Citizen Promaster Divers Watch

Ask a diver to think of an affordable, quality dive watch and the brand most likely quoted will be Seiko – and rightly so. Seiko have decades of history making high quality dive watches at “everyday” prices. We don’t hide the fact that ChronoDivers.com are great fans of the Seiko dive watch range.

But don’t forget the other Japanese chronometer giant – Citizen. In my personal collection I have a Citizen Promaster Divers 200m BN0191-55L with Eco-Drive movement. A popular alternative to the entry level and mid-range Seiko dive watches. Citizen also offer great value for money and typically high Japanese standards of build quality.

Promaster Aqualand – with depth sensor

The Promaster dive watch range from Citizen is not as comprehensive as that offered by Seiko Diver’s watches. However, it has two main product lines – the Citizen Promaster Aqualand and the Citizen Promaster Eco-Drive Divers 200m covering most people’s requirements. The Aqualand models feature a depth sensor, either analogue (hands) or digital.

The Divers 200m models are all 200m water resistant (or more). If you’re looking for extreme depths, then there’s the Citizen Promaster Diver Professional – certified water resistant to 1000m featuring a helium escape valve (as found on the Rolex Sea-Dweller and other “mixed gases” dive watches).

Eco-Drive Diver or classic Automatic?

The Citizen Eco-Drive diver watches should never need opening – offering years of maintenance free timekeeping. They use the natural movement of the wrist to charge the internal battery. It’s a combination of quartz accuracy and mechanical charging.

For the old school diving purist it has to be the mechanical, self winding Citizen  Automatic diver. In this range you’ll find models like the Citizen NY0085, the NY0040 and NY0100. You can still find some of the classic Citizen 8203 automatic divers watches.

ISO Certified Diver’s Watches

Most Citizen Dive watches conform to the ISO 6425 dive watch certification and being Eco-Drive means they should never need to be opened. Unlike a quartz watch that needs a battery change – an Eco-Drive watch can remain factory sealed unless it needs repairing. The benefit of buying such a model on eBay is obvious – there is no reason why it’s water resistancy shouldn’t be as good as the day it left the factory.

Classic Promaster Aqualand – C023 / JP2000

This was a watch that transitioned from basic “dive time watches” to complicated “dive computers” like those made by Suunto etc. It was a unique and very popular model when introduced as the Citizen Aqualand C023 back in the early 1980’s. A clear analogue display, massive luminous hour markers, with a dive time bezel PLUS a digital readout of depth. No computer up load but the C0023 allows the diver to recall max depth and dive time.

In the early 1990’s the C0023 was rebranded as the Citizen Promaster Aqualand JP2000-08E. The classic style of the Promaster Aqualand is shown above. A true icon of a watch in the diving fraternity with ISO 6425 certification.

When buying a used model it is quite difficult to determine the year of manufacture. At ChronoDivers.com we have read various threads relating to serial numbers – but none seem to be decisive / authoratitive. If you are really lucky you might find a NOS model (new old stock) – still boxed etc. Remember – the JP2000 has a quartz movement – if it’s had a battery change there is a chance the water resistancy may have been compromised – get it Water Resistancy tested

Best quality alternatives to a Citizen Dive Watch

Two other brands that may appeal to shopper’s considering a Citizen diver’s watch are Invicta and Orient. The Invicta range of dive watches include the hugely popular Invicta Pro Diver and the 300m water resistant Invicta Grand Diver (both pictured below). Invicta Dive watches feature very good quality Japanese movements like the Miyota 8215 (Citizen owned) and the Seiko produced NH35 (automatic / hacking).

Orient watches are a wholly owned subsidiary company of Seiko Epson. All Orient dive watches use movements Made in Japan – in other words – great quality at a sensible price. The most popular from this brand are often referred to as the Orient Mako – a Rolex Submariner styled divers watch – and the Orient Kamasu. However, Orient themselves do NOT refer to these watches by those nicknames.

Official Website (external link) – Citizen Watches