Citizen history and data

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Citizen Leopard 28800 4-720032TA


It is always nice to visit new places and when one of these places is Hong Kong there is no way that you should leave empty handed (pun intended). So, on a watch hunt I went. I talked to my friends from the city about the best places to find vintage watches around there and started roaming the streets. Little did I know that fate was going to prove that my hotel was perfectly positioned so, in the end, one thing leading to another, I found my dream watch only because I bought the one in this article (that is a another story to be told after I get THE watch in my possession). Back to the story, here is what I found:

citizen leopard 28800The interesting feature of this watch is the little word that describes, well… a big cat: the Leopard. The Leopard range is special due to the high beat movements. Some of them are 28,800 and some are 36,000 bph. This particular range of watches was introduced in about 1969 and only lasted for a few years, enough time for Citizen to make about 15-20 variations of Leopard movements based on 72xx and 77xx calibers. (as a side note: way too many variations and not enough DNA unfortunately) Also a great number of cases and designs were made so I am sure you can find a Leopard perfect for your taste. 🙂

This particular watch has a stainless steel polished cushion shaped case, a simple, smooth, polished bezel and a stainless steel case back. It was made in April 1974 (funny thing I have noticed – a lot of the Citizen watches I have/had were made in April). The quartz revolutions was about to change the watch world. Just think about the fact that Citizen today is the largest watch company based mostly on quartz, the very same quartz that almost killed what we love so much, the vintage mechanical Citizen watches. 😦 The dial is silver, simple, with a beautiful sunburst effect. The applied hour markers have a black line while the 12 o’clock one has two black lines. These black details work very well with the black hour and minute hands. The sweeping second hand is polished. The Citizen logo is also applied while the rest of the text is printed in black: “automatic, 28800, Leopard, 26 jewels”. One can easily understand from reading the dial that the movement inside is automatic with 26 jewels. On top of that it can also be winded by hand. The date is quick set while the day changes by advancing the hands past midnight. It is a hacking movement (the second hands stops when setting the time). The picture below is a part of the scans made by me of Citizen vintage catalogues.

Citizen leopard calibre 7200 36000

As a conclusion: beautiful watch and an interesting reminder of how fate works! 

Read more about Citizen Leopard 36000 here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/11/22/citizen-leopard-36000/

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1974 Citizen Chronograph Print


One lucky find was this page from Auto Motor Sport magazine from 1974.

It says “Citizen Chronograph Automatic” and “A lot of precision for the money (at this price)”. So, we have a racing automatic chronograph that is not too expensive and still very precise. The race on! These are the designs that were used at the time. My favorites are not here (The Walter Wolf and the Octagon bullhead).

On the other side of the page we have a red Ferrari Testa Rossa. 😉

Enjoy the print!

Citizen chronograph automatic

The watches wit only one sub-dial are powered by Citizen calibre 8100A  and the others (with 2 sub-dials) by Citizen calibre 8110A

The next models are represented, with their prices in DM at the time (year 1974).

  1. 67-9011 (DM 355)
  2. 67-9631 (DM 298)
  3. 67-9577 (DM 278)
  4. 67-9038 (DM 325)
  5. 67-9071 (DM 348)

Read more about Vintage Citizen Chronographs here:

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

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Citizen Parawater – THE Parawater


After presenting the first watch manufactured by Citizen, the beautiful pocket one (read about it HERE), it is time for another milestone in watchmaking. This time, the first Japanese waterproof watch, THE Parawater! This makes it the grand, grand father of all the Citizen divers we all love so much!  Please note that this was not intended for diving, but it was up to the task for swimming!

In 1959 the company produced the first Japanese water-resistant wrist watch. This was the “Citizen Parawater”. It was powered by the Citizen Cal. 920(2B). It was produced with  19, 21 and 23 jewels. Soon after, the Parawater completed two trans-Pacific tests and one in the Sea of Japan. The result, needless to say, was positive. As time passed Citizen was growing as a company and exported more and more watches, so (unfortunately IMHO) the term “Para Water” was changed to the universally recognized (an boring)  “Water resistant” somewhere around 1970-1973.

Back to this particular one! The line chosen to be modified so that it will become water protected was a success already, the Deluxe. Citizen changed the design of the case, added rubber seals and greatly modified the tube and crown assembly. By doing that and after a lot of research they were able to stand by their product in public demonstrations.

