Hands-On: the Huckberry x Citizen Promaster Tough

hoangbre@gmail.com June 26, 2025 0

Outdoor gear brand and “one stop men’s shop” Huckberry has teamed up with Citizen for a standout early-summer release. This Huckberry x Citizen Promaster Tough collaboration went live on the Huckberry’s site last week – just in time for a full season of hiking, biking, swimming, and anything else an adventurous horophile might want to get up to this season.

Like many, summer is perhaps the one time of year I really want my watches to be high on functionality and low on maintenance. In that regard, this Huckberry x Citizen collab delivers. The watch is powered by the Eco Drive E168 caliber which is a three-hand movement fueled by any light source. The bracelet and case are crafted from Citizen’s rugged Super Titanium™ which keeps the watch lightweight. However, titanium as a medium has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than stainless steel, meaning it can handle just as hardily as steel without the added bulk.

It’s worth noting that titanium is a great material for a summer watch for more reasons than only its durability or its lightness. In addition to those qualities, it’s also much less affected by temperature than traditional stainless steel. Do you know the feeling of donning a cold stainless steel bracelet only to have it turn to lava on your wrist in direct sunlight? Titanium is mostly immune from that predicament. It has a lower thermal conductivity than most metals which keeps it feeling fairly consistent on the wrist despite a potential range of temperature changes throughout the day. The fact it’s also hypoallergenic and anti-corrosive (looking at you, beach days), are just extra bonuses that might help to sway you to the titanium camp.

After my initial reaction about the weight once I had the watch on wrist, my focus shifted to the overall legibility. The dial is a true olive green color with a color-matched rehaut. The printed Arabic numerals are large (like, read-the-time-from-across-the-room-large), white, and very crisp. A slightly more rugged twist than others in the Promaster Tough line-up are the stylized cut-outs in the numerals that allow the OD green dial to really stand out against the white. This detail is unique to this Huckberry edition, as other Promasters in this line have fully filled-in numerals. The end effect, coupled with the watch’s sizable arrow hands, gives this collab some tactical flair, and I’m so here for it.

At first glance, I thought this watch would be way too big for my sub-6.0 inch wrist. It’s 41.5mm in diameter and has a height of 13.85mm, so it has some solid presence right out of the box. However, the slightly curved case hugged my wrist very well and the lugs didn’t overhang, much to my surprise. The curved sapphire crystal does make the watch pretty top-heavy, but not so much that it feels overly unbalanced. It has a depth rating of 200 meters, which would give me some peace of mind if I were to make this my GADA watch for the season. The knurling on the screw-down crown makes for easy operation and this feature adds a sense of security before diving into any water activities (pun definitely intended).

However, no watch is without its faults – even if those are more along the line of personal preferences – and this collab is no exception. The three-link bracelet sizing was trickier than expected due to the pin and collar system, but finding a good fit was easy enough thanks to the three micro-adjust options on the clasp. However, the clasp itself, which is a fold-over mechanism with push buttons, did not inspire a lot of confidence. The spring bar holding the clasp in place seemed too small for the width of the bracelet, which allowed the clasp to jangle around a bit and come undone with very little prompting. The perk of a foldover system is that it’s a two-step process to fully undo the clasp, so someone would still have to hold both push buttons in before accidentally losing the watch. But if clasp security is a priority, this bracelet might not pass muster.

The curved sapphire crystal is another “personal preference” qualm. I like that it gives the watch a vintage vibe, but I don’t know if it would have been my top choice for this watch in particular. On the one hand, it makes the watch slightly heavier overall, which works against one of the core benefits of titanium. Additionally, it puts the watch more at risk for dings and scratches (or shatters) since the crystal rises well above the bezel. Assuming this watch is designed to be used outside – and the Huckberry half of the collab makes that a fair assumption – a flat crystal that’s protected by a raised bezel would have been a more practical move. Again, everyone’s preferences will be different, but these points were two I felt warranted a mention.

Overall, this watch has definite “One Watch Summer” potential, as long as you’re a fan of the uber-sporty and rugged aesthetic. If you like your watches to fly under the radar, keep looking. But if you want a highly legible, tough-built option that will have everyone thinking “that person definitely owns an America the Beautiful National Park Pass” this just might be the choice for you.