Steeped in rich historical origins, Citizen Watch Company dates to 1924 when the Shokosha Watch Research Institute produced its first pocket watch, aptly named the "CITIZEN". Then-mayor of Tokyo, Mr. Shimpei Goto, named the watch "CITIZEN" with the hope that it, a luxury item in those days, would become widely available to ordinary citizens and be sold throughout the world. The rest is, as they say, history.

Citizen has since evolved into one of the most widely available and popular affordable watch brands, whose innovative Eco-Drive technology harnesses natural and artificial light to power their Eco-Drive timepiece line. The Citizen Aqualand line, which launched in 1985, was the world’s first watch to incorporate an electronic, digital depth gauge, making for a dive watch unparalleled in its utility and sophistication.

The particular Citizen we have here is an Aqualand Promaster Reference C028-088077 - as seen on the wrist of French actor Jean Reno in the 1998 diving film Le Grand Bleu. Housed in a 43mm titanium and rubber case with a helium escape valve, a sapphire crystal, an unsigned titanium crown, titanium pushers, and a unidirectional, dive timing bezel, it features a luminous matte black dial with gold-tone accents, a matching Aqualand handset, and a digital, multi-function LED readout at 12:00. 

In excellent condition and powered by a quartz movement, it comes paired to a black rubber strap with ‘no deco’ limits diving strap with gold-plated titanium hardware. It even includes its original Aqualand ‘scuba tank’ packaging and hangtag!

Of course, we love ourselves a good, ol’-fashioned mechanical dive watch here at Analog:Shift, but the Aqualand is part of dive watch history, beloved by professionals for its purpose-built design and no-nonsense aesthetic. 

And what could be cooler than that?