Year: 2015

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Vintage (clear caseback) Citizen Shock Proof


This time the watch presented is not a diver, neither a fly back chronograph. Not a hi beat movement and not a Chrono Master but what a beautiful timepiece it is!

What makes it special is the fact that it has a transparent casback for an easier way to look at the  movement. It was made around 1960?

citizen shock proof parashockThe case is gold plated and has a two acrylic crystals, one on the dial side and one on the movement side. This way, it makes this watch the oldest I have seen with a display back. You can see an interesting Leopard pocket watch with a display back HERE. Removing both crystals we can have a better look at the beautiful dial and movement. The dial, as well as the movement, is placed inside a black disk, with hour markers on the dial side. This gives it a great contrast to the white simple center. The hands are also golden and the small seconds are eccentric, at 6 o’clock. The “C” logo and the hour markers are applied. The same logo can be found on the winding crown.

To compliment the watch, a genuine vintage green leather strap with a gold plated Citizen buckle was used (not sure if the right one for this piece but a really good match).

The movement is a Citizen calibre H that I don’t have much info on so far. Hopefully in the future I will be able to add more facts about this watch, meanwhile let’s enjoy the pictures and the way the movement works through the clear case back.

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Citizen “Leopard” 150m diver day-date 4-722710 Y


In fact it is not really a “Leopard” but it is equipped with the same movement that can be found mostly in the Leopard range. Also, the case style is the well known one used by Citizen in their 150m divers. What can I say, the perfect combination of style and functionality. This is the (October 1972) Citizen 150m day-date diver model 4-722710 Y.

citizen 150m day date leopard 7200 4-722710 y

The case, as stated before, is similar (not exactly the same though) with other 150m divers. Read about similar divers HERE. It has the same 40mm diameter, brushed top surface, polished sides, large unsigned screw in crown, screw in case back. The lug width is 20mm. There is also a bidirectional friction type bezel. Again, the bezel has a few variation among 150m divers. It is important to pay attention to this because a lot of these pieces come with aftermarket bezel inserts or wrong ones. I wrote an article about one particular fake & real inserts HERE. The crystal has a flat surface and it is concave on the inside. Of course, the water resistance is 150m.

The interesting feature of the watch is the automatic movement, Citizen cal 7210, 24 jewels. It works at 28,800 bph, 8 ticks per second, 4 Hz. It can be hand winded too as most of the Citizen movements do. Because the watch has this calibre, it displays the date as well as the day of the week. The dial is black, with raised hour markers, logo and day-date frame. The printing is white. On the bottom it is also printed the dial code 726257 Y and Japan. The hands are similar all across the range, with slight variations in size and shape. In this case the sweeping second hand is straight without the luminous dot as others have. I have seen a variation of this exact model with a black day and date wheel and that one has a second hand tip with a luminous ball.

The strap is a curved end Tropic rubber one that fits the watch nicely and gives it a lot of personality. Lovely watch to have and wear.

Read more about Citizen divers HERE.

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Citizen Highness Chronometer Officially Certified 36000


COSC is Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres, the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, which is the institute responsible for certifying the accuracy and precision of wristwatches in Switzerland.

Japan had something similar and so did Citizen with this model. It is a gorgeous piece powered by a very accurate movement. This particular watch, model 4-720300 Y ,  was made in February 1970 and it is marked Parawater.citizen chronometer officially certified 36000So, let’s start with the movement! It is the Citizen calibre 7230 based on 72xx calibre that is found in most of the Leopard range. Read about Citizen Leopard watches HERE. It is an automatic with 28 jewels, day and date, hacking seconds and it is running at 36000bph. It is operated by the “C” signed crown that sets the time, day and date, and winds the movement. It is engraved with it’s own serial, like most of the special movements Citizen produced. All this makes it a special piece and very accurate; after all it is Citizen Chronometer Officially Certified, the first generation of what later became Citizen Highness. In fact this one is called Leopard Highness. Such a special movement needs a special, stainless steel, all polished cushion shaped case. The caseback has it’s own special logo, a gold inlay medallion. The same logo is applied on the dial too. Talking about the dial, well, it is awesome! It’s simple, clean, with a vertical grain brushed surface. It has applied hour markers, logos and day-date frame. All the rest is printed in black. The skeleton hands are also black and so is the simple sweeping second hand. The entire face is protected by a mineral faceted (9 surfaces) crystal that plays with the light making it look really special; well after all it really is!

citizen highness manual

UPDATE:

Here is it one with a black dial I found on-line (pictures from the seller)

vintage citizen chronometer officially certified black

And here we have a beautiful story about a similar watch written by Adam: enjoy it! LINK HERE

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Citizen Chrono Master strap & buckle


As any collector of vintage watches knows, finding a certain watch is difficult but often it is more difficult to find an original strap with an original buckle. This is so true for Citizen Chrono Master. Unfortunately the leather gets dry in time and cracks easily. The glue as well dries and the strap might disintegrate if used. But it is such a joy to find a good one!

