The Cool and Accessible Citizen Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m “Fujitsubo”

Lightweight, extremely comfortable, good-looking, and a genuine performance bargain. And a watch with a rather cool backstory too. Citizen is surely known for its accessible watches with superb quality/price ratio, and the brand’s latest creation in the field of dive watches isn’t going to change this, at all. Today, we take the Citizen Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m NB6021-17E, also known as the Fujitsubo, for a spin, with our latest video review. And we tell you all about this cool 1970s-inspired diver.

Most might consider Titanium to be a very modern material, but it has been used in watchmaking for over half a century. Surprisingly, it’s Citizen that pioneered the first commercially-available titanium wristwatch. Although available in very limited quantities, Citizen’s X-8 Chronometer from 1970 paved the way for many others to come. Titanium has the unique property of being resistant to rust, hypoallergenic and extremely strong. And above all, it’s much lighter than conventional stainless steel. Thus, it makes an ideal material for watches for multiple reasons. Ever since Citizen’s first experiments, the company has perfected the process of machining titanium. By the year 2000, Citizen developed the Duratect surface hardening treatment, making titanium far less prone to scratches.

The culmination of Citizen’s expertise with this material is something called Super Titanium. This combines the brand’s titanium processing technology, with the Duratect treatment. One of the latest watches with this proprietary material is Citizen we have before us today. And it comes with a fascinating backstory!

Back in 1983, a Citizen Challenge Diver from 1977 was recovered from an Australian beach. Covered in barnacles, the watch miraculously was in running condition! The mechanical movement had survived years of being in water and dirt, protected by its case. That very watch served as the inspiration for this modern-day titanium diver.

 The design of the Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m Fujitsubo is nothing really spectacular, as it shows the typical design elements of classical dive watches. The Super-Titanium case is classic too, at 41mm in diameter and 12.3mm in height. The matte grey tone is the natural look of Super-Titanium. The bezel on top is polished, and fitted with a gloss-black insert. Manipulating it is greeted with a smooth and resounding feedback. The bevelled sapphire crystal on top protects the dial, while the closed caseback does the same for the movement. With 200 meters of water-resistance, it is quite a respectable diver indeed.

As a vertically integrated manufacturer, Citizen produces its movements in-house. The Calibre 9051 inside this Promaster runs at a frequency of 4Hz and offers a power reserve of 42 hours. It’s reassuring to know the movement is anti-magnetic to 200 Gauss as close as 1cm away. It could do with a bit more precision though, as it is indicated to run within -10 to +20 seconds of deviation per day.

Citizen offers two variations of the Promaster Fujitsubo. One in titanium and black (reference NB6021-17E), worn on a black polyurethane strap with a titanium pin buckle. And the other with a deep blue dial and bezel (reference NB6021-68L), and a three-link Super-Titanium bracelet with a folding clasp. While we only had the black version in hour hands, we believe both will feel great on the wrist. The fit and finish are very good, and thanks to the lightweight titanium construction it doesn’t weigh you down one bit. It retails for about EUR 650 in black and polyurethane strap, and about EUR 750 in blue and titanium bracelet.

Although some comments could be made about the movement’s precision, we genuinely feel this is quite the performance bargain. Whichever way you look at it, it’s hard to ignore the rock-solid proposition this Citizen offers. The Promaster Fujitsubo looks good, feels fantastic on the wrist and backs it up with very decent specs at a very reasonable price.

For more details, please visit Citizen’s global website.

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