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Citizen automatic diver 51-2273
Another vintage diver is the model 51-2273.
This one is more recent than the previously featured watches here.
One of the main feature about this one, compared with the others, is the unidirectional rotating bezel. Also, the “Mercedes” hands are gone and are replaced with a different style.
The case is made in stainless steel, with a brushed (circular) front surface and polished sides. The case back screws in and it is polished too. This case features crown guards for protecting the crown, a nice diving detail that enhances the “tool watch” appearance. Another diving feature in the screw in crown and the unidirectional bezel. This time the bezel has 60 solid clicks and rotates only counter clock wise. On 12 it has a triangle with a luminous dot. Every 10 minutes are marked with numbers and every minute by lines. The overall size is perfect, at 40 mm diameters without the crown and 20 mm between lugs. The mineral crystal is flat.
The dial is mate black without any reflections. The hour markers are dots or lines, depending on the position. They are filed with luminous material. The hands are also luminous and they have a distinct shape, more geometrical, that I think enhance the overall look of the watch. On 12 there is the applied Citizen logo and “automatic”; on 6 there is the writing: “21 jewels – water resistant – 150 M ” On 3 there is the day-date window, in a single frame. The day is bilingual with red “Sunday” while rest are black.
The movement is the well known automatic Citizen calibre 8200A (Miyota). It has 21 jewels and offers a hand winding capability. First position of the crown wind the watch, the second will change the day and the date (in different directions) and the third will set the time. It beats at 21,600 bph and has a power reserve of 43 hours. The rotor will wind the watch in one direction only. Nothing fancy about this, just a reliable, simple movement that is doing it’s job as it should.
The strap on this watch is a rubber one with a stainless steel clasp. Rubber fits it very well and next to the nato straps it is the best option for this model. The width at the lugs is 20mm so plenty of strap options are available at this size.
Conclusion: A nice diver that has all the features of a real diver: unidirectional 60 clicks bezel, easy to read, mate dial with clear hour markers and hands, a sweeping central second hand, screw in crown protected by crown guards, a reliable simple automatic movement and a long rubber strap. A real tool watch!
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Vintage aviator Citizen 51-1811
A true “tool” watch for pilots, this is the automatic Citizen 51-1811.
The inner rotating bezel (slide rule) is very useful for all types of calculations. The interesting thing about this watch is that it was used for its original purpose, as an aviator watch.
The case is really large at about 42 mm without the crowns. It is made entirely in stainless steel. The front surface of the case is brushed with a circular grain, and the rest is polished. There is an interesting blue light reflecting all the time from the brushed finish, giving it a satinated feel. The winding crown is located at 3 and the one at 2 is for adjusting the inner bezel. The crowns are not signed. The ring bezel holding the large, flat (35mm) mineral crystal is polished too. As pictured, the case integrates the lugs and the twin crowns, protecting them.
The dial is the main attraction of the watch. It is grey, with a sunburst effect. On the outside there is a golden ring with black digits. The golden ring is circled by a thin red zone delimitating the dial from the golden rotating bezel. The entire face of the watch is shiny and powerful. On the grey zone there is the applied Citizen logo, the white painted lettering “automatic 21 jewels”, the day and the date (sharing a single golden frame) and the applied luminous hour markers. The hands are painted, partially, in black with a luminous line. The sweeping second hand is not painted.
The slide rule is the name of this type of internal bezel. How does it work? In a few words it is used for multiplication, division, distance and volume conversions, time calculations and percentages.
The movement is the well known 8200A Citizen calibre. It is an automatic movement (it can be also hand winded) beating at 21600 bph with a quickset day and date. It has a unidirectional winding rotor and 21 jewels. Nothing fancy, just an usual Citizen “workhorse”. It has a power reserve of about 44 hours.
The bracelet is a stainless steel one, with a polished center and brushed sides. It compliments the overall shinny design of the watch nicely. It has folded “H” shaped links and a signed “Citizen” clasp. As usual, very comfortable.
The PAF engraving (and the up pointing arrow) suggest it was in use by the air force and it seams that this was the Pakistan Air Force. So that makes it a tool watch, used for what it was meant to be used. Just a nice, interesting touch.
