BORELLI CONSULTING: Recreational Equipment Reviews

Citizen ProMaster 200M Dive Watch
By: Frank Borelli, 3 October 2005

"Two is one; one is none" is a phrase often heard voiced by people who train those folks who operate in dangerous environments. The reason for that is because when you work in hazardous environments you really don't want to put all your faith in one piece of equipment. If it fails either you're in trouble or your mission fails. Scuba diving, as much as it's a recreational activity, does carry some level of risk. People sometimes drown. People sometimes get decompression sickness. You have to be careful about your depth and time under water so as to avoid potentially dangerous mistakes.

To do that most recreational divers use a depth gauge and a bottom timer. In today's world they are most often combined into a Dive Computer. On my console I have a depth gauge, pressure gauge, and compass. On my right wrist I wear a dive computer that tells me depth and bottom time (time since I went under water) and time remaining before I have to worry about decompression. On my left wrist I wear my backup: a Citizen ProMaster 200M Dive Watch that shows me elapsed time and depth in 2.5 foot increments. Two is one; one is none.

Shown on a kelp forest background, the distinctive orange face of the Citizen Promaster 200M Dive Watch is unmistakable. Large easy to see hands and a uni-directional rotating bezel make keeping track of "down time" easier.

The Citizen ProMaster 200M Dive Watch, Model #GN-4-S - shown with an orange face - is the workhorse of the Citizen line and the basis for many of their newer watches. The one shown is approximately three years old and has seen plenty of use / abuse. The watch face measures 31mm across while the watch's total width (from depth sensor to crown edge) is 50mm. The watch body is 7mm thick. The face features a date window (which you have to adjust during months that have less than 31 days), an analog display for time (it uses hands), and an analog display for depth.

The same orange hand that indicates your depth when you're diving also serves as a stopwatch hand. When combined with the top and bottom most black faces, the stop watch measures minutes, seconds and tenths of seconds. The only reason you can't use the stopwatch to track your bottom time when diving is because you need that same hand to measure your depth. Switching the watch back and forth between "normal", "Stopwatch" and "Diving" mode is easy. It's a simple matter of pushing the bottom button once quickly or holding it for three seconds (to get into Diving mode). Once in Diving mode, the orange hand will track your depth in 2.5 foot increments down to 130 feet which is the recommended maximum depth limit for recreational diving. So, if you're between 8.75' and 11.25' it will show a depth of 10 feet. Further, it will remember your maximum depth for your last dive. By pushing the top button once the orange hand will click over to your last maximum depth. Mine shows 27.5' - which matches my dive computer's memory of 28' for my last dive.

The left side black face shows 24-hour time. In the picture above you can see that it's ten minutes to two, or 1350 hours. The small left side black face shows 1400. It's obvious that it's not ten after, so it must be ten of. Easy enough?

As I said above, I've had this watch for about three years. In that time I've enjoyed about thirty dives (give or take a few). The watch has been with me on all of them as well as being on my wrist for everything else from yard work to boating. Most recently it was on my wrist for my two week stint in New Orleans. It's proven itself to be relatively shock-resistant as I have a bad habit of banging my wrist on doorways, etc. Although I always find fingerprints and smudges on the crystal, I can't find a single scratch. In that three year time frame, except for changes necessitated by Daylight Savings, I've never had to adjust the time. As far as I can tell, it keeps time within just a couple seconds each month.

My original purchase price for this watch was just under $250. I've just searched the internet for online pricing for this watch - or comparable models - and I've found them as low as $180 brand new. The orange face may not be to your liking, but they're available in black and (rarely) in yellow as well. When you need to be positive about how deep you are and how long you've been there, this watch is an exceptional back up tool.

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Also, don't forget to read the Tactical Equipment Evaluations:

BlackHawk CQC SERPA Tactical Holster-----3 October 2005
Plus others!!!

Check out this week's Highlighted Training Article about the applicability of competition style training for combat shooters.

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