At a Crossroads of Time and Tide: Honouring Four Decades of the Revolutionary Citizen Aqualand

Luxury timepieces oft signify symbols of prestige, elegance, and sophistication. However, in the world of professional diving, they represent a critical harmony of purpose and reliability. This juxtaposition is beautifully exemplified through the tale of the Citizen Aqualand, an admired icon in the realm of dive watches. The dawn of divers in the 1950s witnessed two brands announcing their eminent dominance on the scene - Rolex and Blancpain. Their pioneering dive watches, the Rolex Submariner and the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, were robust state-of-the-art pieces, permitting depths of up to 100 metres. Fast forward to 1985. The Citizen Aqualand enters the scene, the first quartz watch boasting an electronic digital depth gauge, successfully merging high-end technology with the eyewash of a traditional analog layout. Even amidst today’s technological renaissance, the Citizen Aqualand remains a favored wrist adornment for divers, making it a compelling voyage to delve into its revered history.

SCUBA diving (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), a strategic evolution from Jacques Cousteau and Émile Gagnan’s Aqua-Lung, necessitated the use of dive watches. These watches needed to withstand considerable water pressure, up to 100 metres, as it was essential for divers to track available air underwater. An alarming depth drop of merely 10 metres could generate enough pressure to induce decompression sickness, the dreaded ‘bends.’

The onset of the Citizen Aqualand was significant. It replaced the conventional duo of an old-school dive watch and a cumbersome, costly depth gauge. Armed with an accurate digital depth gauge alongside the familiarity of an analog dive watch, the Citizen Aqualand emerged as a paradigm shift in the industry. This unique blend of technology and tradition is a testament to the Citizen Aqualand’s illustrious past and the integral role it continues to play in the realm of professional diving.