Here it is, the original Chrono Master strap and buckle!

citizen chronomaster strap

The Chrono Master came with a lug width of 18mm for straps and 20 mm for (straps?) bracelets. I have yet to find a 20mm strap for one. This strap is made of leather, tapering from 18mm to 14mm. The top part as well as the underneath is black and is branded.  The alloy (aluminum?) buckle has a black leather inlay.

Read about the Chrono Master box HERE!

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Citizen Alarm Disk 19 J Phynox Center Second


Citizen had three calibers for their alarm watches. The first one, and probably one of the most beautiful timepieces, is this little part of history. Watches powered by this movement were made around 1960. The first one seems to have come out in 1958? making it the first one of a long successful series of alarm watches.

vintage citizen alarm phynox disk

The case is gold filled and has an elegant look, with beautifully shaped lugs and well chosen crowns. Speaking of the crowns, the lower one sets the time and winds the movement. The upper one is for setting the alarm and winds it as well. This is the same for all Citizen alarms. The entire case is polished except for the snap on stainless steel case back that has a central circular brushed surface. The case back can be placed only in a certain position so that the hammer of the movement could strike the pin attached on it. In fact this is how the alarm works. (To hear a Citizen alarm, click this LINK) I like the way the inside of the case back is finished and engraved. The strap is black, original too, and the buckle is, as expected, gold plated (filled?).

The dial is made out of two parts, one central disk that rotates and has a red triangle that is the alarm pointer and the outer part that actually has two concentric shades due to the way it was finished. The hands and the applied hour markers are gold to complete this beautiful look. There is not much text on it except for “Citizen Alarm” and “19 jewels Phynox” and in the lower part “Japan”.

The movement is the most important part of the watch and the reason why this watch is a real success, the first Citizen alarm movement. It is the manual wind Citizen calibre 980, 19 jewels, 3 adj, 18,000 bph. Very beautiful and working like a champ.

citizen alarm disc vintage

The blue central disk watch above has a special case-back, made of two connecting layers, the top part having 6 holes and the entire piece acts like a resonance chamber so the sound of the alarm is really, really loud!

update: another version I found online is this one, black dial with contrasting off-white central disk. Notice the red and blue writing on the dial! Beautiful! The case is gold plated. citizen alarm dick black vintageBottom line, it is a gorgeous watch with a wonderful movement, a real time capsule and one of the most important watches Citizen made. Every collector should have one.

Read more about another simple, no date, vintage citizen alarm watch HERE. The rest of the alarms (date or no date, elegant or sportier) you can find HERE.

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Citizen ChronoMaster box


Sometimes it is a lot harder to find an original strap or an original box than finding the watch itself. One of the most elusive boxes for a Citizen collector is the one that came with the Chrono Master line.

I am happy to introduce to you, this exact one, the Citizen Chrono Master box:

citizen chronomaster box

The outer box is made of cardboard and the inner one of plastic. Both of them are marked with the famous eagle logo and the Citizen ChronoMaster writing. The eagle on the plastic one is applied. The inside lining is, as pictured, red.

Not much to say about this, but a great and difficult find for any collector. Me… happy to be one of the lucky ones. 🙂

Read about the Chrono Master strap & buckle HERE.

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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!

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Citizen center second


Sometimes less is more and this is true when talking about this watch, the first Citizen equipped with a central sweeping hand and not the usual (at that time) eccentric seconds. Starting with this model most of the following watches were like this, without small seconds. So, it was an important milestone in watchmaking.

citizen center secondThe “Center Second” came in many versions, and even a solid gold one, and a total of 6-7 generations for about 10 years. The first one was produced in 1948. All of them were running at 18,000 bph and came  equipped with 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17 and even 19 jewels. The Center Seconds are non-hacking and don’t have a date complication. During this time they became water protected and starting from 1956 they had the Citizen Parashock system installed.

The first watch presented here is ParaShock and Water Protected and is made in about 1961. The case back is SS and screws in even though most of them had snap on case backs.  I love the simplicity of the pale white dial with gold accents! The Citizen “C” logo at 12, the hour markers and the hands are all golden while all the rest of the marking are printed in black.

Here are a few pictures from catalogues showing different calibres:

citizen center second

The Center Second had a lot of variations so you can find interesting dial designs, case shapes, hands… etc..  like this beautiful NOS Citizen Junior Center Seconds. (pictures belong to the online seller)

And here it is in a pocket watch form, with original chain attached: citizen pocket watch center secondBottom line, it is an important watch in the Citizen history and a great elegant timepiece itself. Every collector should have one.

Read about more simple Citizen watches HERE.