Latest Review
July 28, 2025 
The year was 1985, and there was something in the air that everyone seemed to be tapping into. It was a time of flying DeLoreans and Breakfast Clubs, of Simple Minds and Talking Heads. It was the era of Knight Riders and Airwolves, where P.I.s and vice cops drove Ferraris. Everyone seemed to be chasing the same thing—a quest for cool. And amid all of that, Citizen created a sledgehammer of a dive watch, in ana-digi form and with the world’s first electronic depth sensor. It was the age of Aqualand.
With the first wave of dive computers on the horizon, Citizen asked a bold question: how do you create the most sophisticated and useful dive watch in the world, one that still wears like a daily, walk-of-life analog timepiece? The answer was the original Aqualand. Its unmistakable silhouette, anchored by an asymmetrical case and a protruding depth sensor, may as well have come straight out of an ’80s prop master’s imagination—an electrified vision of futurism and function.
Fast forward 40 years, after 10 years of Windup and 4 years of Windup in a Lake, and the boys of summer are this year paying tribute to Aqualand with an all-out, ’80s-themed celebration on the waters of Lake Michigan. Citizen sponsored a dive dedicated to Promaster, with a spotlight on a new limited-edition Aqualand that pays faithful yet modernized tribute to the original. The signature elements are all there: crown at 4 o’clock, three pushers, and the iconic depth sensor at 9, all wrapped in a matte-gray, brushed case with gold-tone accents that altogether teleport the wearer straight into a 1985 underwater daydream.
A blanket of clouds hovered overhead as the 47-foot Seaquest II pulled away from the dock, but they quickly gave way to scattered light and optimism. Our destination: not the “mystery wreck” of years past, but the Wells Burt, a 200-foot, three-masted schooner from the late 1800s, whispering “don’t you forget about me” as she lies fully intact three miles off the Evanston shoreline at a very dive-friendly 40 feet. The dive would be followed by a 1985-themed cruise/dance party/hot dog eating contest through the Playpen underneath the Chicago skyline—a totally rad tribute to an icon born in the same year.
But halfway there, with the synth beats already thumping and wetsuits half-zipped, murmurs began making their way around the deck. Plans were changing. The Seaquest II made an unexpected U-turn, and the Wells Burt was suddenly off the itinerary. The mood began to shift, and we were living on a prayer until the situation became clear. First, a strange engine noise had developed. Second, we were returning to the marina. And third, crucially, the dive was still on. Instead, we’d be cruising first and diving second, on a different wreck en route to the dock.
Cue the collective sigh of relief. Don’t dream it’s over! We turned the playlist up to 11 as the SeaQuest II chugged alongside the Navy Pier. High fives were heaved. Glizzies were gobbled. Vibes were restored.
As we motored back out past the breakwater of the Playpen, the heat was on. Wetsuits were zipped up, hoods pulled tight, and Citizen Promasters strapped on wrists. While the water would be a few degrees warmer and a few feet shallower at this backup site, conditions were far calmer. The new destination: the Tacoma, a tugboat that sank on November 4, 1929, resting just three-quarters of a mile south of Jackson Park Harbor. The Promaster Aqualands, with their unmistakable gauge-like presence, looked perfectly at home strapped over a mix of wet and dry suits. The 40th anniversary edition, complete with its supple BENEBiOL™ polycarbonate rubber strap, was easily secured over layers of neoprene. At least one diver wore both an original and the new model, bridging four decades in one descent through the murky green of Lake Michigan, the beam of the Tacoma emerging foot by foot into view.
At 35 feet deep, and as Chicago’s most intact tugwreck, the Tacoma should have been an ideal late-afternoon dive—and she was. As the divers approached, the starboard side revealed signs of deterioration, but the bulk of the hull and deck remained remarkably preserved. The massive boiler rose up before them, a rusted giant in the gloom, covered in freshwater mussels, with the steam chest still perched on top like a relic frozen in time. Moving further aft, the divers encountered the two-cylinder steam engine, its form still clear after decades under water. On the stern deck, the steering quadrant lay undisturbed, while beneath the hull, the four-bladed propeller and rudder remained fixed in place. A dark opening near the prop offered limited access to the interior for the more adventurous. Off the port side, the fallen smokestack rested in the sand—broken loose, but still a striking reminder of the Tacoma’s working past.
Underwater, the Promaster Aqualand proved its purpose. Its dial, bold and hyper-legible, was further enhanced by the golden touches unique to the anniversary edition. Each pusher and crown shimmered faintly in the filtered sunlight, merging functionality with just the right amount of flair. ISO-compliant and unapologetically cool, the watch indisputably has an invisible touch that channels both the past and the present in one shot.
Thanks to the change in plans, for the first time in the four-year history of Windup in a Lake, this dive happened as the sun dipped low over the water. The warm tones of the skyline, the fading light, and the tranquil lake created a cinematic new backdrop for the Tacoma dive—and for the Promaster Aqualands on-wrist. Things may not have gone exactly to plan, but as we motored back to the marina wearing our sunglasses at night, somehow, it all still felt exactly right. Because if the 1980s taught us anything, it’s that both style and substance can ride in the same red Ferrari. The Aqualand was born in that decade of big ideas and bigger personalities, and here it was—forty years later—still stealing the scene. With gold accents catching the last light of day, and its unmistakable silhouette glowing just beneath the surface, the Promaster Aqualand wasn’t just a watch on this dive. It was the perfect encapsulation of the moment.
