Citizen’s professional sports watch brand Promaster has introduced three new models from all its categories for professionals; marine, land and sky. Since its launch in 1989, Promaster has been a firm favorite with professionals who push their limits, withstanding the toughest of conditions, achieving top endurance, and maneuvering numerous superior functions for different fields.
For the climbing, diving, and aviation enthusiasts across the world, Citizen has detailed out the specific conditions and introduced three categories –marine, land and sky to offer the ideal functions and specs for each scene.
The challenge for professionals is not just pushing their physical but also their mental boundaries. This is why Promaster is equipped with high functionality, durability and safety with designs that exude confidence and class to drive them to go beyond their ‘imagination.’
The first in the series is the Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m is ISO compliant diver’s watch that can perform even in saturation diving environment. The escape valve set at 10 o’clock on the case side releases the helium gas that enters the watch during saturation diving to prevent any damage or rupture upon the movement.
There is no need for regular battery replacement thanks to the Eco-Drive technology. The Power Reserve Indicator tells divers the remaining battery charge so that they can enjoy diving worry free.
To achieve an even higher practical functionality, Citizen conducted validation and vilification testing with cooperation of JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), the ocean research authority in Japan, to conduct a leak test and examine the effects of high water pressure to check waterproof performance in a high-pressure environment as well the dial visibility, and luminous features in deep waters.
We made the bezel of the Promaster unidirectional in line with the ISO standard for diving watches. This improves safety by eliminating the danger of a diver accidentally turning the bezel the wrong way during a dive.The Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m model is equipped with a bezel-locking mechanism.
Promaster’s photo-luminescent markings absorb lightfast and stay bright for a long time. A generous proportion of the hands are coated in luminous material and a range of colors were tested before selecting the most visible ones. The luminous materials used for this model have more than twice the afterglow brightness than a conventional material even after 5 hours.
When the bezel lock is set to free, the orange warning color appears to to warn the user. The crown also has a same mechanism, revealing an orange color between the case and the crown to tell the owner when the crown is not correctly pushed into a lock mode.
A diver’s watch that performs with 1,000m saturation diving must not only pass the water resistance test, but also a test to keep performing for 15 days in a pressurized chamber that contains helium and oxygen or even 100% helium gas and then revert back to atmospheric pressure within three minutes after high-speed decompression. The pressure is an unimaginable 125 barometer which demands high durability and water resistance function. This isa world’s first as a light powered watch.
Citizen’s proprietary titanium material, Super Titanium™* has various surface-hardening technology which is expertly used to offer the functions required for each of the parts to collectively achieve a robust surface finish. In order for the adjoining sections of the parts to also withstand the water pressure at 1,000 meters depth, Citizen applied one of the hardening technology, “Duratect* MRK” to the case when parts like the crown tube and the escape valve tube were already in place, Citizen bonded the individual components to the case at the atomic level to achieve a higher level of adhesion. (The technical name for the process is “solid phase diffusion bonding.”) The result was not just a tougher case surface, but durability capable of withstanding 1,000 meters of water pressure.
The Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m takes its design inspiration from the shape and structure of a turban shell. The durability and power of this shell case design was tested to the limits in successfully producing a professional grade light powered dive watch with a water tight fit to 1000 meters. The hardness of the shell comes from its brick structure which was reflected to the case side. The spiral structure of a turban shell gives the directional design to the bezel which is not simply an iconic design but functions as a way to intuitively inform the direction of the bezel.
The second watch is the Eco-Drive Altichron equipped with the Citizen advanced technologies including altimeter that can measure up to 10,000 meters. The Eco-Drive Altichron can measure far beyond any mountains around the world from -300 meters (under sea level) to 10,000 meters. With all the information played in analogue rather than digital format, there is no need to switch away from the all-important time display to check altitude or orientation. It is designed for users to operate its functions intuitively by coding the hands colors that show time and other information and making the dial layout simple.
This new Eco-Drive Altichron with basic color black is designed as a chic watch that is perfect not only for outdoor but also for business scenes. The outdoor-style watch with the all-new design that looks great for any scene is the perfect addition to the brand’s collection.
The third watch is the Promaster Sky Satellite Wave GPS. This is a multi-function model with dual-time display, chronograph function among other features. The design was inspired by the coordinate axis on radar screens and the airplane cockpit displays while the brown dial colour and the gold case brings out its iconic glamour.
It features the light, scratch-resistant, kind-to-skin, and anti-corrosion Super Titanium™ case with a DuratectGOLD coating with its super-hardness of Hv1,100 – 1,500. The pilot watch with the essential timekeeping precision and other features that withstand challenging conditions welcomes the new model, expanding the world of Satellite Wave GPS.
