Diver's Watches
For sea lovers
A diver's watch is about far more than just a certain style or design. At CITIZEN, we reserve the term exclusively for genuine dive-capable watches that meet the relevant ISO standard. Our diver's watches have a range of technologies sure to delight anyone who loves the sea.
A love affair...
with
the sea
Water resistance. Toughness. Visibility. Luminescence. The unidirectional rotating bezel. All these technologies have one thing in common: they exist to support and assist people who love being in and around the sea. At CITIZEN, the term diver's watch is reserved exclusively for watches equipped with all the functions that sea lovers genuinely need.
Professional
gear.
For professionals
One CITIZEN diver's watch model is water resistant to a depth of 1,000 metres. It is designed for saturation diving—a deep-diving method that makes it possible to complete tasks in the deep sea over prolonged periods. It is an authentic piece of professional kit, a wristwatch that can withstand the unimaginable water pressures of depths far beyond the reach of sunlight.
About diver's watches
Explore the technologies that go into our diver's watches.
Strictly conforming to the ISO standard
CITIZEN diver's watches all conform to the relevant ISO standards. The name engraved on the case back—"Diver's Watch 200m,” “Diver's Watch 1000m for mixed-gas diving” and so on—is visible proof of the watch's ISO certification.
Standards designed for better diver safety
CITIZEN reserves the term diver's watch for watches that conform to the ISO 6425 standard. To meet this standard, watches must not just be water resistant to a minimum depth of 100 metres, they must also meet requirements for readability, magnetic resistance, shock resistance, strap strength and other things.
ISO 6245
- Diving time indicator
- Readability and visibility
- Magnetic resistance
- Thermal shock resistance
- Salt spray test (Corrosion resistance)
- Shock resistance
- Water resistance
- Resistance of crown and other setting devices
-
Helium gas resistance*
*Saturation diving models only
Built to prevent mistakes under water
The last thing you want to do during a dive is to accidentally change the setting of your watch by brushing your watch in the heat of the moment or bumping it against your diving gear. At CITIZEN, we physically structure our diver's watches specifically to prevent any such mistaken operation.
UNIDIRECTIONAL ROTATING BEZEL Anti-clockwise only
Before a dive, divers preset the rotating bezel to the target dive time so they can easily see their elapsed diving time. (The bezel, in other words, functions as a sort of timer.) The unidirectional bezels found on diver's watches only rotate in a single direction: anti-clockwise. The last thing a diver wants is for the bezel to be accidentally pushed forwards in a clockwise direction, making you think you've been under water for less time than you actually have. A unidirectional rotating bezel helps keep divers safe.
SCREW-DOWN CROWN. SCREW-DOWN PUSH BUTTONS Zero operational error
Rotating the crown on a normal watch is easy. However, one of the specifications for a diver's watch is to have a crown that screws tightly into the case—a so-called screw-down crown. In addition to preempting operational errors during dives, a screw-down crown ensures a higher level of water resistance. Screw-down push buttons perform the same function.
DOUBLE-FOLDING BUCKLE Twice as secure
Because it attaches the watch so safely and securely to the wrist, the double-folding buckle frees the wearer to concentrate on diving and nothing else. This safety-conscious design deliberately makes undoing the buckle into a two-step process. On top of that, at CITIZEN we only use high-strength watch bands tested to stay snugly on the wrist even when 20kg of force is applied. The double-folding buckle with ratchet can be extended by a further 20mm for easy wearing over a wetsuit. At CITIZEN, we take the safety and usability of our diver's watches extremely seriously.
Functions that make a difference under water
Safety is at the core of all CITIZEN diver's watches. They are also equipped with numerous practical functions. These include readability in the darkness of the deep sea, highly accurate timekeeping and saturation diving capabilties.
LUMINESCENCE Darkness visible
Visibility declines as soon as you get into the water. The sea is often darker than it looks and moving currents can confuse the eye further. At CITIZEN, we design our watches for maximum readability even in dim light. The lume we apply to the hands and indexes stores energy and glows in the dark. We make sure that both the time and the elapsed diving time are visible and legible. In addition, the lume we use is neither toxic nor radioactive; it's friendly to both people and the environment.
SHOCK DETECTION FUNCTION Impacts make no impression
You never know what will happen to your watch during a dive. You might bang it against a rock or against a piece of diving kit. Already built tough in order to withstand routine knocks and shocks, some CITIZEN diver's watches are equipped for even heavier impacts. When a shock is detected, the shock detection function instantly stops the hands to prevent them getting out of position. At CITIZEN, we are serious about making timepieces that fulfill the essential function of a watch: always telling the correct time.
