The Citizen Promaster 35th Anniversary “Fujitsubo” Titanium Diver 200m

If you’re an avid diver and watch enthusiast, the name Promaster should be more than familiar. Created by Japanese watchmaker Citizen in 1989 as a brand to meet the needs of professionals working in the most challenging environments of the land, sea, and sky, Promaster has grown to a collection that includes over 30 different watches, all created with specific professional applications in mind. Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, the Citizen Promaster collection welcomes three specific limited editions… One for the sky, one for land and the present model, a new edition of the acclaimed Challenge Diver or Fujitsubo watch now dressed up in Super Titanium with Duratect Platinum treatment and blue accents to remind the oceans where it belongs. 

Before we dive into the specificities of this handsome new version of the Fujitsubo Titanium diver, let’s go back in time and understand what Promaster is all about. We have to go back to before the creation of the brand in 1989 because Citizen was producing professional instrument watches way before that. Already back in the 1960s, Citizen was manufacturing watches that could handle the challenges associated with underwater exploration, such as the acclaimed Citizen Seven Star – which has proven more than capable on the wrists of Japanese mountaineers climbing the north face of Eiger in the Swiss Alps in 1969. The following decade saw the introduction of yet another important watch, the Challenge Diver, a watch favoured by military personnel and divers. We’ll come back to this in a few, as it has its importance regarding the watch we’ll review today.

Always in line with innovations, Citizen embraced quartz technology pretty quickly and, in 1985, released one of its most important models ever, the Aqualand, a quartz diving tool equipped with an electronic depth sensor. This highly capable and ultra-resilient watch left its mark on the diving community and became the base for what would become, in 1989, the Promaster brand. The concept was to create watches around three pillars – land, sky and sea – to answer the specific needs of all explorers, with a lineup comprising the Altichron, the Aerochron, and the Aqualand. Thirty-five years later, each continues to be a source of inspiration for the current collection, including the Challenge Diver Fujitsubo.

Back to this specific watch, created way before the Promaster brand. In 1977, Citizen introduced the Challenge Diver, a fairly classic yet solidly constructed and capable dive watch of 41mm, with an external rotating bezel and generously lume-filled dial. A watch capable of withstanding depths of 150m, it became popular among military personnel and recreational divers, including members of the Royal Australian Navy. But the best testament to this watch’s durability is a story that couldn’t have been made up. In 1983, a Citizen Challenge Diver from 1977 was recovered from an Australian beach. The watch was covered in barnacles, indicating it had been underwater for several years, as these slowly build up over time. Surprisingly, it was still in running condition as the movement was shielded from water and dirt by its case.

The 35th Anniversary Promaster

This specific Challenge Diver was used by Citizen to create a modern version, the Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m, nicknamed Fujitsubo and, as you’d expect from the brand that pioneered the use of titanium in watchmaking, made from this lightweight and durable material. First released in 2022, rock-solid in its construction and yet fairly priced, this base is now used to create a 35th-anniversary limited edition that sticks to the same formula but adds some pleasant touches of colour.

Even though the Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m Fujitsubo, whether this 35th-anniversary model or the classic versions, retains most of the design cues of the original 1977 watch, we’re looking at a modernized tool that incorporates all of the brand’s expertise, starting with the use of Super Titanium for the case. As the first brand to produce a commercially available titanium watch in 1970, it’s no surprise to see this lightweight material used here. What makes this special edition unique is that it features Duratect Platinum treatment. Not only do the case and bracelet benefit from the Duratect surface hardening process, but this treatment here brings a gleaming, almost transparent silver hue – rather uncommon for a matte-finished titanium watch and pretty appealing on the wrist.

What remains is the overall classic design of the watch with serious quality all around. Reasonably sized at 41mm in diameter and 12.3mm in thickness, we’re talking about an ISO-certified dive watch with 200m water-resistance and all the features you need in this context: bevelled sapphire crystal, screw-down crown, and screwed back. What sets this special 35-year Promaster edition apart is the use of a blue coating on the bezel with a shiny surface. It’s a nice touch of colour that remains fairly discreet and adds some depth to this otherwise timelessly designed model. The bezel is unidirectional and fitted with a black aluminium insert, with the essential 60-minute diving scale.

Just like the blue-coated bezel, the dial relies on a new colour – which is said to be inspired by the beautiful blue ocean and white sand of Long Reef Beach in Australia, where the 1983 watch was found. A different blue tone than what’s used on the model from the permanent collection, it retains great contrast with the large raised luminous markers and oversized hands, providing strong legibility night and day, with a green glow at night. There’s a date window at 3 o’clock paired with a luminous plot next to it.

Under a caseback engraved with the Promaster 35th anniversary logo is the in-house, automatic calibre 9051. Running at a frequency of 28,800vph and using 24 jewels, it offers a decent 42h power reserve and is regulated to run within -10 to +20 seconds of deviation per day (but should perform better…). This movement is anti-magnetic to fields up to 16,000A/m (approx. 200 Gauss) as close as 1cm away, which is certainly reassuring, even for daily use in an environment full of cell phones and magnets.

This Promaster 35th Anniversary “Fujitsubo” Titanium Diver 200m is secured to the wrist by a three-link Super-Titanium bracelet with the same Duratect Platinum surface treatment as the case. It is closed by a folding clasp with multiple tricks: a security loop, safety-release pushers and a sliding diving extension that can act as both a micro-adjustment and when you want to wear this watch over a wetsuit.

Released as a limited edition of 4,500 pieces, the Citizen Mechanical Diver 200m Promaster 35th Anniversary (reference NB6026-56L) is now available and priced at EUR 845 or USD 1,100. Like the two classic versions here, it is a truly impressive watch for the price. It feels solid, extremely comfortable on the wrist thanks to the use of titanium, highly resistant thanks to the Duratect coating and comes fully equipped. This specific 35-year edition adds a touch of coolness with its blue accents and the shine of the Duratect Platinum that makes it feel special… Not much to add, it’s a winner.

For more details, please visit CitizenWatch-Global.com.