Citizen date

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Citizen Auto Dater 200m, the Skin Diver


Could this be the first real diver made by Citizen? Well.. maybe it is this one, maybe it is the 120m (that for sure I will write about in the future – read about it HERE). Either way, it is one of the first and what a beautiful watch it is! citizen autodater 200m skin diver The first thing I noticed about this is the “skin diver” engraving on the back, making it really special at 200m (para200mwater). It is the only diver Citizen made with 200m water resistance. The screw retained case back is not marked with a serial no, so unfortunately the date of manufacture is impossible to accurately determine. Because the watch is powered by the Citizen cal 1120 jet movement, and taking other aspects into consideration we can assume it was made somewhere around 1962-1965. The case is made entirely in stainless steel, having the top part brushed in a circular pattern while the rest is polished, with integrated lugs. The Tropic strap dimension is 19mm and is the perfect match for a skin diver. The frictional bidirectional bezel is a one piece design (no bezel insert) and painted black. Because of a lot of usage the edge becomes silver as the paint is slowly being worn away. After all it is a 50 years old tool watch that was used as Citizen intended it to be. On 12 it has a luminous dot, not the usual triangle. An interesting feature of the watch is the fact that the bezel is a count down type, starting from 60 and going down: 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 0, not the other way around as usual. Each minute is marked with a dot. The dial is painted in a beautiful glossy black with integrated hour markers that are polished. Wonderful design of the markers and the hands. On 3 there is the date window, that has a polished frame too. Citizen made the date reading better by providing an acrylic crystal with an outer date magnifier. The winding crown is not signed and operates the movement. It is not a screw in type. Although the Citizen jet movement 1120 ( 21 jewels )  is an automatic one it can be winded by hand too. This is done in the first position of the crown. In the second position the time can be set. The seconds do not hack and there is no quick set date. The date changes by advancing the hour hand past midnight.

One very rare variation of the skin diver is the silver dial one with gold accents (bezel, hour markers and hands). By contrast this one has a “normal” bezel counting up not down as the black version. I have yet to find another, or a catalog picture, to be sure this is all 100% original. (Stephen provided another picture of a similar one but without a bezel so it seems it must be legit. Thank you! ) Update: Both variants are now a part of my collection. The silver dialed one is on original rubber bracelet with Citizen golden buckle.

autodater citizen skin diver 200m

All things considered, black or silver, this is a beautiful, rare, awesome diver that has it’s own place in Citizen history, and ofcourse, in my collection. 🙂 Read more about other Citizen divers HERE.

Read more about the first Citizen diver, the Jet Autodater 120m, HERE.

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Vintage Citizen Triple Calendar Watch


One of the oldest Citizen watches is the triple calendar, launched in 1952. It is also one of the most complicated watches they made (except for chronographs).

citizen calendar watch

Apart from telling the correct time it also has a complete calendar powered by the movement. That makes it unique among vintage Citizen watches. The running seconds are off centered, at 6. The date is shown by a pointer while the month and the date are displayed in a twin window on the upper part of the dial. The entire face of the watch is very well designed and balanced. On this particular watch the date hand is a replacement because it is too long, covering the date. On another dial design (for 17 jewels movements) the dates are positioned towards the edge of the dial and a longer date pointer is used. In this case the dates are closer to the center so a shorter hand should have been there in the first place. Because it is such an old watch I think at a certain time that one was replaced. The dial aged beautifully and it is still classy and elegant. The “C” logo, and hour markers are golden and applied, the dates are printed in blue, the month and date are black on yellow disks.

The manual “C” winding movement has 16 jewels and was inspired by the Swiss calibers at the time. The winding crown is at 3 and setting the time is done in the second position. The seconds do not hack. The date corrector is located at  4 while the month and day pushers are at 10 and 2. Very intuitive layout.

