Press the yellow pusher and you activate the digital compass. It works as expected, and for navigation purposes there is a rotating inner bezel ring operated on one of the left-side crowns. If you feel as though there is a lot going on around the dial, then you are right. Nevertheless, thanks to friendly bright colors and legible hands, the overall design draws you in. I can’t help but feel like Citizen is trying to somewhat emulate a case and strap aesthetic popularized by Suunto. The Japanese brands have looked jealously at the success of the Finnish watchmaker, which is ironic because much of the time the Japanese watches are just as good or better. Suunto did however tread new ground in design and user experience which stimulated the Japanese to up their game a little bit.
After studying the watch a bit more I am beginning to agree with myself that the Altichron is in fact a diver as well as a climber’s watch. The dial clearly has fine readings for negative versus positive altitude readings, and Citizen’s own materials use the term “depth,”. That sounds like a diving watch to me (it isn’t a diving watch). But aesthetically it doesn’t hurt that the Promaster Altichron looks like a modern dive watch in terms of the case and strap. When reading the depth or altitude the orange hand is used for larger increments while an upper hand is used for more precise increments. You didn’t think all those numbers were there for show did you?
Despite the almost 50mm case size, the Promaster Eco-Drive Altichron is a comfortable watch thanks to the tightly integrated rubber strap (which looks good with those horizontal grooves). You can tell how Citizen will offer the watch in both naked and dark gray-toned titanium which is given a sort of sand-blasted finish. Fit and finish are great, and despite the limitations of being all analog (more or less meaning you can’t read it as fast or easily as digital), this is a very cool watch with a good personality and a lot of promise.
With an all-titanium case and detailing toward the top of Citizen’s range, the Promaster Eco-Drive Altichron will not be cheap. It won’t be insanely priced, but it is among the high-end Promaster models. The reference numbers for the three metric models are the Altichron BN4021-02E (naked titanium), BN4026-09E (dark gray with yellow bezel), BN4026-09F (dark gray with orange bezel, and the standard measurement models are the BN5031-03E, BN5036-00E, and the BN5036-00F. Look for them starting in September of 2013. Price is $850. citizenwatch.com