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Vintage Citizen compressor style diver 4-520343 Y
Vintage Citizen divers – this time a compressor style. And what is better than one diver? Two divers, or even three!
A compressor case means that the bezel is not outside the case, but actually inside the case, under the crystal. It is not operated directly but with the turn of one of the two crowns. As Gray showed in the comment of this post these are not actually compressor cases, but actually compressor style inspired.
“These are beautful watches and I enjoyed reading about them but I must correct your assumption that they are compressor watches. Its a common misconception that if a watch has two crowns and an internal bezel, it must be a supercompressor but infact Compressor and Super Compressor watches are defines by the company which made the cases and held a patent for their design. These cases were made by the specialist manufacturer Ervin Piquerez S.A. of Switzerland. No Japanese manufacturer used EPSA Compressor cases. Information about Compressor cases is not hard to find. The link below shows the three types of Compressor case, including the Super Compressor from which your Citizen watches are inspired. True Super Compressors are typically identified by a crossed hatched design on the crowns, a diver helmet logo on the case back or inside the case back, but always, they have the brevet (patent) number on or inside the case back. http://wornandwound.com/2014/03/24/guide-super-compressors/” – Is the comment from Gary. Thank you for the clarification!
This particular model is one of the early Citizen divers, with compressor style case. I have seen it in black dial, red, blue and silver dial. The red dial is one of the most beautiful dials ever. Actually is more a burgundy red. The blue is awesome in different lightning conditions, the black is subtle and classy and the silver is really special.
The case is larger than the usual divers of that era, but similar with other vintage Citizen. It is about 44mm, with a brushed frontal surface, with a radial pattern. The sides are polished. The lugs are well integrated in the overall design, with the same finish as the case. The two crowns are protected because the 9 o clock side (flat) and the 3 o clock side (angled) are not symmetrical, so the crowns are not sticking out a too much. They are signed “C”. The outer bezel that keeps the domed acrylic crystal in place is polished. The crown at 2 operates the inner bidirectional bezel, and sometimes is very easy to move it by accident so i prefer the models with an outer bezel. The crown at 4 winds the watch and sets the time and sometimes is hard to operate.
The dial is the best part of this watch. The red one is gorgeous, the blue is beautiful, the black is classic but the silver is not really at home for this model (IMHO) but it is rare and special.. In fact all the colors have a matching rotating bezel except for the silver one that has a black bezel. The black dial is flat, matte. The red and the blue one have thin black longitudinal stripes so the color gets a little darker. All of them have the cross hair lines. At 12 they have the polished applied Citizen logo and on 6 it is written “water 100M proof” “automatic” “21 jewels”. It is very interesting the fact that the dial is marked waterproof (sometimes parawater) and the caseback parawater. This is due to the fact that it was manufactured in an era when Citizen transitioned from parawater to water resistant. Also some of them were designated for export so a different marking was needed than the ones for domestic market. Read about this here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/26/citizen-parawater-citizen-parashock/ The ones that have “waterproof” on the dial are for export. At 3 we have the day and date window, in a divided frame. The Sundays are in red lettering, the rest are black. The hour markers are trapezoidal, applied with a polished frame, jus as the date frame. The hands are the usual “Mercedes” type and the second hand has the luminous tot at the very end of it. One rare model has straight hour hand, matching the minute one. For a long time I thought it might not be original but thanks to Pawel I now saw the model in real life and it is for sure 100% original. I also saw one picture from a German catalogue on Stephen‘s blog who says: “There was also a version of this model, maybe only an export version, that had a straight hour hand, rather than the ‘Mercedes’ type. At the moment this image, from a German brochure (with credit to ‘Axel’ on the old SCWF site) is the only one I have seen.” Thanks Pawel for the pictures of the straight matching hands one! Great watch! After 40 years, the luminous material still glows beautifully at night. The rotating bezel is rather shiny, with a luminous dot inside a triangle at 12, and painted numbers every 10 minutes. The rest of the minutes are dots and every 5 minutes we have a rectangle. Great quality for this bezels. You have to see them in real life to fully appreciate them!
Here it is another straight hour hand piece, a black dialed one. Thank you Christian for the pictures!
