Citizen Gents Limited Edition Automatic NK0009-82L

These Limited Edition Kuroshio '64 pay tribute to the technical milestone of the first water resistant watch from a Japanese watchmaker in 1959 the Parawater.

Telling the world – the Kuroshio ’64 project

With the introduction of the Parawater in 1959 being the groundbreaking innovation that it was, Citizen embarked on a series of promotional campaigns over the years that followed, with the most extreme tests that a watch could face in water.  

In 1963, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology were about to embark on an ocean current survey, with bottles dropped in the sea with a survey form contained within, for people who picked them up to send back. This survey was modified in conjunction with Citizen, as it was the perfect opportunity to do the ocean current survey and a performance test of the Parawater at the same time. 

To this end, a distinctive bright yellow buoy was designed that was highly visible in the water, with clear indications of what it was and its research aims printed on the top side of the buoy. Each buoy also came with a Parawater watch suspended just below the water line, and instructions on how to contact Citizen by the person who found it. As a bonus and incentive to contact Citizen, the finder of the watch was allowed to keep it. 

Over the course of the year, 140 buoys were launched on four separate occasions, with the furthest report of buoys found coming from Oregon in the USA and Vancouver in Canada. 

In 1964, the test was extended and named “Kuroshio 64” after the Kuroshio current that flows past Taiwan and the southeast coast of Japan. For this test, 47 buoys with a Parawater watch were each dropped off the coast of the Sanin sea. 

It’s interesting to note that in all the instances of found buoys, all the watches that they contained were checked and found to be functioning perfectly, which is a remarkable testament to the technical achievement of Citizen in creating the Parawater.

Automatic

Stainless Steel

Blue Dial

Stainless Steel Bracelet

Date

Water Resistant 50m