Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic ‘Fugu’ Review: Why an Affordable Dive Watch Is Sometimes the Best

On a weathered dive boat where beat-up old oxygen tanks are knocked around among other unsentimental gear, you don’t need a refined or preposterously overbuilt luxury dive watch. Something simple, affordable, reliable and rugged is more than sufficient. In fact, I’d argue it even helps you enjoy the experience in a more genuine way.

Citizen’s most representative dive watch is exactly that — and there’s a reason it’s got street cred with divers and is among our first recommendations for affordable automatic dive watches. On boats, underwater and in more quotidian conditions, here’s what I found while wearing the classic Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic, also known as the “Fugu.”

KRISTIN PATERAKIS

Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic “Fugu”: What We Think

I’m a little biased. This Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic is the watch I wore most during my SCUBA certification training and very first dives. That’s something you don’t forget, and this humble little watch elicits some of that excitement as I wear it around in daily life and pen this review.

But objectively speaking, whether you’re in the market for a watch to actually take diving or simply for a landlubber’s dive watch experience, it’s hard to beat for the price. With an MSRP of $550 and a discounted street price on the likes of Amazon or even Citizen’s own site for considerably less, this should be near the top of any affordable automatic dive watch list.

promaster dive

Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic “Fugu”

• $412.50 at citizenwatch.com
  $440.00 (6% off)

• Diameter: 44mm
• Thickness: 13.2mm
• Movement: Miyota 8204 automatic
• Water Resistance: 200m

It’s highly capable for actual diving

Here’s what I noticed about the Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic watch when actually taking it diving. It’s nice to focus on safety and the myriad variables involved in diving and not worry about your watch’s reliability or damaging some expensive heirloom. This is a big part of the watch’s character and appeal.

Artisan Assets

Functionally, it’s solid and practical. I did in fact use it in the old-fashioned way, alongside a depth gauge and without a dive computer. Just before deflating my BCD and descending, I’d turn the bezel to record my dive time. It turns almost as easily with wet hands as it does when dry but with extremely solid action and reassuring clicks (a total of 120 of them around the dial). I also used the watch to time decompression stops on the way up.

I was fortunate enough to be diving in the clear, blue waters of the Bahamas with pretty good visibility, but the dial and hands were perfectly legible at all times — save for at extreme angles, at which the crystal turns into a mirror, but this is true for any watch underwater. Flat crystals as featured on the Fugu perform better than domed ones, however, remaining legible at greater angles.

Citizen has real dive-watch cred

This is where we talk about Citizen’s history of dive watches and that of the “Fugu” itself. The water-resistant Para Water of 1959; the then-record-setting 1,300m-rated titanium saturation diver’s watch of 1982; the legendary Aqualand of 1985 with its electronic, digital depth gauge — these are all part of what’s made Citizen a name you’ll find on the wrists of OG salty dogs who actually make their living at sea.

Zen Love

The modern Citizen Promaster Dive is a family of models where different features and designs aren’t distinguished with collection names. Just as with Seiko, nicknames are helpful, and the most emblematic design of the collection is that of the “Fugu.” The word means puffer fish in Japanese, and the brand says that this is where inspiration for the serrated bezel came from (I’m skeptical about this, but don’t mind my general cynicism).

The Fugu design dates to 1993 and the model known as NY004. It’s informed a number of models since and come to represent the Promaster’s broader collection of dive watches. While similar watches are available in different colors and sizes, as well as with light-charging Eco-Drive quartz movements, it’s only the automatic versions with left-handed crowns that call directly back to the original model and which now feature a puffer fish design on their casebacks.

It’s a hell of a value

People tend to fall in love with ultra-affordable Japanese dive watches. It’s a known phenomenon. These watches might at first seem “basic,” but then go on to far outperform expectations and end up getting a lot of wear simply because they can go anywhere. In the end, though, one grows attached to them as they accompany you through memorable adventures and help you realize that you never needed a fancy dive watch in the first place. The Fugu is one of those watches.

