Diving with the Citizen Aqualand 40th Anniversary

Jacob Van Buren

Aug 15, 2025

If a brand is lucky, it lands on a nameplate that becomes an icon, something that comes to define an entire category. Submariner, Velcro, Thermos. You get the picture.Then, of course, there is Aqualand.

Dive watches were not new instruments by the mid-1980s. Their format of legible dials, rotating bezels, and copious amounts of water resistance became set in the 1960s as the sport boomed in popularity. Combined with a depth gauge and a set of dive tables, subsequent generations of divers learned to plan their dives and dive their plans as the mantra goes. There was an issue. Many mechanical depth gauges, particularly those using the bourdon tube system, had a habit of being inaccurate — sometimes wildly. And while capillary gauges avoid this issue, they suffer from legibility. Citizen saw an opportunity, and in 1985, launched the Aqualand — an analog-digital tool watch, complete with its own depth sensor and dive log capability.

We leveled our initial descent at a comfortable 10 meters — the 40th Anniversary Aqualand is metric only — my buoyancy began to neutralize as my ¼” thick wetsuit began to contract under pressure. The gradual rocky slope gave way to a steep drop, and with it, our visibility gradually faded into a murky green. The human lungs are capable of influencing a diver’s buoyancy to the tune of 7-10 pounds positive or negative. Though I am wearing a horsecollar-style buoyancy compensator around my neck, it is primarily in place for surface flotation.

At this depth, there is not enough air in the 72 cu ft steel tank on my back to exceed my max time. We swim along, examining the rocks for the small freshwater fish inhabiting them. Feeling the oncoming pressure, I press my fingers against the nose pocket of my U.S. Divers Wraparound mask and blow — as one descends, pressure builds in the eustachian tubes inside the inner ear. Clearing is done easily and often, so as to avoid discomfort and, in serious cases, injury. The digital display reads out the depth — now 11m, or 36 ft — as I slowly kick in time to the exhaust of my regulator. This is the Aqualand’s natural environment. Surrounded by underwater equipment from late 1970s to early 1980s, the watch almost seems futuristic, highlighting just how revolutionary its design was in 1985.

Based on the original C023 Aqualand from 1985, the 40th Anniversary neatly updates the design from the original in a way that feels entirely natural. Looking at the two side-by-side, you would be forgiven for confusing them at first. But the differences are important. The modern Aqualand is slightly larger than its vintage relative, but the lugs now have a downward curvature versus the straight lugs of the original. This results in a slightly more comfortable wearing experience on a watch that is already far more comfortable than its odd dimensions would hint at.

The 50.7mm stainless steel case, covered in a dark-grey PVD coating, is still water resistant to 200m and is deftly accented by a gold-tone bezel, pushers, and depth gauge sensor cap in tribute to the original C023 from 1985. While this may sound bold, its styling was deftly handled by Citizen. The 14.8mm thickness — a dimension often somewhat exaggerated by enthusiasts — is negligible. This is a watch with presence, one meant for legibility in challenging environments. The 24mm strap is where the greatest deviation from the original design occurs. Most noticeably, it no longer features the no-decompression limit scale, a touch sorely missed by many Aqualand enthusiasts. The plant-based polyurethane material is stiff, requiring some effort to feed through the buckle, but this is intentional — it flares out slightly to prevent it from falling off in an accident.

My buddy taps my Jet fin; turning around, a school of fish has come by to investigate the bubbles from our regulators. In his early writings, diving pioneer Jacques Cousteau likened the experience of using SCUBA (a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) to becoming a “manfish.” It sounds awkward in translation, but it is surprisingly apt. Redundancy is important in diving, but there is also an argument to be made for minimalism. A mask, fins, and a tank and regulator strapped to your back (okay, maybe exposure protection too — who likes to be cold?), and that is all. The further removed from a swimmer one becomes, the less natural the experience becomes, or at least as natural as breathing underwater can be.

CITIZEN DIVE WATCHES

The Aqualand makes the case for this diving minimalism, encouraging you to step back into the past and appreciate tools and techniques used by previous generations of divers in a time when the sport represented adventure and daring. In short, romance. It is the sort of totem, to paraphrase another ad campaign from the late 1960s, that marks one as a diver. Though some may never see depths beyond a swimming pool, that does not mean that the spirit is any less meaningful.

The mid-1980s were a transitional period in diving. New technologies, like the digital dive computer — analog varieties had been around since the late 1950s, but were not practical and often malfunctioned — were fresh on the market. Diving began to undergo a rapid transition during the 1980s as it faced an image crisis and declining revenues. Executives like John J. Cronin at PADI began a push for dive travel, and the sport, formerly known for adventure and daring, became a sanitized version of itself.

The Aqualand is not a dive computer; it is a tool designed to simplify diving, but it does not replace dive tables. What it does do is condense all the information needed to follow a dive plan into one place. It is no longer an essential piece of equipment. There is a certain freedom in that, however. The Aqualand should not require a lot of thought. It can disappear into the background, providing a helpful log of past dives, allowing you to track a different timezone while on holiday out of the water, or even time some laps in the pool.

What is not, however, is discreet. The Aqualand stands out. Whether it is the bulbous protrusion for the depth sensor or the bulky rubber strap, it is a bold watch. Depending on one’s lifestyle, that means it may not be the best everyday choice. But then, perhaps that makes it all the more purposeful. The Aqualand is a tool; it has one purpose: diving. And despite its odd size, Citizen’s careful engineering ensures that while you won’t forget it is there, it will be comfortable throughout whatever adventure awaits.

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