In-Depth The Citizen Aqualand: Birth Of A Legend, End Of An Era
Everything after it was mere wrist candy.
Τhe year 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of Citizen’s Promaster line, a series of watches that have become well known as true tool watches, often recommended to those looking for a "beater" or a "travel watch" due to their ruggedness, functionality and affordability. Those watches, built for air, sea, and land, have had familiar names like Altichron, Nighthawk, and Aqualand, as well as numerous variations of dive watches, from automatics to quartz, to solar charged Eco-Drive. But four years before Promaster became an official name in the Citizen lineup, the first generation Aqualand was a dive watch that broke new ground while, ironically, foretelling the end of an era – that of the true diver’s watch.
The Aqualand's pièce de résistance: the electronic depth sensor.
That first Aqualand, reference C0023, debuted at the beginning of 1985 and was the first watch to incorporate an electronic, digital depth gauge. To be clear, depth gauge watches were not new by that time. Favre-Leuba and Aquadive had them in the early '70s, and crude, unreliable digital dive computers existed as far back as the 1960s. But in a wearable traditionally-styled watch, this added functionality was revolutionary.
Few things say "tool watch" like a strap printed with no-deco limits.
The 1980s were a transitional period, not only in watches but in diving as well. The days of a diver wearing a mechanical analog wristwatch to track dive times, paired with old school no-decompression tables, were coming to an end, as watch technology and diving science looked ahead. The Citizen Aqualand bridged this era. With a dynamically updating, precise depth gauge, dive timer, and the no-deco limits printed right on the rubber strap, this was a complete package with which a diver could safely carry out a dive, with all the tools necessary to limit overexposure to nitrogen and the dreaded bends. Additionally, the Aqualand stored the dive data, so maximum depth and dive time could be reviewed and logged when back on the surface.
Around the same time the Aqualand debuted, the digital dive computer was surfacing, a tool that would ultimately spell the death of the dive watch as a necessary instrument. In 1983, the Orca Edge was introduced as the first reliable, reasonably affordable dive computer. Then, in 1986, Suunto released the first of its long line of computers, followed by a Swiss brand, UWATEC. These tools swept away the comparatively primitive dive watch, with their ability to dynamically update no-deco times during a dive, log many hours of bottom time, and introduce underwater alarms for rapid ascents, depth limits, and decompression stops.
The last true diver's watch.
While dive computers gained momentum and reputation, the Aqualand became, in effect, the last dive watch built for, and bought by, real divers who needed a tool for timing dives. Sure, Seikos, Rolexes, or Omegas would go on to be used by divers, as either a backup timer or simply a Luddite’s preference, but the great majority of divers quickly adopted the dive computer due to its superior functionality. For the record, I always wear an analog dive watch on the wrist opposite a dive computer, and it serves other functions such as timing swim distances, deco stops, and surface intervals. And in this regard, the Aqualand still is superior as a backup, since it provides a second source of depth data should a dive computer go blank – something that has happened to me on two occasions.
A friend of the author: a Great Lakes wreck diver, in the early 1990s with his Aqualand strapped to his console.
Of course, most watch enthusiasts sniff at quartz watches these days, but I would contend that the original Citizen Aqualand is now a collectible watch, a significant milestone of dive timing history whose depth gauge and other functions, rivals the uni-directional bezel or the helium release valve in historical importance. And I’d say it has stood the test of time well. Despite the bulbous depth sensor appendage on the left flank, the watch retains a rather classic dive watch look, with its matte steel case, bright hands, 60-minute hashed timing ring, and beautifully knurled crown and bezel edge. The original 24mm vented rubber strap screams “tool watch” thanks to the now iconic No Deco Limit markings. It’s still one of the most distinctive and recognizable dive watches from a distance, and one of the few you still see on wrists of divers headed out on a morning wreck dive charter.
Citizen produced the C0023 Aqualand into the 1990s, in both steel and gold-accented versions. There was also a rare version with a blacked-out case, made somewhat famous on the wrist of Jean Reno’s character in the French diving movie, Le Grand Bleu. The watch, while rugged and useful, also was known for chewing through batteries, especially when used for diving regularly. This was somewhat problematic due to the fact that it used three batteries behind an oblong caseback held tight by six tiny screws. This was no problem for a watchmaker, but for a diver who tried his hand at home, getting a good seal, or not losing a screw, was a challenge.
Behind the caseback: three batteries.
In the early '90s, Citizen updated the Aqualand with the ref. JP2000. It looked almost identical, but was improved with the added functionality of dive alarms for max depth and rapid ascent, plus memory for more logged dives. It also went to a screw-on round caseback and a single battery. If you’re seeking the look of the original Aqualand, the JP2000 is the one to look for nowadays, unless you’re a hardcore collector or purist.
I happen to own an Aqualand C0023 that, judging from its serial number, was built in January of 1985, making it one of the earliest examples. I had it fully serviced and have taken it diving everywhere from the Maldives to the Florida Keys to the Caribbean. It remains a faithful companion underwater, nostalgic but more useful than all the other retro divers I strap on, more for the novelty than as a tool.
The author with his old Aqualand, reef combing in Bonaire.
Call me a wild-eyed zealot screaming into the wind, but I place the original Citizen Aqualand in the pantheon of great dive watches, alongside the first Fifty Fathoms, the Rolex Submariner, and the Doxa SUB 300. When one looks at the arc of development of this most beloved genre of sports watch, it all began in 1953 and reached its culmination in 1985. Everything after that is mere wrist candy.
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Ένα πολύ ωραίο άρθρο για το θρυλικό Citizen Aqualand, αξίζει να το διαβάσετε
