My friend, Stephen , did an extraordinary work putting together all the info that summarises the development of Citizen movements since the very first day of the company’s existence. This is an ongoing project that I am sure it would be a great source of useful information for all of us. All the data is introduced in chronological order.
Here it is: LINK HERE
Thank you for all the effort placed into this tremendous research!
The Jet movement is a ring rotor one that I really like a lot. Rumor has it that Citizen chose to replace this movement with a central swing rotor, even though the rotor one was better, because the later one was cheaper to produce. This one is a 21 jewels movement, beating at 18,000 bph. It has a power reserve at about 45 hours. The movement, as stated , is an automatic but can be manually winded too. I came to the conclusion that the rotating ring has 4 or 6 screws but the 4 screws one seems to be a more rare earlier type. The thing I like the most it the beautiful sound that the rotor is making when rotating, smooth, loud, mechanic.
Enjoy the photos taken by Sergio.
Citizen 1160
Features: Automatic, Sweep second, Date: quickset by repeated pulling the crown
Data
13”’, Dm= 29.0mm. Do= 29.4mm
H= 5.3mm
(visible automatic wheel +0.1mm)
F= 1.45mm
T= 2.25mm
39 jewels
f = 18000 A/h
power reserve 47h
Balance staff U3163
Stem W3088
Hands
1.52 x 1.00 x 0.18mm
Remarks
1963-
ring rotor rotating on 9 ruby balls
nearly useless jewels in the three rotor suspension plates
differences not known between 1160, 1161
family/generations:
0310: 21/23/25 jewels
0320, 0321: 17/19 jewels
0340, 0341: 35 jewels
1120, 1121: 19/21/23/27/35 jewels, date
1130, 1131…1133: 17/19 jewels, date
1150: 39 jewels, date
1160, 1161: 39 jewels, quickset date
1170: 27 jewels, quickset date
redesign, all with quickset date:
4000…4002: manual wind, 23 jewels, day, date
4101…4103: 25 jewels, day, date
4111…4113: 19 jewels, day, date
4111…4113: 19 jewels, day, date, month
4130: 35 jewels, day, date
Example, year: signature; shock device
1965: Citizen Jet, Autodater; Parashock
(Citizen 4130 without day disc)
Data from here.
Read about the Newmaster watch powered by this movement here:
https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/07/20/vintage-citizen-newmaster-autodater/
Here are a few pictures of the gorgeous in-house movement Citizen cal 8110A that my friend Sergio was kind enough to let me use on the site so all of us could enjoy! Thank you Sergio!
The movement here is the Citizen automatic, 23 jewels, calibre 8110A with hand winding capability. It was produced by Citizen starting from 1972. It is a vertical clutch chronograph (beating at 28.800 bph) with column wheel and fly back function. (how many modern chronograph do that, and what is their cost?) Lets don’t forget it has a day and date indicator. The fly back function means that you can reset the chronograph while in motion and it will start again without needing to go the entire process of pressing stop-reset-start. So, one push can do all of this. Of course that if you want to stop it you can go the classic stop-reset way. A particularity for this movement is that when you want to change the day you should pull the crown to second position (for changing the date) and push and release the reset (1 o’clock) button. It is 27 mm wide and 6.9mm high. The column wheel/vertical clutch design of the movement advices to leave the chronograph running for most of the time (this way you can also see the beautiful sweeping central second hand in movement), but from time to time it should be stopped. This is a chronograph that needs to be used. It is not made for design purpose but for timing.
Citizen 8110A
Features
automatic chronograph, 60s, 30min, 12h, pillar wheel
flyback feature: reset and immediate restart
day: set by reset-pusher in crown position for date setting, 2 languages
date: quickset
Data
12”’, Dm= 27.0mm
H= 6.9mm
23 jewels
f = 28800 A/h
power reserve 40h
Stem Citizen 065-178
Remarks
1970-
ball-bearing rotor
usually as bull head (crown/puschers at 12h, day/date at 6h)
Example, year: signature; shock device
1977: Citizen Japan, 23 J.; Parashock
Data about this movement from here.
