Italian Navy Frogmen and Deep Divers watches

[hoppyjr]

Cool stuff, thanks.

[serdal22]

Dear Aurevoir, Seiko and Citizen, indeed are very conservative when it comes to their accuracies and WR rates.

And yes, you can count on these fantastic brands...

Serdal

[alund]

Interesting post and nice info...

[Aurevoir Gopher]

Dear Aurevoir, Seiko and Citizen, indeed are very conservative when it comes to their accuracies and WR rates.

And yes, you can count on these fantastic brands...

Serdal

Thank you very much. I will wear my Citizen now with just a little more pride and swagger knowing it is more of a beast than it projects to be.

[Gatt]

Thank you all for reading my horrible english.

I have disassembled two Citizen NY0040 divers watches, one civilian and one Marina Militare.
They are identical. We know that, from the '70s, Marina Miltare watches have always been WR500 or more so we think they tested them and marked them again.

Moreover, the NY0040 is very similar to the Poseidon 500 and the Bund Professional 500M (issued to the German Navy frogmen). Probably they have been (and still are) manufactured/assembled by one of the many Citizen's (sub)contractors.

Despite the low cost, the NY0040, especially the old reference (the new one often have badly assembled bezels), are excellent divers watches. Moreover, Citizen has a good customer service in Italy, and this is one of the main reasons why watches have been choosen by Army's all over the world.

[93 Turbo]

Great write up Frederico, saw your opening post and apologies for not replying earlier. In Australia all we had were Seiko Tuna's on our attack boards in the mid 80's, these watches had no mil markings from what I can remember. J

[Aurevoir Gopher]

Gatt,

Thank you again for a great write up. Your English is better than 80% of the people walking around upstate New York. Seems schools have stopped teaching grammar and punctuation.

It is interesting that the Italian Navy took a perfectly good functioning watch, took it apart, painted the dial, stamped an M on the caseback and put it back together.

Tom

[Gatt]

Great write up Frederico, saw your opening post and apologies for not replying earlier. In Australia all we had were Seiko Tuna's on our attack boards in the mid 80's, these watches had no mil markings from what I can remember. J

Hi Jules, you have a PM.

[achilles]

Interesting article and a real eye-opener. Especially the Citizen Prodiver feautured. I have one in my collection for 5 years now that I alternate every now and then.
A solid and robust watch. Glad I bought it!

[Gatt]

Updated with new Squale/Breil 1000mt "C XXXX" engraved caseback and updated pictures.

[Mark020]

Very interesting. THANKS!!

[BBK357]

Great thread. Thanks for sharing

[Aurevoir Gopher]

Thanks to your write-up, I now own 5 of this model Citizen. Only one is marked on the back "Japan". Some have a stamped serial number on the back, some etched. With time I'll learn more about the idiosyncrasies between all these differences, like I did with the Seiko Divers.

I do find that I'm wearing the Citizen more than anything else. Something about the crown placement makes it incredibly comfortable during vigorous work activities as there is no such thing as "Crown Slam" on the back of my hand.

Another thing I observed is how the bezel on the Japan model is nice and smooth with no play and 120 click, similar to the Seiko SKX bezels, where the other Citizen Diver's I have are "sloppy" to a degree and only have 60 clicks. And, if you shake the watch, you hear less rattling in the Japan model than the others. The rotor sounds more solid.

My Japan model is blue dialed, and I also have a non-Japan blue dialed version. The blue on the Japan is lighter and more blue, where the other one is so dark, it looks black, but with the radiance of the blue dial as opposed to the solid gloss appearance of the black.

Interestingly, the Japan model weighs 2.75 oz and the non-Japan weighs 2.8 oz.

After having taken the blue dial/movement out of my non-Japan model and putting it into the head of a spare black non-Japan model, I now have a better appreciation of the quality of these watches. The case is quite thick, thicker than the Seiko, the movement holder is more solid and substantial, the crystal is quite thick. I can really see why the Italian Navy liked these watches.

Blue Japan Model


Blue dial/movement of non-Japan in spare black head.



Tom

[schnoerpeloetzi]

Hi,
this book below, where the Citizen Promaster 8203 is displayed, how is it called?
I´m interestet in this book,

thx schnoerpel