Collection: Citizen Promaster Skyhawk, Nighthawk and Navihawk Watches

Skyhawk, Nighthawk and Navihawk: Citizen’s pilot’s watches

Three of Citizen’s pilot’s watch names share this page, all powered by Eco-Drive. The Skyhawk A-T does the most, with atomic timekeeping, digital displays and a 1/100-second chronograph; the Navihawk is the analogue pilot’s chronograph with a slide-rule bezel; the Nighthawk is the simpler, rugged chronograph with 12/24-hour time.

Skyhawk A-T: the one that does everything

The Skyhawk A-T is an analogue-digital watch in a 45mm or 46mm case under sapphire crystal. It sets itself from atomic time signals in 43 cities and adds a second time zone, UTC, two alarms, a 99-minute countdown timer, a perpetual calendar and a chronograph to a hundredth of a second that runs up to 24 hours. The digital displays are backlit, and several versions have a pilot’s rotating slide-rule bezel. It is water resistant to 200 metres, which by Citizen’s chart covers swimming and snorkelling. The Skyhawk A-T JY8108-53E is the black Super Titanium version, a lighter wear on a titanium bracelet.

Navihawk: the slide-rule chronograph

The current Promaster Air Navihawk is a compact 40mm, with sharp facets, satin finishing and a slide-rule scale on the bezel for flight calculations, under sapphire crystal. Its chronograph times to a fifth of a second for up to 60 minutes, with 12/24-hour time and a date, and it is water resistant to 200 metres. Dials include salmon, green and silver-tone. There is also a larger 48mm Navihawk A-T, which shares the Skyhawk’s atomic calibre U680.

Nighthawk: rugged and simpler

The Nighthawk is a 42mm Promaster chronograph in black ion-plated steel, with a tachymeter, a screw-back case and 200 metres of water resistance. It times to a fifth of a second for up to 60 minutes and shows 12/24-hour time. The newer Nighthawk Chrono is a grey-tone 42mm steel chronograph under sapphire crystal, on a steel bracelet or a fabric strap, water resistant to 100 metres. Neither sets itself by radio, which keeps them simple to live with.

Which one suits you

• Frequent travellers and gadget lovers: the Skyhawk A-T, or the 46mm Promaster Sky, which sets itself in 24 time zones and adds a perpetual calendar, an alarm and a power reserve indicator.
• A classic pilot’s chronograph at a sensible size: the 40mm Navihawk.
• An everyday sports chronograph: the Nighthawk or Nighthawk Chrono.
• Air show fans: the Blue Angels editions and the Snowbirds editions in the colours of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s aerobatic team, gathered in Citizen Blue Angels and Snowbirds watches.

Living with an Eco-Drive pilot’s watch

Keep it in the light and it keeps running; a fully charged Eco-Drive runs for months in a drawer. The atomic models pick up time signals overnight from transmitters in Japan, China, Germany and the United States. Citizen notes that buildings, terrain and weather can block reception, so a night by a window helps. Between signals the watch keeps quartz time. More atomic models from Citizen sit in our atomic timekeeping watches.

Questions

What is the slide-rule bezel for? It is a circular slide rule for the sums pilots do in flight. Line up the bezel against the fixed scale and it gives speed, distance or fuel use: Citizen’s own example turns 180 km in two and a half hours into 72 km/h.

How do I use the chronograph? On most models the button at 2 o’clock starts and stops the timing and the one at 4 o’clock resets it. Our guide on how to read a chronograph walks through the subdials.

Can I swim with them? Yes. Most are water resistant to 200 metres and the Nighthawk Chrono to 100 metres, and Citizen’s chart puts both at swimming and snorkelling. None of them is a scuba watch; for that, look at the Citizen Promaster Dive watches.