Read more about one of my favorite Citizen, one powered by this awesome movement here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/24/citizen-bullhead-chronograph-67-9356/
Following the beautiful Citizen chronographs, alarms and some other interesting models, we have now a different vintage Citizen. The vintage Citizen Worldtimer (also known as GMT or dual time) model 68-0516. The feeling you get when you strap it on your wrist is like no other. The light is passing through the acrylic crystal and bouncing back from the silver dial, the inner rotating bezel with all those cities… Here is the video:
Enjoy! Read the full article about this watch HERE.
UPDATE: The dial in the video, I found out thanks to Mikko, is redone with Seiko logo. In the article in the link above you can see the watch with the correct dial. I have managed to source out the correct one.
“Citizen Chrono Master”, what a beautiful sound!
This is the Day-Date automatic version, ACSS 2929 Y GN2. It is made in a stainless steel case with a screw in caseback. On the caseback the eagle medallion gold inlay proudly proves the high grade of the watch. The case finish is superb, having clean lines, angles and polished surfaces.
The movement is the Citizen calibre automatic 5240 with 33 jewels, beating at 18,000 bph. It can be hand winded too. Chronomasters can also be a date only or even no date. There are some Chronomaster movements adjusted to a higher precision called Chronometer. This was possible by the adjuster positioned on the balance. It is a quick set date, and it hack for better time setting. The day changes by advancing the hour hand past midnight.
Some of these watches came on leather straps, others on stainless steel mesh bracelets. I have yet to find a real one on bracelet. The one presented here was made in 1968 and back then had a price list of 28,000 YEN.
Read more about Citizen Chronomasters here:
https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/chronomaster/
Adam is a great guy from Australia with a great watch story to share. Without further ado I will let him tell you all about it! 🙂
“So…about the watch. I didn’t wear it to my wedding as the wedding was in Sydney 4 hours drive from here (Port Macquarie) followed by a honeymoon in Melbourne. I did not want to lose it.
We had an amazing wedding staying in Sydney, then in Melbourne.
I never had the chance to get the watch serviced before the wedding as I was very busy.
When I was 10 years old I stayed with my Aunty and Uncle for a week. They live on acreage in a small village one hundred and sixty kilometres west of Sydney called Old Bowenfels. My uncle Karl was an elderly man who worked as an electrician for his entire working life.As Australia was isolated when he was younger he had to be innovative or creative to enjoy modern technology. He built a television set using a radar screen, a valve radio, and a device that could record voices or sounds onto vinyl. He recorded my great, great grand parents singing Silent Night in English and in Danish.
He was an amazing man who still maintained the property into his mid eighties cutting wood and loading coal into the “Donkey” (a very, very old hot water system). He was very resourceful and refused to replace things that still work, if it failed he would repair it.
When I found the watch it was sitting on a shelf covered in dust and dirt. The watch had been sitting there so long that the leather band had dried out and gone solid. The watch must have had a pretty hard life as what you saw in the photos. I asked him if I could have it and being a generous man he said yes without a second thought. I took the watch home with me and always held it in high regard. He passed away two years ago after a long battle with asbestosis and dementia. Knowing he was unwell for a long time it was hard for me as I have never really grieved his passing or even cried.
I think of my uncle often because he was like a grandfather to me. I spent a great deal of time on their property and was very close to my uncle. He taught me to weld, basic electronics and like I said also served as a grandfather figure.
That is why I hold this watch in high regard because when I hold it, it reminds me of my childhood and of my time spend with my uncle.I also feel guilty about the watch at the same time as my Uncle became estranged from his eldest son for a very long time, his grandchildren did not want to see him or my aunt as they felt that they were boring. At the funeral I sat near the front of the church. It was very awkward as my third cousins, his grand children were devastated at losing Karl. I think it was because they were sad for the time lost that they could have spent with him.
