CITIZEN PROMASTER Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m, Ref. BN7020-09E: The World’s First Light-Powered Watch for 1,000m Saturation Diving

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The Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m by CITIZEN is an ISO compliant diver’s watch that can performs even in saturation diving environment. The escape valve set at 10o’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.

The bezel of the PROMASTER is made 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 is coated in luminous material and tested a range of colours before selecting the most visible ones. The luminous materials used for this model has 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 colour is appeared to warn the user. The crown also has a same mechanism, revealing an orange colour 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 3 minutes after high-speed decompression. The pressure is an unimaginable 125 barometer which demands high durability and water resistance function. This is a world’s first as a light powered watch.

CITZEN’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 metres depth, we 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, we 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 metres of water pressure.

The Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m takes its design inspiration from the shape and structure of a turbine 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 water tight fit to 1000 metres.

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.

Technical details
Model: PROMASTER Eco-Drive Professional Diver 1000m
Ref: BN7020-09E
Launch: Summer 2017

Case
Super Titanium (Duratect DLC + MRK + TIC) / Polyurethane
Crystal: Sapphire Crystal (Anti-reflective coating)
Size: diameter 52.5mm / thickness 21.4mm

Dial
Colour : Black

Movement  
Cal.J210 / Accuracy of ±15 seconds per month / Eco-Drive / Runs for about 1.5 years on full charge / Unidirection bezel / Bezel lock mechanism / Calendar /Power reserve indicator / 1000m water resistance (saturation diving) / Luminous (hands, index, bezel at 12 o’clock)

Other
Band extension