Citizen Professional Saturation Divers

[Andrema]

I have been interested in the Citizen Titanium Professional diver line from the early 1980's to 1990's for a while now and have found that they are relatively unknown around the watch forums. From what I have seen they are fairly rare, aren't usually discussed and seem to be under appreciated by the WIS community. So.....I wanted to bring it up here to raise some awareness of these cool divers.

There are three models in the Citizen Titanium Professional line: 300m Professional Diver, 800m Professional Diver and their big brother the 1300m Professional Diver. The first of the "professional line" came in August 1982, when they were the first in the world to have pressure resistance, marketed with their Professional Diver 1,300 meter dive watch.


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A little background that I found:

As far as I know Citizen made their first "Professional" diver, the 1300m, in the early eighties as a tour the force to show they could make a quartz watch with the highest depth rating in those days. These were made only a short time and are now almost impossible to find.


In the early nineties Citizen came out with the 800m and 300m versions. You will come across a handful of each on the Bay each year, but most are listed outside the USA and they are often in ratty condition. Since parts are very hard to come by it is usually not worth it to buy a non-working or incomplete watch, unless you intend to use it as a parts watch.


Both the 300m has the 5503 quartz movement with a 5 year battery life. The case is made of TIN coated titanium. The same coating can also be found on high end line guides for fishing rods and is extremely resistant against abrasion. This finish can be dented when knocked hard, but remains scratch free, giving the watch a very nice aged look over time.

Here are some photos from the net:


1300mProfessional Diver -



800mProfessional Diver -



300mProfessional Diver -



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Here are some reviews of the different models for those who are interested:


800m - http://www.thewatchsite.com/index.php?topic=70.0& http://forums.watchuseek.com/f366/ci...-a-313011.html


300m - http://www.network54.com/Forum/78440...ics+and+review



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Some technical info on the Citizen 5503 movement -



http://www.watchuseek.com/seikocitiz...nuals/5503.pdf

[Rob]

That 1300m is a beast.

Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing.

[Andrema]

Thanks! After a long search I managed to get my hands on a 300m. Great watch!

[OTGabe]

Great pics and info. I had a chance to see a pristine 800m at a GTG years ago, and it was very impressive. Made the EcoZilla look like a toy.

[Andrema]

Thanks, Gabe!

[Nokie]

Good post. It looks like a real tank for sure.

[DM71]

Great info. Thanks for sharing. I always like these. Just too bad they are so hard to find in good condition and so expensive. There's a 1300m in fair shape for sale on ebay and seller is asking $2250!