So now the watch sits in a watch case with many other watches that I like. I never wear it because I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of wearing it but also I like keeping the watch as it represents the time that I have spent with my Aunty and Uncle. It is something that is very special to me.”
Thank you Adam! I am sure the readers of Vintage Citizen Watches loved the story just as much as I did! Many times the watches are a lot more than time telling devices and they have great value due to our emmotional connections and the stories they tell about our past, about our loved ones, about our memories.
A few words about the watch: Citizen had a line of hi beat (36,000 bph) called Leopard. Adams watch was the top of the Leopard. They had their own logo and medallion as seen on the screw in caseback. The case is gold plated, with a stainless steel caseback and a gold inlay medallion. All were 36,000 bph and most were made with 28 jewels, but there were also 31 and 32 jewels models. Adam’s watch has 31 jewels. These use the 7250 movement (7230 in the 28 jewel ones).
Read more about another beautiful Citizen Leopard here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/11/22/citizen-leopard-36000/
And another special Citizen Chronometer Officially Certified HERE.
The emotional connection with our watches is in fact the main force that drives us into collecting them. A 1969 great Moon landing story made the Omega Speedmaster the icon that it is today. Same goes with “Paul Newman” Rolex Daytona, Heuer Monaco and many others. Patek takes the emotional connection to an art form level. Well, now we have a great Citizen story too!
Starting from this post and then with the contribution made on the Vintage Citizen Watches group page on Facebook by Renato I am here to introduce to you this great story of the Citizen Undersea Treasure. Our hero is the vintage Citizen 150m diving watch model 52-0110. I also contacted the newspaper and Stephanie was happy to provide me all the information they had so far regarding this. Unfortunately they were more into the interesting situation and not into watches so a lot of details I had to figure out myself.
You can learn more details about this model (Citizen 150m 52-0110) in HERE.
Neil Blakers of Cromer found this awesome watch while “strolling along the beach on Saturday afternoon” on Long Reef Beach in Australia. “I realized it was a watch but the face and body were covered in barnacles. It looked as though it had once been growing on a rock or at the bottom of the ocean and been thrown up by a heavy surf” he said. He treated the found object with lemon and grapefruit juice only to clearly notice that the watch was still ticking. In the pictures below the seconds hand is in a different position so the watch is for sure still alive. That was great news indeed! Neil understood the importance of his find and took the watch to Citizen Watches Australia at Brookvale who forwarded it to the Tokyo Head Office where they determined at the Product Quality Section of their Tanashi Factory that the watch was made in 1977. Based on my knowledge about vintage Citizen divers it is safe to declare that the exact model number is 52-0110, type 1 dial variant. Read here about this dial. The watch was found in 1983 but it is unclear for how long it stayed submerged into the salty waters of the Pacific Ocean. Some researchers think that based on the way it looks we can assume it was “diving” for maybe 2-3 years.
In the picture we can see that the watch is still attached to the red nato strap so I will wear mine (same model, same year) like that for the next days. 🙂
The nato strap and the fact it got lost there make me believe that a surfer lost it while riding a huge wave. It is a nice imagine to picture even though there is no clear evidence this is the true. In the end the mystery is the salt and pepper that makes a good story. The water resistance of this model is 150m, it has a thick mineral crystal that is well fitted into the case and a screw in large crown. The caseback also screws in so in my mind there is no doubt that these are real tool watches. My 52-0110 diver was pressure tested by my watchmaker and to my excitement passed with flying colors. The movement inside is the automatic Citizen calibre 8210A with 21 jewels.
Read more about Vintage Citizen Divers HERE.
The Okinawa Reversion Agreement is an agreement between the United States and Japan, in which the United States relinquished in favor of Japan all rights and interests under Article III of the Treaty of San Francisco obtained as a result of the Pacific War. The document was signed simultaneously in Washington, D.C and Tokyo on June 17, 1971 by William P. Rogers on behalf of President Richard Nixon and Kiichi Aichi on behalf of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. The document was not ratified in Japan until November 24, 1971. This treaty, “Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Island,” negotiated control of Okinawa back to Japan while maintaining U.S. military forces on the islands. It is known more commonly as the Okinawa Reversion Agreement.