Citizen Parawater Deluxe

After intensive search I managed to find this particular watch, in an non working state, the bracelet and the clasp was destroyed beyond restoration and the crystal was badly scratched, but what an awesome find! I had to take the plunge! (pun intended 🙂 ) This is how I got the pictures from the seller in Greece:

Citizen Parawater

Now, after a long time deciding how invasive the restoration should be I went with a bracelet swap with a similar design from the same time frame by Citizen, a light crystal polish and I got the movement running again.  This is the end result:

Citizen Parawater Deluxe

Interesting facts: The black dial has lume dots and the hands are also with luminous material, making it very rare (the only one I saw) and very beautiful. Another detail is the fact that the entire dial in printed and there is no applied logo.

The caseback has the inscription: “All stainless steel”, “Antimagnetic”, “Parawater”, “STAR”, “Citizen Deluxe” and the serial no. By the way the watch is made in 1959, making it one of the very first pieces.

Beautiful lug holes for easy bracelet replacement.

Don’t forget to magnify the last picture for more details!

Conclusion: I am so happy to introduce to you this wonderful piece of history and I hope you like it as much as I do! The watch found a new home with Daniel in Germany and for sure it is a great home! Enjoy it Daniel!

Later edit (2015): 

I here present to you my keeper Para Water, that I found this year in Hong Kong (thanks Anthony! 🙂 ) Excellent condition, fully working 100% original, made in 1961.

parawater citizen deluxe

Here are the three dial variants, Two white ones (one with a star, the other without) and the black one.

parawater citizen

Update 2016 APR

Here it is a commercial advertising sign from the period:

the first parawater citizen

Read more about vintage Citizen divers HERE

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Citizen Shokosha pocket watch


Well, after a long time of intensive searching I have managed to get this magnificent piece of Citizen history in particular and watches in general. 

shokosha citizenAround 1920,s Japan had a lot of Swiss and American made watches but one jeweler from Tokyo had the ambition to built cheaper, high quality Japanese pocket watches. He founded in 1918 the Shokosha Watch Research Institute. His name is Kamekichi Yamazaki. In 1924 the first Citizen was sold, using the Citizen calibre 16. The name Citizen was given to the watch by Tokyo Mayor Shinpei Goto, in conformity to his dream, a watch of high quality that every citizen could afford. The Emperor of Japan was (probably) the first to own this watch. He got this watch as a present and he was very impressed by it. He loved the style and the quality he experienced with this Japan made pocket timepiece. This is how one of the greatest watch stories was born!

shokoshaWell, back to the watch itself. The first impression when I got it was that it is a small one. At only 40-41 mm diameter it is smaller than most of the modern wristwatches. It is also very slim for a pocket watch. The more I look at it the more I like it. Perfect size, perfect proportions, lovely arabic numerals, the easy to operate 12 o clock winding crown… all perfect. The case is silver (I doubt the fact that is stainless steel but I see no place of corrosion or rust. In fact it is in close to mint condition after 90 years! The caseback snaps perfectly into place and the hinge, that connects it to the watch, works flawlessly. The crystal seems to be made out of glass and it is slightly domed contrasting with the flat caseback.

citizen shokoshaThe movement is the famous Citizen calibre 16, clean, decorated and accurate. It has 15 jewels and it is signed Citizen Shokosha. The low serial no. dates this particular one as being made in the first years (1925-1926). The balance spring is blue, just like the classic shaped hands. The dial has an interesting particularity: looking at it from an angle it looks as the base color is black and the silver paint is applied leaving the numerals, the brand and the markings look engraved.

Update 2016 October:

Adding a movement pic with of two more watches, one with 10J one with 15J. As you can see, the decoration is also different. By the way, the case is not hinged, so that is another interesting feature.

citizen-pocket-watch

citizen-shokosha-pocket-watch

Update 2020 December

Here is how the watch with original box should look like. (pictures from an online seller)

All things considered this is a beautiful extremely well preserved piece of Citizen history. It makes me think: If this watch wouldn’t have been so great, Citizen would’t have lead the quarts revolution in the 80’s. Lets imagine the watch world without Citizen… This watch made the global watch world what it is today! 

Read more about Citizen history here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/26/citizen-history-from-1924

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Vintage Citizen Diamond Flake – World’s thinnest watch


What is so special about this one? 

Is it made with diamonds? No. Than what?

Citizen Diamond Flake

The case is made in fact of stainless steel and is really elegant. This is how a suit wrist watch should be like. Simple, 3 hands, white dial, manual wind. Back to the case, we can see that it is really, really thin. In fact it is called Diamond Flake because at the time it was the thinest watch with 3 hands (about 7 mm thickness and 38mm diameter, with a really nice wrist presence and appears larger). In August 1962 it was the world’s thinnest 3 hands watch developed. The acrylic crystal is slightly domed making it thicker. The winding crown is small but easy to operate, not signed. On the case back it is marked with the model, serial no. (dating this watch February ’63, that means it is one of the early production).

