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Diving watches are easily the most popular among all of the watch genres today, and this has come about because of their relentless practicality. Coinciding with their necessity to be strong enough to resist the crushing pressures of depths of up to 200 metres and beyond, it is no surprise that most diving watches are unfazed by the challenges of daily life, easily remaining functional under most conditions.

This state of affairs of how the typical diving watch today has come to be, is a result of the many innovations that have come about throughout the 20th Century, innovations that came in step with those of diving equipment and technology, allowing mankind to dive longer, deeper and more safely.

These innovations, over the span of the last 100 years, have included such milestones such as the invention of the water resistant watch case in the 1920’s, the rotating diver’s bezel in the 1950’s, the helium escape valve in the 1970’s and many more.

CITIZEN’s contribution to the world of diving watches can be traced to the iconic Parawater of 1959, the first Japanese invented and produced water-resistant watch. It was conceived to elevate the performance of a typical wristwatch, which at the time, had to be protected from water.

“O” rings were the main innovation that the Parawater introduced, and these were placed in grooves at the caseback and the crown of the watch and acted as a barrier for water entering the case. This was what allowed the owner of the watch to use it without concern for such simple everyday tasks like washing hands, all the way to being immersed underwater while swimming. The introduction of the Parawater marked the starting point for the gradual introduction of water resistance as a standard feature to all CITIZEN watches.

Over time, with the rising popularity of scuba diving generally, and with the increasing sophistication of diving technology, there was a greater demand by professional divers, particularly those in the realm of maritime oil and gas exploration, for watches that could handle greater depths.

The next significant milestone from CITIZEN in this regard then, was the Titanium Professional Series from 1982. This was a series of titanium cased watches, rated to depths of 1300m in 1982 and 800m in 1984.

The CITIZEN Professional 1300m, the first watch in the series, was an important milestone since it had the highest depth rating for a diving watch at the time at 1300 metres. Not only that, it had a non-rusting titanium case that was so strong that it did not require a Helium Escape Valve.

Invented for saturation divers working at great depths in a helium rich environment, the Helium Escape Valve was a necessary safety feature that would allow helium molecules to exit a watch case when it was brought up to the surface from depth, in order to prevent them from expanding and potentially pop out the watch crystal.

The CITIZEN Professional 1300m however, with a tough four sided bezel shroud around its thick and strong titanium case, was made in such a way that a Helium Escape Valve was not necessary, making it a technical tour de force and showing the intent of CITIZEN to always be at the forefront of diving watch technology.

For this reason then, it was a fitting precursor to the CITIZEN Aqualand (ref. C0023) that would come shortly after in 1985, a watch that would debut yet another world premiere feature - a depth gauge.

The Aqualand of 1985, had an analogue/digital display that allowed a diver to use the analogue hands with the typical diver bezel to measure elapsed time, and a digital display that could be used to show current and maximum depth as well as the total dive time.

Distinctive for its aesthetics - with a large depth sensor on the left side of the case, it was a watch that for the first time ever, could provide the depth as another fundamental piece of information aside from elapsed time that could be used to calculate safety limits while diving. Working together with the depth gauge as well, the watch had automatic depth and ascent alarms, active safety features that would warn a diver when descending too deep or ascending too quickly.

The Aqualand revolutionised diving watches at a time when dive computers were not widely used or available, and its suite of features made it a useful backup to the analogue depth gauges that divers normally carried. Because of this, it would be the precursor for the proliferation of more depth gauge watches by CITIZEN from then on. Certainly, while there are depth gauge equipped watches from a handful of other watch brands today, CITIZEN is still the maker of the largest number and variety of depth gauge equipped watches available.

The success of the Aqualand from 1985 would spawn a whole family of watches, which would then become part of the newly created Promaster collection in 1989, a series of professionally focused watches that were divided into the Land, Air and Marine categories.

Alongside the Promaster Marine watches designed for professional use, CITIZEN has also worked hard to expand the product range, offering diving watches with the brand’s proprietary Eco-Drive technology as well as others with mechanical automatic movements such as the well-regarded “Fugu” diving watch series.

To this day, CITIZEN diving watches can be seen on the wrists of professional and recreational divers around the world who rely on them for their underwater endeavours, not to mention being reliable companions for countless everyday users as well.

The new diving watch collections of 2021 are aimed at not only celebrating the breadth of CITIZEN’s past achievements, but also to continue in the long-standing tradition of the brand to always make things better.

The inspiration behind the new Diver’s 200m is obvious from the design, as it looks remarkably similar to the legendary Professional Diver 1300m of 1982. That watch was the world’s deepest pressure resistant watch at 1300m when it was unveiled, and much of the spirit of what it achieved can be found in the new watch for 2021.

The Diver’s 200m has a water resistance of 200m only when compared to the Professional Diver 1300m, and that is for a good reason. The latter watch, when it was first introduced, came in at a relatively high price of 180,000 yen and was made in relatively low numbers as it was meant for the small number of professionals who would need such a watch with exceptional water resistance.

The new Diver’s 200m by contrast was created to be accessible to a wider audience of recreational divers for whom an extreme depth rating would be unnecessary. Instead, it inherits the distinctive design elements that made the Professional Diver 1300m so memorable, and brings it into the modern era with subtle refinements and Eco-drive technology.

Like the Professional Diver 1300m, the new watch shares the same rugged and masculine design, with a lugless case surrounded by a four angled bezel shroud and with large indentations on the rotating bezel for outstanding gripability under wet conditions. The new watch is also made out of lightweight titanium, and retains the same signature sandblast finish, but made with improved modern techniques. Similarly, the case size of 46.5mm is retained, which is the same as the original, however the case thickness has been reduced slightly to 14.3mm, in order to improve wearing comfort on the wrist.

