Research and development set the course guiding Citizen’s progress in the watchmaking industry, a journey where sustainability and the sea play a crucial role. (Here all our posts about Citizen).
The first diver’s watch by Citizen
It was 1959 when Citizen presented its first diver’s watch, blazing the trail for the Promaster collection. It achieved a special kind of success, mainly because it showed that watchmaking was not an exclusively Swiss preserve. For the Japanese brand the emphasis was on a technological approach – take, for example, the Eco-Drive movement, conceived, developed and produced by Citizen.
But Citizen not only produces all the individual components in-house, it even manufactures the machinery that makes them. And Citizen has gone even further. The proof lies in the story of the Japanese brand’s first diver’s watch. The watch was called the Parawater, and to test its performance before entering into production it was subjected to a series of tests that were very stringent for the time.
The first test carried out in 1959 saw the timepiece fastened to a buoy that was then thrown into the sea off the Japanese coast and dragged back to land, where it was found to be functioning perfectly. Shortly afterwards came an even tougher ordeal, the Trans-Pacific Test.
The Citizen’s Parameter
For this 130 Parawaters were each attached to a buoy and left at the mercy of the Pacific Ocean currents. The following year they were recovered, still running perfectly, off the coast of the USA. The important role Citizen plays in diver’s watch history, has now been enhanced by new models, starting with the return of Promostar Diver “Orca”, a collection that enjoyed unprecedented success in 2002 and 2006. This watch retained its distinctive features, like the extra-large 46 mm case and striking bulbous “bubbles” on the bezel and markers recalling the orca’s characteristic colours.
Offered in two versions with blue or black dial the Promostar Diver Orca is powered by an E168 Eco-drive® movement with power reserve of 180 days and declared precision of +15/-15 seconds per month. The offer of new divers for the 2023 season also includes the Citizen presents the Promaster Whale Shark Super-titanium with 46 mm case and full lume green dial. This model is also driven by a light-powered E168 Eco-drive® movement with an autonomy of six months. Finally, there are two new versions of the Promaster Diver’s 200, now offered in a version with 44 mm rose gold coloured case with grey dial and a second in steel with a blue dial and rotating blue and red bezel.
Matteo Zaccagnino
