Seiko & Citizen Watch Forum Message Archive

i have had a citizen promaster 200M diver's (black face and crown at 8 0'clock) for about a year.i also have a seiko skx009k2 200M.here are my thoughts on the watches after having them for a while.

First impressions:

Citizen.

nice leatherette box with promaster logo embossed into the top.the watch came with protective film on the case back and crystal.the instruction booklet was better than the seiko, it was totally devoted to automatic diver's watches and had a wealth of useful information, albeit mostly common sence sorta stuff.first imressions of the watch itself were very good indeed.obviously for citizen the watch was flawless and in pristene condition.i fell in love with the thing at first sight litterally.the feel of the watch is just right, not to chunkey not too slim.i liked the polished sides of the case and embossed promaster logo on the case back.one thing that i didnt like ,although it was of good quality was the rubber band. i suppose thats just coz i dont like rubber bands anyway.not a major issue.the whole experience of owning this watch has been as good as when i first opened that cute little leatherette box

Seiko.

pretty much bog standard seiko utilitarian box and packaging.just like the citizen the watch came with film on the crystal and case back.just as i would expect from seiko the watch was perfect and clean.also in the box was a vague but informative universal instruction booklet.the first thing that struck me was the size of the thing,its bigger than the citizen and has 22mm lugs which is pretty much the biggest ive ever seen on any watch.what a monster! i loved the nice touches within the watch like the slightly beveled edges on the crystal and tsunami wave pattern on the case back.things like this just give the watch a really special feel for me lastly, the seiko came with the water resistency test cirtificate which it passed with flying colours.no such literature with the citizen.

Case:

Citizen.

the case is a neat combination of polished and brushed SS. the back and sides are heavily polished except for deatails of the promaster logo picked out on the back.the bezel is somewhat unconventional in that, there is a larger expanse of brushed steel between the edge of the bezle and the insert.i dont really like this because i think it gives the watch a bit of a goofy look after it's been on your wrist for a while.another negative point about the bezle is the loseness of the ratchet mechanism.when the watch is in my pocket it can sometimes click round a few notches unintentionally.i know its sad but this kinda thing is annoying.still, the case is incredibly well made and feels almost indestructable.the case has scratched but only slightly making it easy to polish back to its origional shine should i so wish.another cool little feature worth mentioning is the crown.it is a fat,screw in, knurled affair on the left hand side of the watch.this is good for people who have problems with the crown digging into their wrists, it cant happen if the crown is on the other side of the watch :)the screw action of the crown however leaves a lot to be desired.it has a fair bit of play in it for some reason.please tell me if youve experienced this with your watches because i dont think it should happen.having said that it does do its job and there is no play when fully screwed in.its just that the play in the crown means more care needs to be taken when screwing in the crown so as not to damage the thread.the dial and hands on this watch are pretty much comparable to the seiko.circular indecies with loadsa lumey stuff on em.readable and look cool.nicely finnished dial and hands.

Seiko.

in my opinion the seiko has a slightly better case overall for a number of reasons:

a)those nice touches i spoke about earlier

b)firmer bezle action

c)better overall look with a more conventional bezle design

d)amazingly smooth and precise crown action (no danger of a striped thread here)

in the citizen's defence i would say that it's crown is better positioned on the left hand side at 8 o'clock as opposed to 4 o'clock on the seiko.i have scuba dived down to about 20 meters with both watches and they seemed fine. i know thats not a real test but lets face it,whats the deepest your ever gunna go with yours? i doubt anybody would go down to 200M with these.they are intended for sports diving and not professional diving and i'm sure they are quite capable of such work. the seiko wins for the dial because the lume is slightly stronger.but everything else is pretty much comparable.

the one youve all been waiting for (if your still reading at this point) MOVEMENT!!!!!!

Citizen.

miyota 21 jewel uni directional winding with manual wind capibility.i have a theory about these particular watches.i recon citizen regulate their standard miyota movement in these watches better than any of their other watches with the same movement.i have 3 other (non diver) citizen with the same movement.they all run about +20 secs per day.this watch runs an amazing +2 all the time!! i have friends with the same watch and they give me the same story about accuracy.i'm delighted with the movement on this watch.i know you may say that its only uni directional winding ect ect but it's never let me down.i have opened the case back on one occasion to remove a piece of lint which mysteriously appeared on the dial.the movement was ticking away soundly.it looked very plain and virtually unfinnished except maybe for a little light polishing on the gold coloured balence.

Seiko.

seiko 7S26 21 jewel bi directional wind no manual wind. plus point of this movement,bi directional wind.bad point, no manual wind.i guess the seiko and citizen movements cancel each other out.they are both missing different features and neither seems to be at a noticable loss because of it.mine concistently runs about +7.granted, not as good as the citizen but still pretty good in my book. i have never removed the case back on this watch so i couldnt tell you what the movement looks like in this particular watch but i'm sure its just the same as all the 7S26's i have in my seiko 5's.like the citizen its a work horse with little indearment appart from its longivety and durablility.i like these cheap japanese movements they go about their business with a workman like prowess.

Strap:

Citizen.

as i said earlier, i dont like rubber straps.looked at the watch when i got it and thought "thats quite enough of that" took off the strap and replaced with a shark skin hirsch.say no more.

Seiko.

nice effort here from seiko.solid link oyster with double lock, seiko embossed clasp.easy adjustment with push pins.i dont really think it goes that well with the watch but i'm not a massive fan of metal bracelets anyway.wore the watch for about 2 weeks on this strap b4 i opted for a NATO therefore it must be better than the citizen although i'm not comparing like with like.

Some conclusions:

i am not biast towards seiko or citizen.i love both manufactuers dearly and will continue to support them with my purchases long into the forseeable future.however, these specific watches have differnces.i would have to score them thus:

First impressions: Seiko

Case: Seiko

Movement: Citizen

Strap: lol wont even go there.

right, i think we can see that i prefer the seiko.i have to say i do wear the seiko more than the citizen because i like the 2 toned bezle and the general look of the watch better.anything i have said in this review is my opinion and means virtually nothing.if you think other wise then tell me thanks for reading, God Bless. James W Sanders