The dial is very simple, silver, with a sunburst effect. The hour markers are applied and both the hour markers and the hands are polished without luminous material. It is marked: ” Citizen Diamond Flake” and “Parashock 25 jewels”. At 12 o clock there is the Diamond Flake logo.

Citizen Diamond Flakecitizen diamond flaThe movement is a piece of art named Citizen Calibre 0700. I love the way that it is gold plated.  At the time the race for slimmer watches was on and having a thin movement was a must. Well, this one was the champion. It is only 2.7mm, 0.2mm thinner than the competitor Seiko Gold Feather. The calibre 0700 has 25 Jewels (calibre 0701 had 31 jewels). Later on a date was added to the 25 jewels movement and this how Citizen calibre 2700 was born.

The strap is a vintage Citizen brown leather one, with a stainless steel buckle. I think it compliments the watch nicely and adds something to the overall appeal of the watch.

Pocket watch diamond flake

The watch can also be found (not easy, but it can de found – I did it) in a pocket watch form. Here it is, with original chain. Same beautiful movement in a large case, with an acrylic crystal.

Conclusion – some might say that this is the ultimate elegant watch, some might say it the perfect suit one, but no one argues the fact that it has it’s well defined place in history as a champion of it’s own time.

The world’s thinnest 3 hands watch developed

Competition for thin movement at that time :

1958 -Citizen Deluxe               – 3.65
1960 – Seiko Liner                    – 3.35
1961 – Citizen Hi-Line              – 3.25
1960 – Seiko GoldFeather       – 2.95
1962 – Citizen DiamondFlake – 2.75

Update: I also found (pictures from the seller) a black dialed one (still not sure if original or repainted dial) in a gold plated case. The dial on this one is marked Parawater.

citizen diamond flake parawater

Update 2017: We can’t really argue on the fact that this model is one of the best dress watches, isn’t it? Having it made of solid White Gold I guess it makes it even better. Is it perfect this way? I don’t know but it is a real beauty. Well… here it is so let me introduce to you, the pure awesome, the best of the best, my keeper,  THE WG DIAMOND FLAKE! At the time the price was 40,000 JPY, and that was expensive!

Read about the three brothers: Citizen Diamond Flake, Citizen Diamond Flake Date and Citizen Date Flake, HERE.

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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/

 

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The First Citizen Wristwatch


Enjoy the video of this beautiful movement!

The movement is the first version of the Citizen F-type. This was their first wristwatch, launched in 1931. It was based on a Swiss design and was used in several re-designed forms right through to the 1950s.

Read more about this watch here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/03/16/citizen-military-wwii-seikosha-patent-no-274740/

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Citizen Recordmaster Sportsmaster Chronograph


Looking back at 1970 I see a world that started focusing it’s attention on automatic chronographs while at almost the same time, the quartz revolution is about to play it’s role, somehow stopping, or at least slowing down, the mechanical movement development.  This Citizen model was introduced in 1967 and was produced for only 5 years.

The Recordmaster is a beautiful piece, a real column wheel flyback chronograph, with a hand winding movement. It counts only up to one minute elapsed time but in such a memorable way!

citizen recordmaster 63-0110

The case is classic, made in stainless steel, 36 mm wide. It has an elegant case, entirely polished. The winding crown is signed “CTZ” and the pushers are polished too. There is a nicely chamfer edge that add further beauty to the overall design, very elegant and yet a real sport chronograph. The caseback is polished with the usual markings (parawater as it was made prior to ’73). The acrylic crystal sits above the case and has a flat surface. I love the way it bend the light at the edges!

The dial is absolutely stunning! Plain black, with simple applied polished hour markers. The hands are polished too. There is an inner tachymeter for calculating speed. The writing is simple, white. Beautiful contrast white on black.  It looks like chalk writing on a blackboard. The date wheel is white with black numerals. There is also luminous material that, 40 years later, is in wonderful condition. There is one more dial color version that is white with black writing. (I added pics of the white dial model, found on internet – rakuten)

citizen recordmasterThe movement is Citizen calibre 5702 with 21 jewels. It beats at a slow rate, half the speed of the fastest Citizen Leopard movements, at 18,000bph.  It is the first chronograph and the only hand winding chronograph movement that Citizen produced. There is also an automatic one with a two variations: 8100A and 8110A. All of the Citizen chronograph movements are flyback and so is this one. The date is not quick set but changing by advancing the hour hand.

