(This originally started as a short review of my latest acquisition, ended up being a mini-review of the whole Promaster Aquamount range )

Took this one for a quick stroll round the nearest bush this morning, and boy did I enjoy it



These watches from the third Promaster Aquamount series, were originally touted as an "Ultimate Outdoor Watch" - the world's first watch that combines Depth meter with an Altimeter.

Basically, it comes equipped with so many features and measurements options, that it sometimes takes some time remembering how to operate a specific button, or two of them simultaneously, for that matter.

Mine is Aquamount JP3050-55WT, the latest iteration from the Aquamount series that originally started with JP-3000 model, with combination bezel (diver + compass), released only to a few specific European markets (still available in shops in Italy). By the way, the compass that comes on that watch is non-digital and completely useless 'down under' or any other part of the southern hemisphere.
This watch was only released in S/S, with electric blue dial, nice metal edged applied hour markers, and original Aqualand II series hands. Price of these wary, and the most affordable ones can be found on eB@y.

Photo borrowed:


The JP3000 was almost immediately followed by two “monster” size Titanium Aquamounts, JP3020-05E with the rubber band (photos borrowed):

…and the JP3050-56E with Ti bracelet that owes it to Citizen “Mission Antarctica” and “4x4” original bracelet designs:


These big 'uns are very reminiscent of the original Citizen 800m and 1300m quartz divers, especially rugged bezel, crown and protruding sensors, although 800m and 1300m divers didn’t have them, sensors that is.
As mentioned above, JP3020's come with a nice vintage-diver touch, albeit limited to 'only' 200m, with large golden-edged indices and skeleton hands (these are my favorite "kick-a$$" diver hands), and raised gold finished bezel indentations. Be warned these are huge, 49-50mm across both sensors, 16mm thick. Crystal is mineral, as on all other Aquamounts. The titanium finish is 'triple-coat glass titanium hardening', again confirmed by Citizen Singapore, since the info on a specific Ti finish of these watches couldn’t be sourced from anywhere else.
These can be still found in the wild for some $250-300 (like eB@y for example)
Some of the SCWF members that I believe still own these are D.U.D, Rico and Joost Blom.

The most recent Aquamount range was originally released in '02, with production ending in '04. The word from Citizen Singapore is that these are not current models any more (production ceased in Japan some time ago), availability of which is now reduced to few watch shops and Internet retailers, including grey market resellers like "watchub" and "timeparadise" on the eB@y. They come in two flavors, full S/S (polished and brushed) and full Ti (bead-blasted appearance, 'triple-coat glass Ti hardening process').
These are also available at a few Internet retailers, as well as eB@ay, with prices ranging from $200-300 for S/S, and $300-400 for Ti.
Photos of both JP3040-59E (S/S) and JP3050-55WT (Ti) are shown below:



These watches are simply beautiful IMO, (Sir Les will tell you all about his JP3040 , Citizen did away with metal edged LCD displays, hour indices and hands, the whole look is sort of "stealth", military, especially on JP3050 Ti, that comes in Bead-blasted look (although it isn’t really), with dark grey dial.
Both of these watches come with a combination of interesting looking hands (especially that ultra-short hour hand and highly reflective orange second hand), matte dials and applied/raised numerical indices. The writing on the dial is not 'in your face' that much, the font is much smaller, color combination carefully selected, with a very faint white cross on the dial, chapter ring very nicely finished and quite wide – the whole feel and quality of this watch is simply second to none.

JP3040 and JP3050 case is very traditional looking (bar sensors, of course), bezel has 60-clicks and is very smooth, crown is knurled and signed with Promaster logo, case back is standard 200m Citizen diver case back, bracelet is one of the best ones I've seen coming from Citizen, solid links and lug ends, solid clasp folding part, push button release, solid diver extension etc. It comes with pins and not screws, though. I also noticed when sizing the bracelet that this bracelet uses collars (yes collars, again) in their mid links !?. That was a quite surprise for me, since I only dealt with collars on Seiko Samurai and Spirit, but these were on outer links…
The Ti version has a large wrist presence (49mm across both sensors, 16.5mm thick) however due its Ti build it is "as light as a feather". Size and wrist presence wise, I'd rate it close to the Seiko Samurai Ti, maybe a tad larger than the Samurai.

All Aquamounts produced so far come with C900 quartz movement. It measures seawater depth to 80m, altitude between -300 and 6300m, water and air temperature, barometric pressure, comes with dive alarms (ascent & descent), logs last 4 dives and last 6 climbs, has alarm and chronograph, etc… Unfortunately C900 comes only in 'metric' system, measuring temperature in degrees Celsius, and altitude/depth in meters – I believe that's one of the main reasons these exceptional watches didn't find greater following amongst SCWF members.

Few pics of my JP3050:


This is what I meant by “bead-blasted” look finish.




