Citizen’s affordable dive watch icon gets a sporty, versatile update

If you’re looking for a classic, no-frills diver with reliability and affordability as your priorities, the Citizen Promaster Dive is your watch.

Confusingly, there are a few distinct models under that name, but the Reference BN026x line, introduced in 2025, is where I would steer you. It offers tried-and-true 1960s design language in a 41mm stainless steel case, and is now available on a tropical rubber strap.

Citizen’s Promaster Sea collection can get a bit funky (see: the “Ecozilla”), but the Promaster Dive reference BN026x line aggregates the most appealing visual details from fan-favorites like the “Fugu” and “Fujitsubo.” The hour markers, handset, bezel and case are all understated and retro in the best way.

Whether you’re SCUBA diving, relaxing in a pool or sticking to dry land, it does everything you could ask for in an affordable diver. The legibility is pristine, it has 200m water resistance and it is powered by a set-it-and-forget-it Eco-Drive movement.

The hands, hour markers, and bezel pip are enhanced with Citizen’s in-house lume, and the dial is protected by a flat sapphire crystal with AR coating.

The fluted stainless steel bezel frame holds an aluminum insert with a 60-minute track, featuring a fully graduated 20-minute segment and a proper pip.

Band on the run

At this point, Citizen fans have likely noticed that none of this is new. The new part is the tropical pin buckle strap offered as an alternative to the three-link steel bracelet found on the three debut references last summer.

While it sports the customary perforation, this tropical strap is made from BENEBiOL, a plant-based urethane. The material is corrosion-resistant and avoids the stink that traditional rubber straps acquire after extended use.

It is available in blue on the blue dial and black on the black dial.

In black and white

Debuting alongside the new strap is a completely new color scheme, the Promaster Dive BN0265. A black bezel frames a pearly white dial with matte black frames around the off-white hour markers, hour hand and minute hand.

The seconds hand is entirely orange, except for the lollipop lume, and the tropical strap is olive green. It is a decidedly sportier motif than the gold-tone case and green dial from the debut lineup.

A small movement

There is one other small tweak buried in this new lineup, although it is almost irrelevant. The new strap references run on a different Eco-Drive movement than the bracelet references, replacing the Caliber E168 with the E1118.

Both Eco-Drive movements are quartz movements with an accuracy of +/- 15 seconds per month and a date complication. Any light source will charge them, and they can run for a full year in the dark.

The only discernible difference is that the new references have a listed case size of 40.6mm, compared to 41mm on last year’s references. So it appears that Citizen cut off less than half a millimeter with the movement update.

Availability and pricing

The new BENEBiOL tropical straps and white dial Promaster Dive references have already hit the market in Japan and will be available in America in late July for $450.

Unfortunately for American customers, there is a fourth reference exclusive to Japan with a black dial complemented by an orange bezel and strap. Of course, the Japanese saved the best color scheme for themselves.