For the casual observer, vintage dive watch can look quite similar, save for the brand name printed on their dials. However, for watch enthusiasts, the joy is in the details and no detail is too small to appreciate. Whether it is bull horn lugs or one “Rice” bracelet, the right evolution — no matter how obscure — can be the difference between an everyday watch and a wristwatch cup can certify. Citizen’s new Promaster Dive Automatic watch has everything you’d expect to find in a legendary diver, from the rotating bezel to the tapered arrow hands, plus a range of color combinations from black-on -Black to two-tone yellow. But its “destructive” winding crown has put it on the list of the most coveted watches on the planet.
Destro watches have been around for decades (Charlie Chaplin is a fan) and were originally designed so that left-handed people could wind their watches as easily as right-handers. Unlike the shirts that say “I May Be Left-Handed But I’m Always Right”, however, coats have recently outgrown their usefulness to the southpaw community to become the hunted. many in their own right, even if collectors don’t use specialized scissors. Panerai’s left-handed Luminor is a versatile one among those known, as is Tudor’s Pelagos LHD, a left-handed version of their titanium-cased pro divers. And of course, there’s the star of this Rolex line of the year, the new GMT-Master II is for left-handed people. What’s the Promaster’s main difference from those Swiss mugs (apart from the thousands of dollars cheaper price tag)? An offset winding crown is at eight o’clock instead of the usual nine, an even more unusual detail that makes it easy to wear on either wrist. And that is to say nothing of its other important feature: an automatic movement.
As a budget-friendly dive watch in a best-selling lineup like Seiko Prospex and Casio Duro, the Citizen Promaster has been a staple of the sub-$1,000 watch world for decades. Previous versions of the Promaster pretty much everything you could want in an everyday sport watch except for one thing: a mechanical powertrain. Until now. Powered by a Japanese automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve, the Promaster is officially among the best on the market — no matter what wrist you choose to wear it on.
