Citizen Watches is bringing the WAR to Casio G-Shock with its newly released Promaster Land Combination watch that has two versions: the JV1005-02W and the JV1007-07E.
What kind of firepower does this new tool watch pack? For starters it has 200 meters of water resistance. Then it adds a rugged look with knurled buttons and knob shrouds. The sword styled hands are big and bold. The watch face is simple, uncluttered, and has two subdials. A raised metal bezel protects the sapphire glass. And it’s all powered by the sun with solar charging they call Eco-Drive.
Here’s where Citizen drops the bomb on G-Shock:
The Promaster Land has a digital subdial that’s an MIP screen, not LED! Citizen calls a watch that is both analog and digital a “combination watch.” In Casio-world it’s called “ani-digi.”
Casio G-Shock has dominated the ani-digi world with models such as the GA-700, the Mudmaster, and the GA2100 which all have LED subdials. G-Shock has also led the way with digital MIP fitness watches such as the GBD-H2000, the GBD-200, and the new Rangeman. So some of us were wondering when they’d bring out an ani-digi G-Shock with an MIP subdial.
BOOM! Citizen beat them to the punch with the Promaster Land.
And to further twist the knife, this watch has basic watch functions that G-Shock is renown for: main time, world time, chronograph, timer, and alarms. That’s it. Everything you need. Nothing you don’t, and certainly not any Bluetooth paired smartphone app.
As we’ve discussed a lot on my YouTube channel, we G-Shock aficionados just want a BASIC watch. We don’t want Bluetooth or smartphone app pairing. As G-Shock has been competing against Garmin with complex functionality, it’s neglected its basic function repertoire. For example, timers on newer G-Shocks only go up to one hour.
Well, guess what. The timer on the Promaster Land looks like it goes up to 40 hours!
Citizen’s Sneak Attack
G-Shock now has a two front war. While they’ve been focused on the main battlefield with Garmin, Citizen launched a sneak attack from behind. And it truly is a sneak attack. As I outline in the podcast, they released this watch with little fanfare.
We first saw the watch in March 25 of 2024 when I made a YouTube short about Citizen’s promotional email teasing its upcoming release. At that point they just called it the Promaster Combination Watch. There were a lot of positive comments. YouTuber @truesf345 said, “I’ll definitely be grabbing one.” @fuloplehel said, “Great watch, I love the promaster series, and eco drive movements. The one with the green cordura strap is looking good.”
So the anticipation for this watch’s release was high. It was brought up several different times in my videos, podcasts, and comments. And maybe they sent an email out and I missed it, but the watch appeared on the Citizen website a few days ago several rows deep without an announcement.
To be fair, there was a 30 second commercial for the Promaster Watch series, and on the 27th second they briefly showed some watches. The rest of the time they showed guys doing action and adventure activities. But I rewound the video to the :27 mark and the saw that the watch on the right looked just like that Combination watch we’ve been waiting for.
So there it was on the Citizen website. This time they called it the Promaster Land. And there was only two of them. The model JV1007-07E had a steel case with a black polyurethane band. The JV1005-02W had a green dial, gunmetal case, and green Cordura band. Where was the steel bracelet version?
There was a steel bracelet version of this watch in the initial promotional material on the Citizen Global website. But for whatever reason, Citizen has not released that one to the American market. So I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe one of ya’ll can clue me in.
It only costs $700
Here’s how G-Shock is rebuffing Citizen’s attack on the rugged, basic watch market: pricing.
The Citizen Promaster Land has a retail price on the website of $700. Now they play games with the retail price because if you go to an authorized dealer, they will immediately give you a discount. So it’s likely that you can get it for less.
But still G-Shock offers a lot of toughness for a lot less money for your ani-digi watch.
For a mere $100 retail, you can get into a basic GA2100. And yes, it’s plastic resin, not metal. But for $250 you can get the solar powered, Bluetooth enabled, metal bezeled ani-digi G-Shock GMB2100.
What kind of ani-digi G-Shock can you afford if you can afford a $700 citizen combination watch?
The Mudmaster GWG-B1000.
Yes, it costs a little more at $800 retail. But dadgum it, that’s a lot of watch. And it’s supremely rugged. I’ve tested the Mudman, which is the cheaper version of the Mudmaster, and it prevailed through all of my brutal tough testing.
The Mudmaster has more functions, proven toughness, sapphire glass, and big bolts to hold down that watch strap. So between the two which would I choose? Before I answer that, I can tell you most of my YouTube commenters would take the Mudmaster over the Promaster Land. That seemed to be the general consensus. You can look for yourself in the comments of this video.
Will I buy it?
The basic watch functionality of the Promaster Land really appeals to me. The green one has a terrific outdoors vibe that would go well with the cozy flannel and wool sweaters you’d wear to the cabin. The steel one strikes me as a “do anything, go anywhere,” watch.
So I’d love to test the Promaster out. But the coin in the war chest is limited. So I’m going to try and get my hands on it to preview it. Would I choose it over the Mudmaster? Haha. That’s a silly question to ask a G-Shock guy. I answer the question at the end of the podcast, so you’ll have to listen. (shameless plug)
Stay tuned because if I find it at an authorized Citizen dealer I’ll ask if I can record a video. Then we’ll see what this watch is all about!