Introducing The Citizen 40th Anniversary Aqualand Limited Edition

The dive watch is obsolete, and has been for many years – that is, it’s obsolete as a primary instrument for recreational and professional divers, both of whom rely on digital dive computers. However, dive watches have gone on to have a very robust second life as backups to digital dive computers, and also as robust daily d(r)ivers which continue to appeal on the strength of their tough guy, no-nonsense vibe. There is one watch which was introduced right at the cusp of the transition from dive watches as necessary instruments for diving, and the eventual replacement of the dive watch by the dive computer, and that’s the Citizen Aqualand, which debuted in 1985 at the beginning of the dive computer era. The Aqualand was a multifunction analog-digital quartz watch that featured a first for dive watches: an electronic depth gauge.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Aqualand, Citizen’s just announced the Aqualand 40th Anniversary Limited Edition, which is an almost exact duplicate of the original model, including the electronic depth gauge, four pushers (each labeled on the case) and analog-digital display. The first Citizen Aqualand, ref. C0023, showed the depth, and also had a depth alarm for a preset depth, a function for recording the maximum depth, a dive time alarm, and had the ability to record the depth of a dive overall. The original ads for the Aqualand called it a “dive robot” and in 1985 when the watch was announced, it must indeed have seemed like science fiction (it did to me, I was living in New York after having graduated from college the year before and I thought the Aqualand was the coolest watch in existence, along with the Casio G-Shock, which had launched just two years before, in 1983).

The Aqualand would go on to stay in production for a surprisingly long time, with several technical updates along the way and until fairly recently, ref. JP2000-08E was still in the catalog, and virtually indistinguishable from its distinguished ancestor. The 40th Anniversary model shows the time, date, and has a daily alarm and 1/100/second chronograph, and also has that distinctive, bulbous housing for the depth gauge on the left side of the case that makes the Aqualand one of the world’s most instantly recognizable dive watches. Diving functions include depth measurement, dive time tracking, and an ascent rate alarm. The strap  is made of a plant-based polyurethane called BENEBiOL (produced by Mitsubishi, if you’re interested in the granular details).

The aesthetics of the Anniversary model are quite close to the original, which was produced from the outside in different models, including one with gold accents. One thing you’ll notice is not present, is the no-decompression table printed on the strap of the original Aqualands – this was a table which aided in dive planning by showing how long you could spend at given depths without having to do decompression stops. These tables are no longer used for dive planning, as for practical purposes they have been superseded by dive computers, but the no-deco table was such a distinctive feature that I wish Citizen had kept it for the 40th Anniversary edition. There are practical arguments against including something which is no longer strictly technically accurate, but I suspect anyone diving with the Aqualand is probably not going to be using an old-school no-deco table for setting up a dive plan anyway.

If you’d like to read a take on the Aqualand, written by probably the most famous diver who’s also a serious watch expert, you can’t do better than Jason Heaton’s story, “The Citizen Aqualand: Birth Of A Legend, End Of An Era.” He makes a very convincing argument for regarding the Aqualand as one of the great dive watches of all time, right up there along with the Blancpain 50 Fathoms and the Rolex Submariner, and with the Anniversary edition, you get a chance to have a wonderfully quirky and undeniably purpose-driven piece of real horological history.

The Citizen Aqualand 40th Anniversary Limited Edition, ref. JP2008-06E: Case, 50.7mm at widest point (including the depth sensor) x 14.8mm thick, stainless steel with grey matte finishing and yellow gold plating; water resistance, 200 meters. Movement, Citizen caliber C520, accurate to ±20 seconds/month, with date, time, 1/100/second chronograph, depth sensor and diving functions. Limited edition of 5800 pieces worldwide; price, $595. Available in July; find out more at Citizenwatch.com.