As more information will become available on this model I will update the page. So far… I can tell you I love the vintage elegant look of this awesome watch. The only thing I wish is that Citizen would have placed a moon phase in one of their watches. And this particular one would have been perfect for that. 🙂

Update 2016 July – Here is the booklet:

citizen triple calendar

Update 2018 April:

Here is my NOS one, I have it for one year already  but somehow only today felt like the right day for a photo shoot:

Read more about another (Citizen Monthly) full calendar watch HERE

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Citizen Dandy Seven Para100mWater Diver


Citizen Dandy Seven Para100mWater Diver – The True Diving Watch

Model 4-520688 Y

There are common watches, rare watches, ultra mega extra rare watches and… this. 🙂

Let me tell you this watch in not rare, it is something none of my Citizen collector friends knew it existed. If you saw another one, let me know. To add to this story, it comes in mint NOS condition, with price tag, model tag, papers, box (inner and outer one), stickers… complete package as the day it left the Citizen factory so long ago. By the way, it was made in 1969.

Here it is, the way I got it:

dandy seven diver citizen

Now let’s get to the watch itself!

Citizen named it Dandy Seven Diver and marketed it as a powerful waterproof watch designed for underwater use. The powerful Citizen “Parawater” (waterproofing) enables this watch to resist 10 atmospheric pressures at the depth of 100m underwater. It is equipped with a register ring that indicates the time lapse  and the remaining time after submerging, and a safety diving depth graduation witch indicates the safety limit of diving depth and acts to prevent submarine sickness. Thus, it can be said that this watch is ideal for those who make diving their profession and therefore it is called the true diving watch.

What can I say, it is a true diving watch and such a beautiful one! I love the colors, the shape, the size. The bezel is bidirectional friction type (as most of the Citizen divers are – except from the 500m Chrono Master). The bezel insert has a metallic blue color that contrasts with the orange inner bezel. Blue and orange are complementary colors so this watch really catches your eyes especially in bright natural light. On the bezel Citizen placed a luminous dot rather then the usual triangle. The crystal is acrylic, beautifully bending the light. The crown is signed “C”. Both the case and the bracelet are made in stainless steel and are carefully finished in brushed surfaces and polished ones. The clasp has the usual diving extension Citizen used for a lot of their models.

citizen diver dandy seven

As for the features:

  1. It adopts Citizen’s “Parawater” (powerful water proofing) device and is capable of resisting 10 atmospheric pressures.
  2. It adopts a time register ring.
  3. It has safety diving depth graduation.
  4. An automatic winding watch equipped with a manual winding mechanism.
  5. It has clear viewing day and date indicators.
  6. Equipped with Citizen’s unique quick date setting device.
  7. Adopts Citizen’s unique Parashock (shockproofing) device and unbreakable spring.

Regarding the movement, I tried to open it but was afraid to scratch it so I left it this way because as for most of NOS pieces I have found out that this is a difficult and risky operation. I tend to believe that the movement inside is the Citizen calibre 5204?

Citizen also provided information about how to use the time register ring, time, day and date setting, and reading the safety diving depth graduation. Also some instructions on the maintenance of the waterproofing quality were given.

All things considered this is an awesome powerful watch that I hope you like reading about. Awesome Citizen! My first 100% complete vintage Citizen package and such a beautiful, rare one it is!

UPDATE: I managed to find another one so here they are side by side:

citizen dandy seven vintage diver

The movement inside is indeed the Citizen calibre 5204.

dandy seven vintage citizen diver parawater.jpg

Read more about vintage Citizen divers here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/diving/

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Citizen diver 150m 52-0110 dial variants


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.

citizen 150m 52-0110

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.

  1. Type 1 has the letters of the Citizen logo separated while type 2 has all the letters connected in an applied logo.
  2. The date window on type 1 is connected with the lume frame. By contrast type 2 has two distinctive parts, date frame, and lume frame.
  3. These is due to the way Citizen chose to manufacture the dials. Starting from ’78, on type 2, they decided to apply these elements, and so they did. They made the dial, painted it, printed the white lettering and the minute markers and later applied the logo, the date frame as well as the hour markers.
  4. In type 1 (prior to ’78) we have a unibody dial, made in one piece containing the logo, date frame and hour markers. After painting and printing it Citizen polished the surface revealing this look.
  5. Under magnification the main difference is easy to spot: Type 1 has polished elements with only one metallic surface appearance while type 2 had these elements polished  on the sides too. This is because they were never painted. On type 1 we can see the black paint on the sides of the logo, date frame and hour markers.

