Month: June 2015

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Citizen Ace Parawater


One of the common lines Citizen made in the sixties is the Ace. They are rather common with simple design and movements. Some of them are more complex, with a higher number of Jewels and better movements, the Super Ace. The one I am presenting today is an elegant simple black dial one made in 1962. The Ace were made somewhere starting from 1961 up to about 1967.

citizen ace parawater

The case is simple, round, polished, with a snap in case back. It is made is stainless steel and so is the unsigned winding crown.    The dial is simple and elegant, glossy black, that looks like enamel. The hour markers are applied and all the hours are also marked with a luminous dot. The hands are polished and have luminous material to (except for the sweeping second hand). The marking on the dial is simple, white: “Citizen Ace Parawater, Para Shock 21 jewels”. Nothing fancy, just pure beauty.

The movement is hand winding, with 21 jewels running at 18,000 bph. It was also used in other models, with 21 or 23 jewels, with or without 3 position adjustments.

Bottom line, it is what it is, a simple, elegant, gorgeous watch with a reliable movement.

Read more about The Super Ace HERE. 

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Citizen Chronometer


One of the most beautiful vintage Citizen watches ever made is this one, the Citizen Chronomaster. They were made in stainless steel and gold filled cases (also solid gold). Mine is gold filled, as obviously seen in the pictures. citizen chronometer Some say it was born as an answer to Seiko’s Grand Seiko line. Others say it was made to demonstrate a point, that Citizen is capable of great things, so they constructed this awesome time piece, the best one! And it stands its grounds up to this day as both vintage and modern, classy and elegant, powerful watch no matter the reason it was made for in the first place. This model was launched in November 1962 and was produced for about 4-5 years. Being a Chronometer means it has a very high accuracy level, ranging from -1 to +10 s / day. The very large balance wheel and the fine adjustments along with the carefully designed and constructed movement proved it to be the best movement Citizen had at the time. The finishing is great too and even today I find it very pleasing to look at.  It is a hand winding movement (soon after this most of the watches were automatics) and runs at 18.000 bph while having a nice power reserve of about 53 hours. On Citizen page can be found a certificate (the picture below) that proves the quality of the watch, also I fond this solid gold marvel that sold for… over 16,000 USD! vintage citizen chronometerThe case on mine is gold filled (100 microns) and is rather large (and wears even larger) at 36mm diameter. This is mainly due to the large silver dial, small bezel and thick lugs. The crown is signed “C”. The dial is pure beauty, silver with a sunburst effect, with applied gold hour markers and black crisp markings. The three hands are also gold (plated?) The case back snaps on it’s place and is marked both on the outside and inside. The Eagle solid gold medallion is applied and makes the watch even more special. What else is to say? An awesome watch, a joy to wear and a bless to have!

Update Nov 2015:

I have managed to find pictures online with the entire package (not for one watch yet, but this collage is made from different puzzle pieces). So, here it is how the full package (box and papers) should have looked like:

citizen chronometer box papers

Next I will post a picture of the stainless steel one. 🙂

Update Dec 2015: And… here it is:

citizen chronometer stainless steel

And here it is with box and certificate:

citizen chronometer box and papers

Here it is the gold and SS version side by side, not a common sight, is it? 🙂

Awesome piece! So proud to have them!