The caseback, bracelet, diver extension and push-button deployant clasp.


Showing current barometric pressure in hecto-Pascals, also the temperature (off set by my body tempearture). The environment temperature measured was 11 degrees Celsius (It's winter here people!)


Altimeter reading after 1 minute says we were at 45m above the sea level…


Sitting pretty on the branch ...

Thanks for reading !

babola

DO they have backlight???

Great writeup!

-- DIY Watch Wiki

http://www.diystompboxes.com/watches/

...it wasn't electronic like on some Casio (and Suunto?) models. And no, there's no backlight -- probably because Citizen couldn't find any more space to fit in another pusher!



GLSM IBC, Rep. Bellm.

Some people are like a Slinky - they serve no useful purpose in life but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs.

Citizen tried the 'manual' compass design on their JP3000 model, but somehow never took off in popularity. It only made diver's bezel look busier if nothing else.

It did rotate, but not much use from it since the accuracy of the magnetic South reading depended much on the skill of the watch wearer.

As for the LCD backlight, so far they haven't used it on any duplex ana-digi Promaster diver style watches, and I don't believe they ever will.
It's also to be seen how long will Citizen actually keep manufacturing diver style ana-digi watches based around C500 and C900 quartz movements, with the same or similar dial appearance.

I believe the next Aqualand/Aquamount sensor series will be Eco-Drive based watches, with seamless digital displays, i.e. the most of the dial will be able to project illuminated numbers and letters, which will do away from having to use LCD backlight. Diver type hands will still be there, but since there won't be a discrete LCD display, I doubt they will use 'skeleton' hands again. ...just my thoughts.

cheers,
babola

If I had to choose between the s/s and the Ti versions -- I wouldn't want to! Both look great although I must admit I've become enamoured of the beautiful deep, deep black dial and combination of finishes (polished, brushed and beadblasted—yes, beadblasted!) on my s/s JP-3040.

Interestingly, the bracelet construction differs between the two versions. On the outside surface they look the same, but the inner surface details are completely different, which accounts for the fact that the s/s version has no little collars inside to get lost. Also, for the Ti version, every outside link has two holes drilled through it which are visible from the side; the s/s bracelet has only one hole drilled through the removable links, and none through the others.

I did at first worry that the weight of the s/s version might become burdensome after a day's wear, but the bracelet/lug design manages to balance the watch so beautifully that it really doesn't feel like a heavy watch (unlike, say, my Omega Speedsonic, which although weighing less than the Aquamount, definitely lets you know it's there). And being able to adjust the diver's extension in small increments means the fit is always just right. I wish all my watch bracelets had this feature!

I took the Aquamount with me last week on a trip to Sydney, and it drew more admiring comments than I've had for many a while. As for how it performed....well, maybe I'll have to do a write-up (with travel photos) after all......



Cheers,



GLSM IBC, Rep. Bellm.

Some people are like a Slinky - they serve no useful purpose in life but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs.

So which parts of your S/S Aquamount are bead-blasted ? Interesting, really !

As for the bracelet, it looks like the Ti is a tad different as you pointed out, and that becomes apparent when you look at the inside of the bracelet. The links use different config, S/S sub-links seem to be fused together into one link, however so do the Ti. The difference is that Ti links use one removable pin and one fixed that holds three sub-links together.

I have tried to push it out very hard but couldn't, so I believe the second pin/hole is there for cosmetic and appearance reasons only. My Promaster Tough PMT56-2731 uses the same combination (2 pins), however they're both removable...go figure !

As for that mid-link collar on Aquamount Ti bracelet - shame on you mister Citizen, it's not on !, it really isn't in this day of age...rant...

cheers,
babola

Well, you deserve a pat on your back for summing it all up rather nicely! I believe this is the FIRST review on the JP3050 that I've seen.

Your pictorial guide makes even the most verbose JP3050 eB#y description look like kindergarten literature.

I must say, I am tempted to get the JP30x0 once I've raised funds for it.

cheers,

StratMan


It's your watch watch collection that tells most about who you are

I believe my review made you even more determined to get one of these fine tool watches.

Finish and quality is in Citizen Promaster tradition (this is now my third Promaster, and my Seiko's have started to feel a bit of a pinch now ), wrist presence is just right for the watch of this type.

Stay well, and again thanks for your kind words my friend.

babola

Hi,

I recently purchased the above dive watch, Citizen Promaster JP3050-55W. I am just writing to say that I can't believe Citizen have made a £300.00 divers watch without incorporating a backlight. I mean let's face it, under the sea is dark!! Without a light this watch is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard!

I have a £25.00 watch that has a light! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING OF?? HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO READ THE DEPTH METER OR DIGITAL READOUTS ON A NIGHT DIVE, OR IN A DARK REEF????

David McDaid