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/

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Citizen Challenge Golf 7760-770901K BLS


Finding a NOS watch or a mint one, (new old stock – one that was never worn) is not an easy task when talking about vintage watches. Finding one dating more than 40 years ago is even harder. But finding one that has its original box is pure luck. Add the fact that it has not only the hinged box but the outer cardboard cover too, and it is a rare model, and you have now the full picture of this extraordinary package. vintage citizen challenge golf This in the Citizen Challenge Golf 7760-770901K BLS. During 70’s Citizen was developing a wide range of watches and because golf was a not to miss opportunity, one watch dedicated to this sport was released by the manufacture. Read about more sport related Citizen watches HERE. This particular model came in two case styles, a round one and the one I am presenting here, a TV style one. Usually I see them on leather straps (in fact this is the only one I saw on a bracelet). So a TV coated case, with a beautifully polished / brushed stainless steel ? bezel on a matching coated bracelet. The bracelet is very light and might be aluminum. The coating is not black, but a dark army green. The acrylic crystal is flat and on the underside surface, at 12 o’clock, it has a magnifier for better visualisation of the golf score window. The casebak is made in stainless steel and is engraved 7760-770901K BLS, water resistant, Citizen, and the serial dating it to March 1973. The outer part of clasp is coated, as well as the clasp extension, while the folding part is polished and engraved: Citizen watch Co Japan, base metal tops, stainless steel back.citizen-challenge-golfThe movement is the Citizen calibre 7760, developed specially for this model. It is a nicely constructed one, automatic, with hand winding capability also. It has 26 jewels, it hacks and has a date that can be changed only by moving the hour hand (not quick set). The window at 12 o’clock is for keeping the score. Pushing the crown advances the score is the watch is held vertically and goes the other way around if the watch is held up side down while the crown is pushed. I don’t know much about golf but the watch has these numerals on this score wheel: on blue, from 0 to 18 and then prior of 0 we have on red 1 and 2. The dial is blue in bright light but green in normal light. It is darker on the sides and brighter in the center. The hands, the applied logo, window frames and hour markers are polished.

Update: 

Here is another completely different model, round case with original white strap. (pictures from online seller)citizen challenge golfBeautiful interesting watch with a great dial too look at but a difficult one to photograph right. So… I will keep on trying until I have the perfect picture! 🙂

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Citizen Walter Wolf Chronograph


Like most of the times a lot of patience pays off. After a long time searching I have managed to find not one, but two very rare vintage Citizen Walter Wolf chronographs in the very same week! The first one came from Italy, the titanium one, and a week later, the black one came from Germany. (Thank you Fred and Daniel!)

citizen walter wolf

Why is this model so special? Because in the 70’s Citizen produced a lot of interesting watches and their chronograph calibre 8110A was one of the best: fly back, column wheel, day-date, hi beat automatic. What an awesome movement! And where is a chronograph at home?! In a race! So… Citizen made this Walter Wolf watch, with a special case (the one in titanium was one of the early watches to use this material for cases and bracelets). The other one is black coated metal. It also had a bidirectional rotating bezel, a nice feature usually not used in chronographs. On the outer circle of the dial it is the mandatory race related Tachymeter so the outer rotating bezel is a nice addition. Read more about Walter Wolf Racing HERE.