And a pic that I like:
The movement is the automatic Citizen calibre 5270, with 21 jewels, (and a black rotor that I like a lot). It is a common movement used in a variety of models, not only divers. This means that replacing parts are easy to source. It is reliable and offers hand winding possibility. The date changes in the second position of the winding crown (first position for winding, third for time setting) but the day changes only by passing midnight with the hands. The operating crown for the movement is the one at 4.
The strap I’ve seen is most of the times a replacement one. Sometimes I have seen them on Citizen or replacement stainless steel bracelet, sometimes on rubber, nato or even leather. They can take any type you want to throw on them. I keep them on matching nato straps, red for red, black for black. This way they are really comfortable and I thing a Nato suits them well. The width at the lugs is 20mm.
Conclusion: Just as most Citizen divers – wonderful, easy to wear, a pleasure to look at, modern and vintage at the same time… timeless beauty!
Read abut my favorite Citizen diver here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/24/citizen-automatic-diver-150m-52-0110/
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Video – Citizen “Bullhead” chronograph model 67-9356
Here is a video with the Citizen octagonal “Bullhead” chronograph model 67-9356, that shows the chronograph function, start – stop – reset, and the fly-back function. Also you can see the day date settings.
The video shows the fly-back in slow motion.
Enjoy! 🙂
Here is a more detailed article about this wonderful vintage Citizen flyback chronograph.
https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/24/citizen-bullhead-chronograph-67-935
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Citizen automatic chronograph 67-9631
Citizen had two automatic calibres.
One automatic chronograph is the 8110A and you can read about the “octagon bullhead” that had this movement here:
https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/24/citizen-bullhead-chronograph-67-9356/
And the other one is the one I will write about now, the 8100A.
Both of them came with different case design, shapes and sizes with a lot of dials. This is why sometimes is difficult to identify if a certain watch is correct or “reconditioned” with aftermarket parts.
This is a one sub-dial design chronograph featuring a lot of interesting details. It was made in November 1973.
The case is made of brushed and polished stainless steel. The chronograph pushers are on the side, where the winding crown is. It is a cushion shape with a circular grain brushed front surface (I have seen a sunburst grain also, and polished – the polished is for sure not correct) and polished everywhere else. The caseback is screw in with a circular brushed flat surface. The crown is signed “CTZ”. The mineral crystal sits a little bit taller than the case, with chamfer edge. Nothing out of the ordinary, jut a simple, normal ’70’s design by Citizen, 38mm wide without the crown.
The dial is blue with orange and silver accents. It is nothing less but gorgeous! The blue changes from dark blue (almost black sometimes) to bright blue and then to a type of green really difficult to picture. Sometimes it seems unreal. You have to see one in real life in order to fully appreciate the beauty of this one. On 6 it is the sub-dial, counting the elapsed (30) minutes. This is the only sub-dial (normal for cal 8100A). The central, orange central sweeping hand counts the seconds. This sub-dial is silver with highlighted 5 minutes periods. The 5-10 minutes is blue. Not only the chronograph hands are orange but also the current time hands are painted (not entirely) orange and they have a luminous line. On 3 o’clock there are the day and the date windows, with a silver painted frame. The days and the dates are printed on black disks. The polished Citizen logo is applied and so are the hour markers. The hour markers have an orange central line ending with a luminous dot. On the outer side of the dial there is a white Tachymeter scale, for racing, you know!
The movement is the Citizen automatic, 23 jewls, calibre 8100A with hand winding capability. It was produced by Citizen starting from 1972, just as 8110A. It is a vertical clutch chronograph (beating at 28.800 bph) with column wheel and fly back function. It also features a day and date indicator. The fly back function means that you can reset the chronograph while in motion and it will start again without needing to go the entire process of pressing stop-reset-start. So, one push can do all of this. Of course that if you want to stop it you can go the classic stop-reset way. A particularity for this movement is that when you want to change the day you should pull the crown to second position (for changing the date) and push and release the reset (5 o’clock) button. It is 27 mm wide and 5,8mm high, (1mm less than 8110A). The column wheel/vertical clutch design of the movement advices to leave the chronograph running for most of the time (this way you can also see the beautiful sweeping central second hand in movement), but from time to time it should be stopped. This is a chronograph that needs to be used. It is not made for design purpose but for timing.