The bracelet is original to this model (most of the Recordmaster I have seen are on replacement straps). Not much to say about it. It has a combination of polished and brushed surfaces, a signed sandblasted clasp and perfectly fitted end links. It is tapering starting from the case towards the stainless steel clasp.citizen recordmaster chronograph 63-0110Update: A few more versions I found (some of them are my pictures, some are from online sellers and fellow Citizen collectors) are these:

1 – Black dial, red chronograph hand.

recordmaster citizen watch

2 – Black dial with the tachymeter scale starting from 1000, black hands and a white, square luminous tip, chronograph hand. Reference 4-570091T Citizen Recordmaster recordmaster citizen black hands

3 – The first version made is the following one (see the details on the caseback):first black citizen recordmaster

4- A special case design, with the original bracelet, white dial Citizen Recordmaster:white dial citizen recordmaster vintage

5 – A rare Kyoto Recordmaster (the only one I saw and also had) version, made for French market:

citizen kyoto recordmaster

Here is the awesome Recordmaster collection of my friend John from Australia:

Update Nov 2017 – Citizen Museum in Tokyo has one on display that has the “Sportsmaster” dial print rather than the Recordmaster.

Conclusion: Beautiful, timeless design. A rare piece that has its specific place in any Vintage Citizen Watch collection. This is the perfect combination of simplicity combining in perfect harmony elegance and sportiveness that (as far as I know so far) came in 4 dial variants plus the additional different RallyCustom one – read about it HERE.

For the VIDEO of this watch visit:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/03/12/video-citizen-recordmaster-chronograph-63-0110-2/

Read more about automatic Vintage Citizen Chronographs here:

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

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Dating a vintage Citizen watch


One of the advantages of collecting Vintage Citizen Watches is the fact that most of them can be easily dated. This is important for any collector. It is always nice to find a watch that was made the very same year you were born. And guess what, for Citizen you can go even further! You can date it by month also!

How do we do it?

Well… it is a combination of different clues:

1. First of all, we turn the watch over and look at the caseback. Most of the time over there we have a lot of information regarding the case model, the watch model, the material and, very important in dating one, the serial number. This serial number is usually 8 digits. Those 8 digits show the year and the month.

The first digit is an indication of the year. The next two are for the month.

In the example below the first digit is 6 so it can be only a year ending in 6 such as 1956, 1966, 1976 or 1986.

dating a citizen watch 2. The “water resistant” marking illustrates the fact that the watch was made after ’72-’73 because prior to this the term used was “parawater”. So we can narrow it down to 1976 or 1986.  Read about “Parawater” here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/26/citizen-parawater-citizen-parashock/

3. After we identified the serial and the possible year we go deeper. We look at the model and at the movement. Certain models and movements indicate a specific time frame so it is easy to identify the exact year. We know this model was not made so late as 1986 so it is made in 1976. 

4. The next two digits are 07 so the month is the seventh one – July.

5. By putting all the information together a Vintage Citizen Watch can be, this way, dated. The watch here is made in 1976, July.

Read more about Citizen history here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/26/citizen-history-from-1924/

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Looking for the “Holly Grail” watch


What’s that The “Grail” watch? 

The holly grail watch

Well… it is the watch that rumor has it that exists but can not be found. You look for it years after years and from time to time you think you find it, but than you realize it was not THE one, but only some pale imitation. You look for it again and again and again. Sometimes you dream about it, sometimes you think you see it strapped to someones wrist but time after time you find out it was just a mind trick. Your eyes see only what your mind fantasizes about.

One glorious night, after hours on web searches, you find a post with pictures attached to a post in a language you don’t understand. That is the real watch! It exists!

Your heart stops; than it races like crazy! With trembling fingers you press the keys on your laptop and start writing a message to the user that posted the pictures, hoping for an answer…

Maybe… Maybe… Should you allow your heart to hope for an answer?

(feb 2014) Let us pray for THE Holly Grail!

UPDATE (oct 2014) I found not one but two owners of this model. One owner doesn’t sell it (yet) and I am still waiting for an answer from the second one. I hope he still has it and will sell it to me. 🙂 Well.. he is not selling it. 😦 The search is still on.

UPDATE (jan 2015) The wait is long, too long! Is it fate? Is it a coincidence? I have to wait! Meanwhile I found out that the two watches I told you about in Oct are not 100% original. Both of them have aftermarket bezels and bezel inserts, and one has a non original crown too. They don’t have the original strap. (one does actually) The closer I get the longer and more difficult the wait gets! It’s been one year since I wrote this article and I feel…

UPDATE (feb 2015) The hunt is over! I have it in my hands! Tired and extremely happy! Read abut THE Citizen HERE!

Thank you all! 🙂