favorite coffee shop afterward. Often there’s a tradeoff for eco-friendly products. Not here. Eco-Drive elevates function, and is proof that eco-forward technology can be incorporated in unobtrusive ways that make it easy to adopt.

Origin Story

Two events in the 1970s helped lead to the creation of Eco-Drive. First was the 1973 oil crisis, which underscored the importance of developing new, cleaner sources of energy. The second was the watch industry’s quartz revolution, in which quartz watches began to overtake mechanical watches in popularity. While Citizen reaped the benefits of the shift to quartz, the company stayed focused on the lessons from the oil crisis; quartz batteries were popular for their accuracy and affordability, but batteries were short-lasting and thrown out quickly, leading to unnecessary waste.

Tapping into the budding solar industry, Citizen spent the early part of the 1970s working to develop a watch that could run on a sustainable energy source. Those efforts culminated in the 1976 launch of the Quartz Crystron Solar Cell, the world’s first light-powered analog watch. It was the foundation of the technology that would eventually become officially known as Eco-Drive. As Citizen was able to develop thinner solar cells, battery life improved, and by 1986, the company had developed a watch that would last for more than eight days on a full power reserve, even in complete darkness. Only a decade later, that time had increased to six months.

A Small Watch Makes a Big Impact

Since that first watch rolled onto the market 50 years ago, Citizen estimates that Eco-Drive has saved over 100 million batteries from landfills. The company has also partnered with groups like 1% for the Planet, Unite to Light, American Forests, and the Leather Working Group to reduce its environmental impact while still working to improve Eco-Drive and its other technologies.

Promaster Dive E365Citizen, William Drumm

As of 2026, models like the Promaster Dive E365 can run for an entire year on a single power reserve thanks to Eco-Drive 365, an update to the tech released in 2023. Meanwhile, select models with power save functions can achieve a running time of up to seven years. That’s in addition to features like Satellite Wave GPS, which automatically syncs your watch to local time within three seconds, anywhere on earth, and Atomic Timekeeping, which has a margin of error of just one second every 100,000 years.

It’s all part of Citizen’s commitment to creating sustainable technology that won’t ask the wearer to compromise. And Eco-Drive has proven to be more than just a eco-gimmick—according to Citizen, consumers consistently cite Eco-Drive as the number one reason behind their purchase.

Eco-Drive Watches for Everyday and Uncommon Adventures

Ready to try Eco-Drive yourself? It’s widely available across Citizen’s slate of collections, including Sport Luxury, Dress Classics, Citizen L, Promaster, Tsuki-yomi, Fio, and Endeavor Chrono. While these models are best for everyday use—they aren’t designed for the backcountry—when you head outside for some fresh air it’s nice to know your watch is powered by sunshine. Just like you.

When it comes to more rugged outdoor travels and adventures, the Promaster Land and Promaster Air collections are what you want. They offer more durability and use-specific functionality, even far below the ocean’s surface. Every watch in Citizen’s Promaster Sea diving line meets the ISO 6425 standard for dive watches, with trusted features like magnetic and thermal shock resistance, unidirectional rotating bezels to prevent elapsed time errors, readable luminescence in dark waters, and much more. These dive watches range from 200m resistance for everyday divers all the way up to the Promaster 1000M Professional Diver, offering 1000m of resistance and industry-ready durability for professional divers in deep waters over prolonged periods.And one thing you can trust: Eco-Drive will still keep your watch powered through all your adventures—submerged or otherwise—just as it has for the past 50 years.

CITIZEN WATCH is a true manufacture d’horlogerie with the ability to carry out the entire watchmaking process in-house. Founded in 1918, Citizen is guided by the belief of “Better Starts Now.” CITIZEN has advanced watchmaking through craftsmanship, continuous innovation, and technologies such as its proprietary light-powered Eco-Drive technology.