The bracelet is an usual one piece link design, made by Citizen, with a brushed surface that suits the watch perfectly. It is made in stainless steel with a signed “Citizen” clasp. As usual, Citizen bracelets are very comfortable with a lot of adjustments so finding the perfect fit is easy.
Conclusion: Wonderful Citizen chronograph, vintage yet so modern, with a nice wrist presence and amazing dial!
Enjoy the video of this watch here:
https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/01/25/video-citizen-automatic-chronograph-67-9631-cal-8100a/
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Citizen “Day-Date” Seven Star Deluxe 4-520068 T
This is a nice watch story about collecting vintage watches.
Everybody knows what a NOS watch means, and this one is indeed new old stock, stickers and tags intact, but… the story is not so straight forward.
This looks as the day it left production, a NOS Citizen watch, no scratches, clean sharp lines, perfect bracelet, no dirt, perfect acrylic crystal, perfect dial, perfect hands, stickers and tags. And we are talking about an old watch, made in 1969. Let’s see the watch!
The case is made of stainless steel, round, with straight lugs. Al the lines are straight, clear and bold. The watch is polished entirely. The crown is signed, as usually, “CTZ”. There is a perfectly integrated stainless steel bezel that holds in place the acrylic crystal. As you would guess, the crystal raises a little bit on the edges, but the surface is perfectly flat as parallel to one another as possible. The diameter is 39mm and it is “parawater”. (I love this Citizen trademark feature)
The dial is simple, grey, with a sun burst pattern with a date at 3 and the day at 12. Both the day and the date frames are applied and so are the Citizen logo (under the day frame), the baton hour markers (double for 12 o’clock) and the “7” badge at 6 (between the writing – “Crystal Seven” and “33 jewels”).
The movement, and now the plot thickens, inside this gorgeous NOS Citizen is… the Citizen NOS calibre 5270, with… 21 jewels! What?! Why is it written on the dial 33 jewels and the watch model suggest it is a 21 jewels movement inside? How come inside is not a 5240 (for example) or another 33 jewels movement? I have an idea, but that will be in the conclusion. As for the calibre 5270, it is an automatic, with a nice black rotor, 21 jewels, that can be winded by hand also, with a day and date function.
The bracelet is a beautiful brushed with two polished longitudinal lines. It has folded links and closes with a beautiful satined (as most of the vintage Citizen should have) clasp. The clasp has a raised polished Citizen logo with sharp lines and edges.
Conclusion: Just a beautiful, clean, honest design watch, but not so honest when it says on the dial that the movement inside should be 33 jewels, but in fact it is a 21 jewels calibre. So, my point of view regarding this is that the dial and the day wheel was changed at a later date. I wonder if the hands and date wheel belong to the watch or to the dial? After all they are basically on the same base movement (5270 and maybe 5240). I might suspect that this is the way it was made 45 years ago. So this is just a recent “marriage” watch, made from NOS original pieces. Unfortunately, watch collecting is not always easy. 🙂
Thank you Stephen for your, much more detailed answer, and your blog: http://www.sweep-hand.org: “You can see from this that the case number is for a Seven Star model, not a Crystal Seven. The model is a Seven Star Deluxe in fact with day and date window at 3 o’clock (I have a pic of that in a book, but I’ve not scanned it yet), which uses a 21 jewel 5270 movement. The dial design with a separate day window at 12 o’clock was used in the earlier Crystal Seven models up to 1968 as far as I’ve seen, so a production date of 1969 seems too late for that layout to me. So it looks to me that the NOS case and 5270 movement has been used with a NOS Crystal Seven dial and day/date wheels (I guess they would fit since it’s the same base movement) and although presented as an original NOS piece I doubt that this is correct.”
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Citizen History from 1918
The Mayor of Tokyo, Mr Shimpei Goto, named the watch “CITIZEN” with the hope that the watch, a luxury item of those times, would become widely available to ordinary citizens and be sold throughout the world. He got this right.
