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Vintage Citizen Crowns


We have so many details that we love when we look at our watches. Some of them are in the dial, some of them hidden underneath the case back and others are nothing more than these small round parts that we use to interact with them, the famous and indispensable winding crowns.

Citizen made a huge variety of watch models, had a lot of watch lines and of course… so many crowns, in different colors, materials, shapes, sizes, engraved or not. In this article I will write about ten interesting facts about Vintage Citizen Watches crowns.

Top 10:

  1. They can be made of different materials such as, but not limited to:  aluminum alloy, stainless steel, gold, titanium…
  2. Not all the times the crown material matches the watch case material.
  3. They can be coated (black, green, gold, gold plated, silver plated…) or made of solid material
  4. They have a huge variety of shapes and sizes
  5. Some of them are unmarked, some are engraved “C”, or “CTZ” or for special models “CH” – Citizen Highness, “GC” – Glorious Citizen
  6. The non – branded ones were first, then came the “C” and the last ones were “CTZ”. These types overlap.
  7. Some are screw-in type, some are not
  8. They can be made of one part or have two parts (as CH or GC – that have a push button as the central part)
  9. The same watch model can sometimes be fitted with slightly different crowns
  10. We will never know all the facts about them.

Conclusion:

Unless you know exactly the model, you have a NOS one, or some catalogue pictures… unfortunately you can never be sure what crown that specific watch is supposed to have. This search and documentation is also the curse and the blessing when collection vintage watches, and Vintage Citizen Watches. Enjoy the journey and share your findings (as a comment here or on the Vintage Citizen Watches Facebook Group so others can learn and grow too!

15 thoughts on “Vintage Citizen Crowns”

  1. I have a windup ladies watch which I am trying to get as history as to its manufacture, where and when made and so on. So far I have been unable to find anything that matches the description of what I have. The back reads: CITIZEN WATCH CO. BASE METALTOP
    85-2104
    4-151
    313fm
    6105706
    It is windup, with actual numbers on the face, an hour, minute and second hand. the hands appear gold in colour. The casing appears gold in colour. This watch I have had since early 1970’s. A gift from my father.

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  4. Hello there.
    I have a hand wound Vintage Citizen, with a silver stainless steel case and dial.
    It has the 3 hour mark date window and does not have any numerical hour markers. The crown says CTZ. Its a 21 jewel movement and its Water Resistant. I’d really like to get some clarity on this watch’s build year and so on and so forth.
    The case back says,
    4-182481 HM
    1800, the movement of course.
    63-1752
    The dial has tiny markings at the 6 hour mark that says,
    JAPAN 1802 and 6-1810235 HM
    Its my grandfather’s watch. I’d really love some information on this special timepiece.

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  5. Pingback: VCW & Pook – because we dream – Vintage Citizen Watches

  6. Hello,
    I have a Citizen 4031a & sourced a stem – Citizen 065.368. I need help to source or ‘how to’ source a crown for this stem ? Any help or direction much appreciated. Thanks in advance, Gerry.

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