At first glance, you will be a bit unnerved amidst the hands and circles and when you are almost sure of their high–clutter factor, curiosity tells you to ask the particular Citizen Promaster Altichron everything it has in store. The faces are downright analog, which is why they settle in your vision in no more than a minute (under close inspection) and that’s once and for all.
The no-LCD scheme paid off well; the Altichron range – at least – has something (or the other) to honor your visit.
Fetish, perversion, OCD or whatever you might call it, my fascination for numerous hands (6 here) is well satiated with this Citizen Alti-Chron. I was given it only for a day to relay the information here; too short a time to gauge all about its time, date, altitude and navigational functions. There’s not much scope of using an electronic compass on your terrace. The titanium built is also not for such easy ventures and as far as a large bucket of water goes, the alti-chrono held well. It reads 200 meters, but I doubt I will ever go that deep. If I ever own this watch, I will replace the diving-purpose black rubber strap with an aftermarket one.
It seems the anti-reflective sapphire crystal charges the watch better since no light bounces off and more the light, better it is for an Eco-Drive. Citizen Pro-Masters (the original ALTICHRON was one of the flagship models of the 1989 PROMASTER collection) charge faster and this could be one of the reasons behind.
The new AltiChron is all about latest technological updates and nouveau, innovative designs. It has robust magnetic sensors (these drive the electronic compass and altimeter) for ultra-precise calculations of directions, immense depths and heights that will delight any normal watch aficionado. I find it a nice deviation from mechanical watches (Swiss too); not reversing your tendencies. The European school and advanced Japanese electro/mechanicals technology maintain parallel directions; the history and tradition of complicated watch-making bears no conflict with signals and pulses.
I read about them showing up at the Baselworld – 3 Evidenza-s and the Promaster Altichron 1. Its siblings are the Aqualand and the Aerochron, but that’s another (rather long) story on the Citizen Sports watches series.
The Altichron-s measure atmospheric pressure and altitude (-300m/+5000m), so mountain climbers might give it a thought. But I’m not and I’m simply in love with its gizmo stature. I find it masterful but that really an oversimplification. If high-tech means aeronautical spheres and reference scales, then it gets 10 out of 10. It all gels into a triumph of information that comes useful when taking a logical decision seems complex.
Okay, here it describes the thing best: A milestone in tremendously cool creations.