The official table (from official Citizen website):
| Year | Month | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 3 | Shokosha Watch Research Institute established, the forerunner of Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. |
| 1924 | 12 | First pocket watch completed. |
| 1930 | 5 | Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. established. Yosaburo Nakajima appointed president. |
| 1931 | 6 | First wrist watch completed. |
| 1936 | 5 | Tanashi Factory constructed. |
| 1941 | 7 | Production of machine tools begins. |
| 1945 | 10 | Shinji Nakajima appointed president. |
| 1946 | 3 | Eiichi Yamada appointed president. |
| 1949 | 6 | Citizen Trading Co., Ltd. established. |
| 1952 | 3 | First Japanese-made watch with a calendar introduced. |
| 1953 | 3 | Rhythm Watch Co., Ltd. becomes an affiliate. |
| 1955 | 12 | Export of wrist watches begun. |
| 1960 | 3 | Import-export agreement concluded with the U.S. Bulova Watch Co. Technical assistance agreement with India. |
| 1964 | 8 | Technology research laboratory established. |
| 12 | Citizen Business Machines established. | |
| 1965 | 3 | Production of business machines begun. (Adding machines, camera shutters) |
| 10 | Office opened in former West Germany, start of full-fledged exports to Europe. | |
| 1966 | 3 | First Japanese-made electronic watch “X-8” introduced. |
| 1970 | 3 | CNC automated lathe “Cincom” developed. |
| 1971 | 6 | Precision Machinery Division established. |
| 1976 | 3 | Production of quartz oscillators begun. |
| 1978 | 2 | Head Office moved to Shinjuku Mitsui Bldg. in Tokyo. |
| 1980 | 6 | Industry’s first microcomputer controlled line impact printer introduced. |
| 1981 | 6 | Rokuya Yamazaki appointed president. |
| 10 | Systems and Peripherals Division established. | |
| 1982 | 9 | Special Sales Division established, full-fledged sales of watch components started. |
| 1983 | 3 | Chip LED lamp CL Series developed. |
| 5 | IC sensor electronic thermometer introduced. | |
| 1987 | 6 | Michio Nakajima appointed president. |
| 1990 | 1 | Citizen of the Year annual award established. |
| 1992 | 2 | Acquired German machine tool company, Boley GmbH. |
| 1993 | 5 | World’s first multizone “Radio-Controlled Watch” introduced. |
| 1996 | 4 | Solar-powered Eco-Drive received the Eco Mark the first for a watch. |
| 1997 | 6 | Hiroshi Haruta appointed president. |
| 2001 | 3 | Head Office moved to Nishi-Tokyo. |
| 2002 | 3 | Sales of white LED as a backlight for color LCDs started. |
| 6 | Makoto Umehara appointed president. | |
| 2003 | 6 | World’s first full metal case radio-controlled watch with built-in antenna introduced. |
| 2004 | 1 | Implemented Citizen Code of Conduct. |
| 10 | Merged with Citizen Trading Co., Ltd. | |
| 2005 | 4 | Citizen Systems Japan Co., Ltd. established. |
| 10 | Five consolidated companies (Citizen Electronics, Miyota, Cimeo Precision, Sayama Precision Industries, Kawaguchiko Precision) become wholly owned subsidiaries. Names of Citizen Group companies changed. | |
| 2007 | 4 | Company name changed to Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd. |
| 2008 | 4 | Mitsuyuki Kanamori appointed president. |
| 7 | Citizen Miyota Co., Ltd. and Citizen Finetech Co., Ltd. merge. Citizen Finetech Miyota Co.,Ltd. established. |
|
| 10 | Miyano Machinery Inc. becomes a consolidated subsidiary. | |
| 2011 | 4 | Citizen Machinery Co.,Ltd. and Miyano machinery Inc. merge. Citizen Machinery Miyano Co., Ltd. estabilished. |
| 2012 | 4 | Toshio Tokura appointed president. |
Source: http://www.citizen.co.jp
And a few additions from here: http://forums.watchuseek.com/member.php?u=15164
The forerunner to what we now know as The Citizen Watch Co. Ltd., began life in 1918 under the name Shokosha Watch Research Institute. Buoyed on by an ambitious Mayor who demanded that the Shokosha-Watch Institute should have a bearing on all citizens, in so far as “people appreciated and benefited from the institute’s results”. Prophetic words indeed – from this statement, the seeds were sown that would help produce the world’s largest watch manufacturer.
