Citizen revealed a slew of new releases this week, including a lovely trio of The Citizen models with some seriously good dials. More on those coming soon. Among the new watches we were happy to find a new PROMASTER Diver with a mechanical movement, and looks taken from the classic ?70s Challenge Diver. The watch aims to a similar tack as the Seiko SPB143 range, recalling a classic mechanical diver from another era, and at a glance, it looks to be pulling it off. Citizen has their own considerable heritage from which to draw inspiration, and does so in rather unique fashion with this latest diver. 

Within the Citizen archive, there is a story of a recovered Challenge Diver produced in 1977. The watch was discovered in 1983 near Long Reef Beach in Australia, and was covered in barnacles, having clearly been submerged for a number of years (no greater than 6, I presume). Upon inspection, the movement was still ticking away on the inside, seals clearly still intact. It is this very watch that served as the starting point for the new PROMASTER Diver we see today. And that?s a good thing, because it?s a great looking diver.
The recovered Challenge Diver

The new PROMASTER Diver ditches the Eco-Drive we?re used to seeing from Citizen in favor of their 9051 caliber, a movement we saw in the Series 8 released last year. Citizen have added anti-magnetic components around the balance spring (no specifics on exactly what), to maintain performance even when ?placed 1 centim...