There are a few other differences that one can discern as well, the new watch has a date instead of a day and date complication. It also has a slightly thicker handset, with bolder and more pronounced indices, as well as an aluminium ring on the bezel for better visibility. The most significant functional difference however has to be the use of CITIZEN’s proprietary light-powered Eco-drive technology instead of the original’s Calibre 1251 quartz movement.

In addition to the authentic colorway that aims to reproduce the original model, there will also be two additional variations to this watch. Both have cases finished in black DLC (Diamond Like Coating) and will feature a camo pattern on the dial in either Dark Blue or Dark Green.

These eye-catching variations take their design inspiration from the street-wear scene, giving a new aesthetic expression to the original, while still retaining full functionality for diving by the vast majority of divers out there.

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CITIZEN came out with the world’s first electronic depth gauge equipped diving watch in 1985, and since that time, the depth gauge feature has become a staple offering in the line-up. Improved through the years with the inclusion of Eco-Drive technology, as well as analogue hands to indicate current and maximum depth, these watches have become a reliable and dependable tool by countless recreational and professional divers the world over.

The latest variant of the depth gauge equipped watch for 2021 is the PROMASTER Eco-Drive Aqualand Depth Meter, which comes with ISO-compliant water resistance to 200 metres and the well regarded and reliable Calibre B740.

This light-power Eco-drive movement comes with multiple safety features such a power reserve indicator, insufficient charge, stop and time reset warning indications and a water sensor that automatically starts depth measurement when the watch is under water. Similarly, the case has the standard safety features that are expected on any professional diving watch, including a screw down crown, a screw down push button and a unidirectional rotating bezel.

What’s new in this model is its bold and redesigned case that comes in at 50.4mm wide. This allows a large amount of space for the dial elements, which ensures outstanding legibility for all functions in use when underwater and in the harshest diving conditions.

Three colour tones are available, with bezel accents in blue, green and red.

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2021 has been a significant year for CITIZEN, with the introduction of high-end mechanical movements, particularly those of the newly relaunched Series 8 collection.

The two movements in the collection, the Cal. 0950 and the Cal. 9051 are marked by the headline feature of enhanced magnetic resistance as well as a thickness of 4.1mm.

The new Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m for 2021 takes advantage of these innovations with the use of the Cal. 9051, making it the first diving watch offered by CITIZEN to have the same enhanced magnetic resistance seen in the Series 8 collection, of up to 16,000 A/m. This makes the watch an ideal companion for our modern digital society with the movement being protected against electronic devices that can affect the accuracy of the watch.

The Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m also comes with a unique design, being decorated with a pattern of pyramid studs on both the dial and the bezel, which gives a strong and tough aesthetic that gives a hint to the features that enable outstanding performance as a diving watch.

Some examples of this include the bezel that has been designed with large protruding tabs around its perimeter, making it easy to grip under harsh conditions, as well as it and the case, being made of CITIZEN’s proprietary Super Titanium™, which is both lightweight and strong. This lightweight aspect of the watch makes the 46mm wide and 15.3mm thick case easy to wear on its supplied black urethane strap, which also comes with an extender strap that allows the watch to fit over a wetsuit.

For outstanding readability under low light, the hour hand, minute hand, and indexes have a luminescent coating, and the sapphire glass crystal is coated with an anti-reflective coating.

The Cal. 9051 movement in this watch features a power reserve of 42 hours and a daily accuracy of -10 to +20 seconds.

■ Product Specifications

*Accuracy measured when the movement is in a stationary position. Due to the characteristics of mechanical watches, daily accuracy may be outside stated figures due to variations in conditions of use (including length of time worn, the position of the watch, wrist movement, and the winding of the spring.)

The new Promaster NY013 for 2021 is the latest chapter in the continuing story for the new generation of assessibly priced, mechanical diving watches that CITIZEN has released since 2018, that are based on the original iconic 1989 model – the NY004.

Like last year’s Promaster NY0011 series, the new Promaster NY0013 series has the same new generation 44m size case, as well as a sapphire crystal. It goes further this year with the inclusion of a brand new movement, the Cal.8204 that adds a hacking function over the previous Cal.8203, the introduction of bracelet options and lastly, new models with Black-Ion Plating for a stealth look.

As expected with the series, all the signature elements are in place - 200 metres of water resistance in compliance with the ISO 6425 standard for diving watches, the newly designed hour markers that were introduced in 2018, as well as the unique bezel with serrated teeth for easy gripping in wet conditions which was the basis for the series nickname - “Fugu”, given by fans of the original 1989 watch. A key design feature of the recent generation of watches relates to this point – there is an engraving of a “Fugu”, or Japanese for “pufferfish”, on the caseback.

The new non-limited models are all offered in stainless steel cases with matching bracelets and include two matching dial and bezel options in black and a sunray finished green, as well as one Black-Ion Plated model with a black dial and bezel.

Additionally, two limited edition versions are offered, one with a black dial and the other with a fully lumed dial. Both models are limited to 1989 pieces, with each piece engraved with its own serial number. Additionally, these models feature a Black-Ion Plated stainless steel case and comes mounted on a polyurethane strap.

Lastly, like all the recent generation of NY004 inspired models, each watch will be presented in a special box in the shape of a diving oxygen cylinder, which will differ slightly with regards to the two limited edition models by engraving with its own serial number, comes with an individual certificate card and commemorative coin.

■ Product Specifications

*The final design and specifications are subject to change without notice.
*Eco-Drive, Duratect, Super Titanium™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.
*The availability, specifications and related information such as product code for the models featured in this site, may vary by markets. If you would like to know more details, including the availability of this products in your area, please select your “Local Website” from our global site.