1920’s
In 1924, the first pocket watch to bear the Citizen moniker was produced.
One of these first products produced by the company was purchased by Emperor Showa, Prince Regent at the time (Emperor Taisho era).
1930’s
In 1930, Yosaburo Nakajima laid the foundations of the Citizen watch empire.
In 1931, a 10½ ligne caliber is in production, followed in 1935 by an 8 ¾.
1936 saw the company expand beyond the boundaries of Japan, exporting watches to many parts of Southeast Asia.
1940’s
In 1940 a 5 1/4 ligne caliber was introduced. During World War Two, Citizen moved their production facilities to a small town 200km from their former location in Tokyo. The company manufactured many components, amongst which were chronometers and igniters for military use.
1949 saw the creation of The Citizen Trading Company. This entity controlled the distribution and marketing of Citizen watches throughout the world.
1950’s
In the early part of 1950’s, Citizen completed Cal. 960(M), its first 6 beat caliber with 17 jewels, and Cal. C, Japan’s first men’s wrist watch fitted with date display known as “Citizen Calendar”. In 1953, Citizen acquired a clock manufacturer, The Rhythm Clock Co. (currently named “The Rhythm Watch Co., Ltd”), as an affiliated company.
1956 was a momentous year for the brand. The company produced the first shock-proof Japanese watch, known as the Parashock.
In 1958, the company produced its first automatic-winding wrist watch “Auto” fitted with Cal.3KA, and Japan’s first manual winding alarm caliber with 19 jewels, Cal.980(A). Also the introduction of “Citizen Deluxe” fitted with Cal.920, Citizen’s first caliber with central seconds, proves a hit with the watch buying public, with sales of over 100 million pieces.
In 1959, the company produced the first Japanese water-resistant wrist watch, the “Citizen Parawater”, Cal. 920(2B).
1960’s
At the start of the 1960’s, the Parawater completed two trans-Pacific tests, as well as one in the Sea of Japan – all passed with flying colors.
1960, Citizen signed an export/import agreement with USA’s Bulova Watch Company.
1962 saw the company introduce an officially certified chronometer and the world’s thinnest men’s wrist watch with center seconds, the “Diamond Flake”, Cal.0700.
The year 1963 heralded the introduction of the Quartz-transistor clock.
In 1964, pursuing a diversification strategy, Citizen founded the Citizen Office Machine Co., Ltd. (today’s Japan CBM Corporation).
In 1965, Citizen started producing office equipment and precision manufacture components.
In 1966, Citizen introduces Japan’s first electronically regulated balance wrist watch known as “X-8” or “Cosmotron”.
1967 saw the company put the world’s first quartz transistor clock into the market.
1970’s
The 70’s were another prolific decade for Citizen, and also the beginning of the company’s move towards the quartz technology that dominates its current output. However, Citizen did not completely move away from mechanical movements during this decade.
1970 saw the introduction of the world’s first Titanium cased watch “X-8 Chronometer”, followed by a tuning fork caliber a year later.
In 1972, Citizen evolved the 60’s “Sports Master”. They developed an brand new automatic chronograph, named the “Easter Rabbit” – commonly referred to by English speaking collectors as the “Bullhead” (or the “Panda” in Japan). The “Easter Rabbit” showcased calibre 8110, which included a zero-position reset mechanism fitted with a shock absorber.
In 1973, the company launches its first quartz wrist watch, fitted with Cal. 8810.
During 1974, Citizen signals its intent to seriously pursue quartz technology by introducing a quartz movement, Caliber 8600EX, fitted with Japan’s first stepping motor mechanism*.
By 1975, the launch of the now legendary Crystron Mega Quartz left the watch world with little, if any, doubt about where Citizen were heading as an brand. Fitted with caliber 8650, generating a frequency of 4,194,304Hz, it is still to this day one of the world’s most accurate (and priced at approx. Y15,000,000 one of the most expensive) wrist watches ever offered for public sale.