HELIUM ESCAPE VALVE Keeping harmful helium out
Helium is the arch-enemy of saturation diving watches. (Saturation diving involves staying at extreme depths for extended periods, usually to perform deep sea work.) Helium atoms are so tiny that they can easily penetrate plastic, driving up the interior pressure of the case and risking damage to the glass and the movement. We put CITIZEN's saturation diving watch models through helium-pressure testing to guarantee diver safety. Some of our saturation diver's watches feature a helium relief valve which automatically opens and closes based on the internal/external pressure difference, expelling the invasive helium gas and protecting the watch from damage during decompression.
The CITIZEN Diver's Watch Story
Bold vision. Exciting innovations.
Water resistant to 1,300 metres.
World-leading pressure resistance
Authentic diver's watches started to appear in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Designs were evolving and new depth records were regularly being set when CITIZEN released the Professional Diver in 1982. The Professional Diver boasted water resistance of 1,300 metres, a record for the time far outstripping the products of any other company. A genuinely era-defining model, the Professional Diver had a corrosion-resistant titanium case with an ultra-airtight construction designed to exclude helium gas.
A legendary diver's watch:
Barnacle-encrusted but still in working order
In 1983, something happened that is still talked about at CITIZEN to this day. A Challenge Diver—a CITIZEN automatic diver's watch that had made its debut in 1977—was found washed up on Long Reef Beach in Australia. Although the watch was heavily encrusted with barnacles after its long immersion in the sea, no water had seeped in and the mechanism remained in perfect working order. This extraordinary level of durability and water resistance earned the Challenge Diver a unique and proud position in CITIZEN's heritage.
In 2022, roughly 40 years later, we released the Mechanical
Diver 200m. This model inherits the design cues and world
view of the original Challenge Diver, while adding an
improved case and a movement with enhanced magnetic
resistance better suited to present-day needs. The legendary
Challenge Diver continues to captivate the diver's watch
community in its new incarnation.
The advent of the electronic depth gauge
Against a background of continued technological advances, the Aqualand, which came out in 1985, featured the world's first electronic depth gauge. The gauge measured depth down to 80 meters in 0.1 metre increments. Creating this model required us to develop state-of-the-art electronics and a compact high-performance pressure sensor. The legacy of this 1985 model lives on in the PROMASTER Aqualand of today.
The world's first light-powered Radio-Controlled diver's watch
Providing diving enthusiasts with the most accurate time possible is at the core of our mission. And that was the thinking that inspired us to release the PROMASTER Eco-Drive Radio-Controlled, a diver's watch with 200m water resistance. As the world's first diver's watch with atomic timekeeping, numerous technical challenges had to be overcome to achieve the required combination of enhanced magnetic resistance, shock resistance and high reception sensitivity. With large dot indexes for superior visibility under water and an extendable band for wearing over a wetsuit, this model had all the functions of an authentic diver's watch and was deservedly popular with the dive community.
The world's first 1,000m light-powered saturation diving watch
In 2017, CITIZEN released the PROMASTER Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1,000m, the world's first light-powered saturation diving watch with 1,000m water resistance. Along with safety and water-resistance specs that conformed to the relevant ISO standard, the model was also equipped with a helium escape valve. Light-powered Eco-Drive technology had finally been incoporated into a model capable of reaching depths of 1,000 metres! Taking the diver's watch beyond the realms of normal imagination, this model really is the physical embodiment of PROMASTER's “Go Beyond” tagline.
A diver's watch with Satellite Wave GPS technology
We want our watches to be the ideal diving buddy wherever in the world you are. The PROMASTER SATELLITE WAVE GPS DIVER 200m, which came out in 2020, was the world's first authentic light-powered GPS satellite-synchronised diver's watch to conform to the ISO 200m standard. The dial trim ring—which was created in conjunction with Tripadvisor, the world's largest user-generated travel platform—features the world's top 8 dive sites. Fitted with all the functions that a world-travelling diver needs, this model was enthusiastically received by the dive community and the broader public.
Going Deeper.
Making history
What should a watch designed for sea lovers and diving enthusiasts offer? Greater safety in the depths of the sea. Consistent reliability independent of time or place through Eco-Drive and GPS functionality. Built-in respect for the marine environment. Whether in terms of safety, toughness, water resistance, visibility or wearability, in future CITIZEN will keep on creating new and exciting diver's watches worthy of a place in diver's watch history.
Some featured models are no longer in production or are unavailable outside Japan.