Authored by: zippofan
I just received this Citizen Aquamount on Monday (9/8/08) and reallylove it. I looked at it from time to time online but the price wasusually north of $500 which kept me from going for it. After anotherwatch purchase did not work out, I went searching again for watches onmy wish list and found the Ti Aquamount on eBay for a reasonable price.After a week, here are my impressions.
- Brand - Citizen
- Model number - JP3050-55W
- Official or unofficial Nickname (if any exists) - Aquamount
- Overview:
A 200 meter titanium cased quartz divers' watch with depth, altitudeand temperature sensors. I first saw the Aquamount mentioned (Ibelieve) on the Digital/ABC forum, as the module includes altitude andbarometric pressure measurement. Over the years I have become moreinvolved with the Boy Scouts of America and have valued divers' watchesfor their tough construction. When hiking, camping and swimming I don'tneed to worry about my watch, I need to make sure the boys are safe andhaving a good time while learning outdoor and leadership skills. I haveused automatic divers from Seiko, Citizen and other Swiss brands whileat camp and other outings with the Scouts, and wished that I had more"tools" available to me on my wrist. I always had a clip on watchbandcompass, but thought it would be good to have some way to monitorweather conditions as well. My first foray into ABC watches was througha Suunto Vector, a watch I like very much, but its' water resistancemade me a bit leary, as if I had to dive into a fast running stream,lake or pool in an emergency it could be ruined. The search for a divewatch with additional functions led me to the Aquamount.
- movement information/review:
Citizen Caliber C900 quartz. Three hand movement plus 2 LCD displaywindows for additional functions. Digital functions include dive depth,dive time, dive alarms, dive logs, split second chronograph,temperature, altitude and barometric pressure measurement and logging.
- Case review:
Solid titanium screw back case, screw down crown at 4:00, pushers at 2:00, 8:00, 10:00, rotating dive bezel.
- crystal review - Mineral glass
- bracelet/strap review (including clasp):
Solid titanium bracelet links and end links. Bracelet includes divers' extention, push button lock and safety flip lock.
- bezel review (if it has a rotating bezel):
Titanium colored 60 click rotating divers' bezel with lumed dot. Bezel lines up perfectly.
- review of any special features or additional complications (such aspower reserve indicators, chronograph functions, moon phase, etc.):
Where to start! As mentioned, this diver includes many extra featureswithin its' two LCD displays, including digital time (12 or 24 hr mode,minutes, seconds, day and date), dive time, dive depth, watertemperature, dive time alarm, dive depth alarm, rapid ascent alarm,logging of 6 dives, surface time between dives, split secondchronograph, altitude, barometric pressure and temperature measurementand logging, barometric pressure trending.
- closing opinions and recommendations:
For starters, be ready to read the manual! At 93 pages, it compares incomplexity to Suunto and Casio ABC watches. It is not an intuitivewatch, but once you learn the interaction of the 3 pushers it isn'thard to remember them. All measurement units are SI, you can't switchto Imperial measurement so if you are used to meters instead of feet,Hecto Pascals instead of inches of mercury and degrees Celcius insteadof Farenheit you are set. Otherwise you will need to convert in yourhead. As I am comfortable with SI units it doesn't bother me though Iprefer Imperial units. Since this watch wasn't marketed to the U.S. Iam not surprised that both sets of units are not included. I alsounderstand that it is a discontinued model, so it may not be easy tofind though I have seen a few on auction sites and some Internetretailers. There are 2 other models of the Aquamount that I know of,including a titanium model with gold accented bezel released before theone under review, and a stainless steel/black dial version as well.
Impressions: I love it! First it is a Citizen, by far a company mostrepresented in my watch boxes and pretty much my personal favorite. Ihave wanted this watch for awhile and was thrilled to find a new one inmy price range. The titanium construction keeps this beast of a watchlight and comfortable on my wrist. I haven't measured the size but Iestimate it is at least 44mm, maybe 48mm from sensor to sensor.
I have other Citizen titanium watches, and none of them have a mark orscratch on them unlike titanium watches I own from other manufacturers.I expect the same from the Aquamount.
Lume is Citizen's trademark cool blue, though the minute hand lume isbright green. The hour hand is very short, outlined in white, while theminute hand is a skeletinized yellow, the cutout aligned with the LCDdisplays so the hands don't obscure the additional digital information.The second hand is a fluorescent orange with lumed dot. The Arabicnumerals and markers on the dial are raised a bit, giving the charcoalgrey dial a nice 3 dimensional quality. All the markers are uniformlycoated in lume, and both the blue and green lume last substantiallythrough the night.
One thing other than price that kept me from purchasing when I firstsaw this watch is the reported 2 year battery life, and the requirementthat battery changes are performed by Citizen. It will be a pain, but Iwill dutifully sent it to Citizen service when it comes time.
In my humble opinion, if you are looking for a tough, comfortable towear quartz dive watch with lots of extra features short of a divecomputer, you would be hard pressed to get a nicer watch. Plus it isjust darn cool.
The Aquamount joins my 20th Anniversary Aqualand, Orca, Ti EcoZilla and Seiko Tuna in my big quartz divers' watch box.
Cheers,
Griff