In 1975, The Citizen Watch Co. of America Inc. is established.
In 1974, solar powered technology is first introduced, not to mention the first Japanese LCD technology watch.
1978 saw the company introduce a 0.98mm thick quartz caliber, “Quartz 790”.
By 1978, the company moves to the Shinjuku Mitsui building in Tokyo, followed in November of that year with the release of the Citizen Quartz Digi-Ana, fitted with caliber 8900 – it featured a combination of digital LCD and analogous time indication.
1980’s
By 1980, Japan had become the world’s largest producer of watches and watch movements. November of this year brought the release of ladies wrist watches fitted with the world’s smallest volume movement, “The Exceed Gold”.
Towards the end of 1981, Citizen released their 1300m Professional Diver’s watch. At the time, it was the world’s most water resistant watch available for public use.
By 1982 the diversification that started in the 1960’s, saw Citizen produce the world’s largest Neon-Light advertisement installed in Hong Kong.
1985 saw the release of the world’s first watch fitted with a depth gauge, the “Sport Depth Meter”.
By 1986, Citizen becomes the world’s largest single manufacturer of watch movements.
In 1987, the company introduced the “Voice Master” or “Voice Memo” (in Japan)”, VX-2, the first wristwatch with voice recognition.
1990’s
The 1990’s were almost as significant and prolific in terms of world’s firsts than the 70’s were for the company. In the early 1990’s Citizen launched the Analog-Aqualand, the first quartz watch with an analog depth gauge.
In 1992 Citizen became the official timekeeper of the America’s Cup yacht race.
In 1993, Citizen introduces radio-controlled watches to the market place.
1995 saw two significant additions to the world of Horology: “The Citizen” was released in May, backed with a ten year factory warranty and +/- 5 second a year accuracy; and November saw the introduction of Eco-Drive power generating technology, which quickly became Citizen’s number one seller.
1996 was another busy year. Citizen’s Eco- Drive technology was awarded the first “Eco-Mark”, an officially certified Japanese award for environmental protection. In July Citizen released the world’s thinnest solar cell equipped movement, only 3.14mm thick.
In 1997, Citizen launches the “Exceed Eco-Drive” to the Japanese market, featuring accuracy of +/- 10 seconds per year, followed closely by “Eco-Drive Signature Technology”, which corrects time differences when traveling between time zones.
1998 saw the introduction of the “Promaster Eco-Drive Aqualand” or “Promaster Aqualand Eco-Drive Analog Depthmeter” (in Japan) , the world’s first solar powered diver’s watch with an electronic depth gauge. In October, Citizen unveil the world’s smallest quartz movement, fitted to the Exceed Lady’s Eco-Drive.
By the end of the millennium, Citizen introduced “Promaster Eco-Drive Super Tough”, which can survive/withstand/resist the shock of an impact hammer 5 times more than non para-shock watches.
2000’s
Thus far, during the decade of 2000, Citizen has:
– Relocated its headquarters to Nishi-Tokyo City;
– Founded the Lead-Free Committee;
– Founded the Eco-friendly product subcommittee and green purchasing subcommittee;
– Developed the world’ slimmest radio-controlled watch;
– Introduced automatic time keeping for marathon/ekiden races through the use of IC chips;
– Introduced the Campanola range of High End Quartz watches.
– Merged [with] Citizen Shoji;
– Acquired Miyota Co. Limited as a going concern, which included several small component manufacturing subsidiaries; and
– On January 10th 2008 Citizen acquired USA’s Bulova Watch Company, including all its affiliated brands (Bulova, Caravelle, Wittnauer and Accutron) for US$247 million, making the combined company the world’s largest watchmaker.
*EDIT – Switzerland’s Girard-Perregaux hold the record for the worlds first stepper motor equipped quartz wristwatch.
source: http://forums.watchuseek.com/f9/brief-history-citizen-watch-company-175421.html
REFERENCES:
Citizen Watch Co.
Citizen Watch Co. of America Inc.