Back to the watch! The black one is made in 1982 and the titanium in 1983. As I was saying the case is special to this model and by doing this, Citizen managed to obtain a 100m WR. That is impressive. The crowns and pushers are non screw in but the caseback is. The winding crown is hard to operate because it is very small. On the caseback we have the Walter Wolf logo (present on the dial too), the brand, the material, the model and the serial no. The country of manufacturing is obviously Japan. In fact I think this model was made for Japan (all the models I know about had English – Japanese day wheel). The bracelet is well integrated with the case and is the perfect design for this racing dedicated watch. The dial is beautiful, black (there is one more model with a golden dial), with a lot of interesting details (please magnify the pictures for better understanding). The luminous material is made with Promethium 147, a radioactive material. Read about it HERE.  It is marked P-JAPAN-P. The rotating bezel is another interesting feature. This in not the usual diving style one but a countdown type! Note the 60-0 markings. (not the usual diving 0-60)  On top of this there is a cardinal inscription (N E S W) for better navigation, of course!  🙂 The movement is the usual Citizen cal 8110A, a vertical clutch chronograph (beating at 28.800 bph) with column wheel and fly back function. It has a day-date indicator. The rotor is special with a different inscription than the common 8110A found in the other models.

vintage citizen walter wolf

Update 2016 October: (pictures credited to the online seller)

Here it is how the original package should look like. Also note that there is a quartz pair of the automatic chrono. Happy to have the  complete NOS package myself. 🙂

walter-wolf-racing-citizen

Update 2017 October:

Here it is another variant, the golden dial one, same titanium case and bracelet. Notice the honeycomb dial pattern. In the picture below you can also see the Walter Wolf F1 car.

Conclusion: A special watch, loaded with  features, a joy to wear and use, a pleasure for the eyes and a huge happiness for the heart and soul of the blessed owner.

Read more about Citizen chronographs HERE.

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Citizen 150m diver bezel (original vs fake)


Call it fake, call it aftermarket, one thing is true: it is not original.

As a vintage watches collector I find myself often in the situation where I am wrong about some things I take too easily for granted. We all learn, sometimes it is the easy way, sometimes is the hard way, in the end, we all learn.

This time I’ve learned it the hard way with one of the most common and well known diver, the 62-6198 so I am writing this lines in order to help some potential vintage Citizen collector looking to buy a genuine one.  Read about the wonderful Citizen 150m HERE.

I already wrote about the original – fake dial for the Citizen bullhead octagonal chronograph. You can find that HERE. 

vintage citizen diver bezel 150m original fakeSo, lets see what sets them apart:

1 – First of all you should look at the luminous pearl. It should be matching the luminous material of the hands and the hour markers.

2 – The pearl should be dipped in the bezel, nor raised.

3 -The pearl, again should look a little darker on the original, not that clear and bright as the fake one.

4 – The triangle should be with clear borders, and on the top part it should be more space. The fake one has the upper part of the triangle almost touching the outer border of the insert.

5 – The numbers are not matching, take your time to spot the differences!

6 – Take the bezel insert of and see the color of the pearl on the other side.

As a conclusion: Take your time, do your homework, don’t assume you know it all and enjoy Vintage Citizen Watches!

P.S. Thank you Jack! 😉

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Vintage Citizen Newmaster – Jet Autodater


What can I say about this one? Well… I love this movement!

Citizen Newmaster autodater

The case is the usual classic style, made in stainless steel, with a screw in caseback. It is 35mm in diameter and it is entirely polished except for the sides that are brushed. The winding crown is made in stainless steel (just as the entire case is) and it is signed CTZ. The polished bezel holds in place a domed acrylic crystal.

The dial is silver, simple, with a sunburst effect. It has black writing: “Citizen 21 jewels”, “Newmaster automatic waterproof”. The applied hour markers are polished and have multiple surfaces that reflect the light no matter the angle from where you look at them. The hour date (black numbers on a white disk) has a applied frame too. The hands are polished too (without luminous material) and have a classic shape.

Citizen newmaster autodater

The movement is the main feature of this watch due to the ring rotor that I like a lot. It is a 21 jewels movement, beating at 18,000 bph. It has a power reserve at about 45hours. The date changes only by advancing the hands. 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 type. The thing I like the most it the beautiful sound that the rotor is making when rotating, smooth, loud, mechanic.

