In today’s market, new dive watch releases look less like something you would take down 100m below the surface than they do dress watches with aqueous-sounding names across the dials. Citizen’s Promaster Ecozilla debuted in 2004, applying the brand’s proprietary Eco-Drive quartz movement to a new diver model. It was solar-powered, ridiculously bulky, and had a diameter of 48mm. It’s also one of the most diver-looking dive watches ever.
The Japanese brand has a long history of unveiling some of the most capable divers around, with certain models able to go well over 1,000m underwater. Built on the aesthetic of the 55mm Autozilla, the Ecozilla was relatively “modest”: water resistant to 300m and with a smaller 48mm case. With its latest release, Citizen has revived the Ecozilla in two variants.
Both revisiting the same 48mm stainless steel case with 300m of depth capability, the new timepieces have a refreshing old-school aesthetic. Decidedly blurring the line between a military field watch and a diver, the version with the green strap and matching dial features a black stainless steel bezel with an oversized scale. On the other hand, the yellow strap version, while boasting the same exact specs, taps into the fun mid-’00s style of the original, complemented with a blue dial and stainless steel bezel.
Each one coming with a scuba tank-inspired box, the new Promaster Ecozilla runs on a quartz movement that uses power from the sun so that it virtually lasts forever without needing a new battery. They’re both available from Citizen’s website starting at $595.