History of CSR – Citizen Watch Co. Ltd
Citizen Watch Co. Ltd – Wikipedia
Watches for the World – Uhren Juwelen Schmuck – Author; Gisbert L. Brunner
www.citizen.com.hk/
www.citizenwatch.com
I would like to thank to all involved in putting together this information and I hope that the amount of known data that will be available will grow constantly.
Read more about the first Citizen here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/09/27/citizen-shokosha-pocket-watch/
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Citizen “bullhead” Chronograph 67-9356
This is one of the best vintage chronographs that i can think of!
Of course you could say that a vintage “Paul Newman” Rolex Daytona is way better, but let’s take a look at this beautiful timepiece.
This is THE vintage automatic Citizen chronograph, Challenge Timer, also known as bullhead, Easter rabbit or Mikey Mouse – due to its particular shape. It was first introduced in 1978. (on the caseback the first digit of the serial shows the year and the next two digits are for the month) The reference number is Citizen 67-9356. Regarding the shape, you can instantly see that this is not like all the other bullheads. This one has a beautiful octagonal shape that gives it personality, masculinity and a lot of refined power.
The case is made of brushed and polished stainless steel and the case back screws into place. The round bezel is polished and the glass crystal is flat. The shape of the watch is octagonal with the lower part dropping towards the bracelet and the upper part, flat, hosting the crown and two push buttons that operate the chronograph function. The winding crown is a little bit longer than the usual so that it can be operated due to the special case design. It is signed “CTZ”. Back to the shape of the case: – all the frontal part is brushed, from top to bottom. The top flat surface is also brushed but from side to side. The sides of the watch are mirror polisher reflecting the light in unexpected, beautiful ways. The caseback is also polished. The case alone has on the visible side alone, 21 different surfaces, not counting the bezel, crown and buttons so the visual effect of brushed and polished surfaces, with a lot of angles, gives a powerful feeling.
The dial is classic, with three contrasting subdials positioned at 3, 6 and 9. There are only two types of dial colors for this model – black with white subdials and white with black subdials. (The metal base round case model has a lot of variation in dial color but for this model we have only black and white.) A lot of “restorations” are with aftermarket dials, so pay attention on this aspect when thinking of buying a Citizen chronograph. The indexes of the dial should be raised but the luminescent dot (green) should be on a lower part of the applied index. The Citizen logo is also applied. The hands are painted to better contrast with the dial. The subdial at 3 counts the elapsed minutes (30), the one at 9 – the hours(12) and for the seconds we have the central hand. The subdial at 6 is for the day and date. The day is in two languages, and sundays are painted red. For the white dial version the day and date wheels are black and for the black dial the wheels are white. This gives them a better integration in the general design. On the outside of the dial we have the classic tachymeter.
The movement is the Citizen automatic, 23 jewels, calibre 8110A with hand winding capability. It was produced by Citizen starting from 1972. It is a vertical clutch chronograph (beating at 28.800 bph) with column wheel and fly back function. (how many modern chronograph do that, and what is their cost?) Lets don’t forget it has a day and date indicator. The fly back function means that you can reset the chronograph while in motion and it will start again without needing to go the entire process of pressing stop-reset-start. So, one push can do all of this. Of course that if you want to stop it you can go the classic stop-reset way. A particularity for this movement is that when you want to change the day you should pull the crown to second position (for changing the date) and push and release the reset (1 o’clock) button. It is 27 mm wide and 6.9mm high. The column wheel/vertical clutch design of the movement advices to leave the chronograph running for most of the time (this way you can also see the beautiful sweeping central second hand in movement), but from time to time it should be stopped. This is a chronograph that needs to be used. It is not made for design purpose but for timing.
The bracelet (i saw different models but the one on the black dial in pictures is 100% sure it is original to the watch, and my favorite design for this model) is stainless steel, wider where it connects with the case and narrowing towards the signed “Citizen” stainless steel clasp. Each link is made of only one piece. Pay attention that most of aftermarket bracelet are with full links, the original is made of folded steel.
Conclusion: Beautiful to wear, beautiful to look at, interesting special design, wonderful automatic fly back chronograph movement that needs to be used… what else to ask for a vintage chronograph?
Here are some beautiful pictures of this movement:
https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2015/03/26/citizen-chronograph-calibre-8110a/
Vintage Citizen Watches 