Zen Love

And, though near the absolute entry point for automatic dive watches, modern models like the Fugu aren’t as basic as you might think. Scratch-resistant sapphire crystal is definitely a premium feature of the Fugu. The movement is from the same Miyota 8000 family that you’ll find powering the most dirt-cheap Timexes but, like Seiko’s entry-level movements, these have been upgraded in recent years to include hand-winding and hacking, as well as overall improvements — and it’s been completely reliable in my testing.

From its overall construction to its comfortable polyurethane (a kind of plastic) strap which feels a lot like rubber, it’s hard to find anything to complain about for the price. The only issue I’ve found with the Citizen Fugu is that its crown screws in so tightly that it can be difficult to unscrew when you need to set the time — and doing so with my left hand took a little practice.

Photo by Zen Love for Gear Patrol

44mm isn’t as big as it sounds

For some time, mechanical versions of these dive watches were absent from Citizen’s modern collection. I was excited when, in 2019, there was news of new such models and they were perfectly sized, I thought at the time, at 42mm. Alas, they were specifically for the European market and never made their way Stateside. Then, I perked up again when USA versions arrived in 2023, only to be disappointed to learn they were 44mm for supersize-loving Americans.

That judgment was premature, but I assume many watch lovers will have a similar reaction when they skip right to reading the specs. Today, smaller sizes are en vogue, and everyone gets all excited about 38mm dive watches. Those can be cool, too, but I don’t think I’d want the Promaster Dive in any other size. With short lugs, a rugged attitude, great legibility and a comfortable rubber strap, I love the way it wears on my slim 6.5-inch (17cm) wrist.

It’s got an interesting design

While affordable, rugged watches like this are often called “beaters” and spoken about in the context of diving or other outdoor activities, they can also be the kind of watch you want to wear in everyday casual situations. I, for one, love the offbeat look of such watches, and nobody does this as well as Citizen and Seiko. They have a genuine and sporty vibe that makes me actually want to see mine get more scratched and banged up than it currently is in its relatively pristine state.

That said, its design isn’t as versatile as some. There are dive watches you can get away with in relatively formal circumstances, but you can only dress up a watch so much when it’s got an asymmetric 8 o’clock crown, a funky bezel with alternating serrated sections and a case with some very ’80s-’90s-looking curves. There are currently around 11 variants for the Automatic Fugu, and some of them are sportier than others — but none is going to go easily with a suit.

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Citizen Promaster Dive Automatic “Fugu”: Alternatives

The Citizen Promaster Dive is among the most affordable automatic dive watches you can buy (or, at least, that you’d actually want to). But it’s not alone. There are dive watches under $500, and even some automatic options, but you’re mostly going to be looking at Citizen’s fellow Japanese watchmakers (though, the Dan Henry 1970 is a decent option).

For watches comparable to the Citizen Fugu, it’s important to talk about “street price” rather than just MSRP, as many are available on the likes of Amazon, Macy’s and elsewhere at discounts. At time of writing prices for the Fugu Automatic can be as low as around $300-$350 on Amazon.

Seiko is the obvious competitor in this range. The brand’s dive watches at the entry point of its Prospex collection offer a similar level of basic automatic movement and comparable specs. They’re also highly capable divers and tend to offer some of the sporty/funky character of the Fugu. Seiko models like the Turtle, however, tend to be ever so slightly more expensive (while lacking sapphire crystal). Just dig the look and don’t need 200m of water resistance? Check out the awesome value of Seiko 5 Sports watches based on the legendary SKX dive watch.

Orient (part of the Seiko Group) kind of wins the price game for its bafflingly affordable automatic dive watches. We’re talking watches under $200, and even under $150, with 200m of water resistance and automatic movements featuring hacking and hand-winding. There are a number of Orient dive watches available featuring relatively traditional looks as well as those with the off-center 4 o’clock crown often associated with Citizen and Seiko.

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