Citizen made this commemorative edition in 1972 in order to celebrate the rightful event. My watch is made in 1972, February.
The watch was accompanied by a beautifully made hinged wooden box and a few other carefully chosen details. The box itself is simple and beautiful. On the outer part of the lid is has an engraved metal plate. Opening the box we see the watch and a medal with both faces being engraved. Remove the blue material inside and you can find the price tag and another dial (in case you desire for a cleaner more elegant look). In this package we can also find the instruction paper.
Back to the watch! Well… we have a beautiful elegant piece made in 920 sterling silver (as well as the buckle). The case measures 31mm / 38mm without the specially designed crown. It has an oval shaped engraved dial with applied hour markers. The acrylic crystal is flat. This is an elegant watch so it has only two simple (painted black) hands – hour and minutes. The movement is a hand winding one, with 23 jewels, Citizen calibre 6740 running at 28,800 bph. The strap, original too, is black and simple and based on the way it looks I might consider it as being made from ostrich leather?.
All things considered it is a beautiful rare watch, an awesome complete package celebrating an important event for Japan.
Anyone interested in vintage divers recognize what a Tropic strap is. The others should know that this is a certain type of rubber band, made in Switzerland during the 1960s and 1970s. They were later manufactured in China and Hong Kong too, using the original molds and same materials. The originals are signed “TROPIC” and marked “SWISS MADE” and are typically fitted with an “INOX” or “ACIER” signed buckle. Citizen used the multiple perforated model with a single sliding strap keeper as seen in the pictures below. They are marked “Tropic” and the lug width (let’s say “20mm”) is indicated. “MOD DEP” that stands for “Modèle Déposé” or registered design. The reference no. is also visible on one end. They are made from a very pliable rubber for a comfortable fit and durability. The band is 5mm thick where it meets the watch and on the clasp end and 2.6mm thick at the tail end.
Here it is how a Citizen stainless steel buckle should look like on one of these Tropic straps. My opinion (from the data I have so far) is that most of them came with the “Acier” or “Inox” signed piece.
Not only Citizen were fitted on Tropic straps but Rolex, Tudor, Blancpain, Omega, Longines and many others too. They were all aware of the Tropic quality. Soft, relatively thin, very pliable, durable and a gorgeous feel and look on the wrist. 
You have a ’60-’70 vintage Citizen Diver? Get a Tropic strap for it! It will be the perfect match!
Read more about vintage Citizen diving watches HERE.
The largest group of Citizen divers is the 150m one. It has a classic design and a gorgeous look. They had a production time span of about 15 years, powered by a handfull of movements. The last model was the one in this article, the 52-0110. Even if this is one model it had a few variants. I saw only black dialed versions and a rare orange dial one. Stephen on his page suggests it might have had a blue dial too. http://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-divers-1962-to-1980/ I have yet to see one to confirm that.
No matter the color, we can see two design variants, one prior to 1978 and one after 1978. I will call them “type 1″(8210 820719-S) and “type 2” (8210 824391 KA). The dial code is printed on the dial at the bottom of 6 o’clock. I am lucky enough to have both of them. Let’s see the picture that can be magnified them for better understanding.
My type 1 was made in ’77 and type 2 in ’78. The case is the same, the crown, crystal, bezel and movement are the same. Both powered by the well known Citizen cal. 8210, 21.600bph, quick set date, non hacking seconds.
The main difference is the dial, and the way the hour markers, the logo and the date frame are made.
With Citizen most of the times the look of a watch is dictated by the manufacturing process and so is the case with these dials too.
Read more about this model here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/24/citizen-automatic-diver-150m-52-0110/
Vintage Citizen Watches 