The strap in this case is a aftermarket shinny lizard skin one. I think it goes very well with the watch.

As a conclusion, I think anyone would love to experiment at least once the sight and the sound on a ring rotor vintage Citizen movement. I really am!

More details about Jet movement here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2015/03/26/citizen-jet-autodater-21-jewels/

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Citizen Chrono Master Autodate 33Jewels


Chrono Master – this says it all.

Chrono Master was, and still is,  the most recognizable high grade line of Citizen,  a real competitor for Grand Seiko and Swiss made watches.

Vintage Citizen Chronomaster

I love the look of this watch, elegant, yet casual, perfect for a suit as well for any daily attire.

The case is made in stainless steel, having what I consider to be a perfect design. The lugs are beautifully designed and every detail shows the great care placed into drawing each line, each angle, each corner. The entire case is polished. The case back has a gold inlay medallion with an engraved eagle.  The winding crown is the right size and shape for the watch, signed “C”. The mineral crystal is flat, sitting higher than the bezel. It’s angled edge makes the dial pop and bends the light is mysterious ways.

The dial is silver, with an sunburst effect. Very clean and organized. The hour markers, the date frame, the Citizen logo and the eagle logo are polished and applied with a lot of care. The details are impressive. There is not much writing on the dial: “Chrono Master”, “Autodate” an “33 Jewels” – this all the information needed to see how this is not an ordinary Citizen. The hands are polished too matching the hour markers, having a longitudinal middle black line.

Citizen Chrono Master autodate 33 jewels

Citizen 33 jewels cal 5440

The movement is the Citizen calibre automatic 5440 with 33 jewels, beating at 18,000 bph. It can be also with a day (5450) or only date. The number of 33 jewels is high enough but not the highest. Some of these movements are also Chronometers, adjusted to a higher precision. This was possible by the adjuster positioned on the balance. The automatic movement can be winded by hand also. It is a quick set date, and it hack for better time setting. It is a beautifully made movement complimenting the overall design in a fortunate way. The movement print presented here is a part of Stephen’s scans of a Citizen catalogue. His work can be read here.

The strap, in this case, is an aftermarket black snake with a sharp stainless steel custom made buckle. I think this suits the watch very well. I wish I could find an original Citizen buckle of the era but I don’t have high hopes on that.

Conclusion: Beautiful design, wonderful quality, great watch! Every Citizen collection needs a Chrono Master!

Update 2017 September: Here it is a rare blue dial version. Notice the applied logo on 6 and the hands shape. (pictures from the on line seller)
And the bracelet version:

Read more about Citizen watches here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/calendar-vcw/

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Vintage Citizen Diver – Seven Star 4-526970Y


This is not the usual diver, but it has the lovely look of one. In fact this is one of the first “divers” made by Citizen, the precursor of the famous Citizen real diving watches.

It is the Parawater model but it has no specific depth rating. The production date of this particular watch is February 1970.

citizen seven star diver

The case is made in stainless steel, thin, with a bidirectional friction type stainless steel rotating bezel. It measures 38mm wide. It has a domed acrylic crystal that gives a lovely look to the black, matte dial. The crown is marked “C” as most of the early Citizen watches did and it is not screw type.

The dial is simple, black, with luminous squares as hour markers. At three a clock it has the day-date window. Sundays , as usual, are written in red. The hands are common to Seven Star range at the era. The second hand has a luminous dot at the tip.

Citizen vintage diver seven star

The movement is the the calibre 5204 with 21 jewels. It runs at 28,000 bph and it doesn’t hack. The date changes in the second position of the winding crown and the day changes by advancing the hands pass midnight.

The bracelet is made in stainless steel, but I doubt the fact that is original to the watch. It fits the watch really nice.  The clasp, is as usual, signed “Citizen”.

Conclusion – Beautiful piece of history, a precursor of the real Citizen diving watches, the “missing” link between THE Parawater watch and the real diving watches made by Citizen.

Read more about Citizen diving watches here:  https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/diver-vcw/