Just months after debuting its very first mechanical chronograph watches, Citizen released its inaugural bullhead models in January 1973, which quickly picked up the “Tsuno” nickname and were distinguished by the placement of their crowns and pushers on the 12 o’clock side of their cases. Now, for its most recent release of 2024, Citizen has announced a new limited-edition bullhead chronograph that reimagines this quirky cult-favorite, and the new Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L features a bright blue dial paired with a hand-assembled movement, a perforated leather strap, and an angular case crafted from the Japanese manufacturer’s proprietary Super Titanium alloy.
Unlike the 50th anniversary “Tsuno Chrono” bullhead model that was released last year as a 3,000-piece limited edition with a gold-tone stainless steel case, the new Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L is crafted from Super Titanium, and it features a noticeably more angular profile (most obvious in the areas around the integrated lugs and pushers) that measures 43.3mm in diameter by 14.85mm thick. A flat anti-reflective sapphire crystal protects the dial, while a solid screw-down caseback closes up the reverse side of the watch, and despite being a modernized expression of a vintage bullhead racing chronograph, the new Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer still features an ample 200 meters of water resistance, which should sufficiently protect it from virtually any aquatic conditions you might encounter.
The fundamental layout of the dial fitted to the Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L follows in the footsteps of its 50th-anniversary sibling, with a quartet of registers, an on/off indicator for the alarm at 4:30, and a date window placed at the rather unusual 1:30 location. Regarding the dial layout itself, a 60-minute counter for the chronograph sits at 12 o’clock, while a 12-hour totalizer resides on the opposite side at the 6 o’clock position. Additionally, the 3 o’clock sub-dial serves as a running seconds display, a power reserve indicator occupies the register at 9 o’clock, and surrounding the outermost periphery of the dial is a contrasting black tachymeter scale, which is used in conjunction with the centrally-mounted chronograph seconds hand.
Similar to other recent Citizen Tsuno Chrono watches, the new Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L features four centrally mounted hands, with the fourth arrow-shaped one being an indicator for the alarm. With that in mind, the appearance of the dial is quite different than what you get from other Tsuno Chrono models, and in addition to having a bright blue surface with black registers punctuated by red and white markings, the dial elements and handset also differ to create an overall appearance that resembles the dashboard of a car. The 60-minute totalizer at 12 o’clock looks like a speedometer, while the shape of the power reserve indicator is similar to a fuel gauge, and the overall appearance of the bright red hands against the black sub-dials and white text provides an inherently motorsport-themed aesthetic.
Operation of the new Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L will be identical to what is required for both the 50th-anniversary limited edition and the original 2018 Tsuno bullhead chronograph models from this updated series, and it is achieved by using a series of crowns and pushers mounted to the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock sides of the watch. As you would expect from a bullhead chronograph, the crown and pump-style pushers are located on the 12 o’clock side of the case, although an additional crown and recessed push-piece also appear on the opposite side of the watch. The secondary crown at 5 o’clock is actually a combination crown/pusher used to set and activate the alarm, while the small pusher deeply recessed into the side of the case at 7 o’clock is used to reset the factory default settings for the watch.
Inside the Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L is the brand’s light-powered Caliber E210 Eco-Drive movement, which is essentially the Citizen Caliber 2100 rotated 90 degrees to the left. Consequently, the 11-jewel Citizen E210 is hand-assembled, and it is a meca-quartz flyback chronograph with a programable alarm and power reserve indicator. Although the Cal. E210 doesn’t include radio-controlled timekeeping or a perpetual calendar like many of Citizen’s other premium Eco-Drive movements, it still offers an accuracy rating of +/-15 seconds per month, and it can be powered by either natural or artificial light with an autonomous run-time of approximately eight months once fully charged.
Rather than being paired with a matching titanium bracelet like the green-dial Tsuno Chrono Racer that also features this same updated case silhouette, the integrated lugs of the new Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L are fitted with a black racing-style perforated leather strap that has white contrast stitching running down its sides. Additionally, rather than using a butterfly-style deployant clasp like what can be found on the 50th-anniversary model, the black leather strap fitted to the new Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L secures on the bottom of the wrist with an extremely chunky titanium tang-style buckle that features a brushed finish and an engraving of Citizen’s logo.
Between their premium hand-assembled movements and retro-inspired bullhead styling, Citizen’s Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer models easily rank among the Japanese manufacturer’s more enthusiast-driven pieces, and rather than joining the catalog as a standard-production model, the new Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L will be produced as a limited edition of 2,500 examples. Additionally, despite featuring a Super Titanium case and having a slightly smaller production run, the new Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer AV0088-01L costs the exact same as the 50th-anniversary model from last year, and it has an official retail price of $1,195 USD. While it would have been easy for Citizen to equip its bullhead chronographs with entry-level calibers and rely on their novel configuration to drive sales, I personally love that the brand chooses to use one of its premium Eco-Drive calibers and make the Tsuno Chrono one of its higher-spec models. For more information on the Citizen Promaster Tsuno Chrono Racer, please visit the brand’s website.
