citizen alarm date

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Citizen Alarm Date Custom V2 Blackie


Without a doubt this is one of my all time favorite alarms! Sporty, great wrist presence, complicated, beautiful and useful! Here it is the NOS, black coated, 1971 Citizen Alarm Date Custom V2 blackie! (model  4-310179Y)

I wrote a few articles about Citizen alarms powered by this movement so the data is the same: a hand wound movement, calibre 3102 (date), 21 Jewels, 18,000 bph. The twin crowns are for time setting and winding the main spring and the other one for setting and winding the alarm. The crown at 2 o’clock in first position is winding the alarm while the alarm is deactivated. If you pull it in the second position you can set the alarm (counterclockwise) and the alarm is activated. Pressing it while the alarm is ringing will stop it. The crown at 4 will wind the watch and pulling it out will set the time. The alarm will ring for about 13-16 seconds.

citizen alarm date custom v2

The case is black coated and so is the bracelet. Read about another beautiful blackie V2 HERE. The three crowns, the bezel and the case back are made of stainless steel and are polished.

The dial is gorgeous, black, with applied luminous hour markers that are still glowing today. The date is located at 3 o clock, in a white frame, and is printed in white on a black date wheel. The second hand is orange and we have one more color, yellow, used for the inner bi directional rotating bezel. This bezel is operated by the third crown, the one located at 10 o’clock. You can use this feature for easily reading the elapsed time, up to 60 minutes, just as you do with your usual diver.

Read more about other alarms on the dedicated page HERE.

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His and hers Citizen alarm – diver style


Here is of my favorite vintage watches! What can I say, I love diving watches! Despite the fact that it is not a real diving one, it is made in this style and has an added bonus complication.

As one can clearly see, because is written on the black beautiful dial, in white lettering, this is an alarm watch, Citizen 63-7076. It is powered by the usual Citizen alarm date calibre, 3102 (engraved underneath the balance wheel). This is based on the USSR calibre AS 1475. It is a manual winding movement, with 21 jewels running at 18000 bph. The watch has two crowns , signed “C”. The top one is for setting and winding the alarm while the bottom one is for setting the time and date and also winding the movement.

citizen diver alarm 63-7076The entire case is made entirely in stainless steel, the bezel is bidirectional frictional type while the crystal is domed acrylic with a date magnifier on the outer surface. I enjoy the fact that the watch looks good on any kind of bracelet or strap you throw at it (nato, rubber, leather, mesh…) Of course it looks good on the Citizen bracelet too. 🙂 The caseback is snap on type and for the alarm can work it can be placed only in a certain way. The active part of the alarm from the movement engages the passive part (the pin) of the caseback only if the two parts fit as they are supposed to.

citizen alarm diverCitizen also made one for the ladies, so here are a few pictures I found online on e-bay posted by antiquewatches-de. This one is a smaller watch and doesn’t have a date (calibre 9812). The crowns are signed “CTZ”.

citizen alarm diverThis year, and the previous one, we saw a growing trend of “his and hers” watches, well Citizen did it so beautifully, 50 years ago! And such a beautiful vintage pair this is today!

Here is a video of another Citizen alarm with the same movement and this is how it sounds: 

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/02/17/vintage-citizen-alarm-date-4h-alds51301a-y/

And this is another awesome his and hers real diving Citizen pair: 

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/03/15/citizen-ladies-diver-150m-model-54-0919/

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Vintage Citizen Alarm Date (4H) – ALDS51301a-y


Beautiful watch, elegant design, and excellent, close to mint, condition. The sound of this watch is loud and powerful. The bracelet is comfortable and… let’s take it one step at a time.

For now… enjoy the video:

For more information about this watch go to:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/01/04/vintage-citizen-alarm-date-alds51301a-y/

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VCW Facebook group page


Facebook is a great place to meat great people with really great watches. 🙂 This is why we have created the Vintage Citizen Watches official group page. Check it out and add yourself and your friends! Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vintagecitizenwatches/354822734656228/?comment_id=354922047979630&notif_t=like citizen facebookThank you for looking!

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Vintage Citizen Alarm Date – ALDS51301a-y


Starting 2014 with a 1968 Citizen Alarm Date – model ALDS51301a-y.

This is, again, an alarm Citizen, but in in an entirely different presentation.

citizen alarm date alds51301a-yBeautiful watch, elegant design, and excellent, close to mint, condition. The sound of this watch is loud and powerful. The bracelet is comfortable and… let’s take it one step at a time.

The case has a classic shape, round, with nicely shaped lugs, not too thin, not too thick, following the shape of the wrist. The caseback has a flat surface but it is raised to integrate the movement. Due to the curvature of the lugs the watch sits comfortable on the wrist. The caseback snaps into a certain position because it needs to be in a unique place so the alarm will interact as it should, with the pin attached to the inside of it. The place where the pin is, is also visible on the outside. There are no crown guards to interfere with the overall case design. The twin crowns are of a consistent size, easy to operate, signed “CTZ”. One of the main visual attractions is the fluted bezel that compliments the design of the watch. The crystal is made of domed acrylic with a magnifier at 3’o clock for a better view of the date.

The dial is a stunning sunburst pattern grey that, depending on the lighting conditions, displays many shades ranging from dark grey (almost flat black) to light, shinny, bright grey. The hands are polished, the hour and minute hands are with green luminous material. The alarm hand is shorter with a triangle tip. The dots for the alarm hours are painted on the dial with luminous material as well. There are small lines every 15 minutes but only the hourly ones are luminous. The baton markers for the main hours are raised, applied and polished. They are faceted for a better legibility. The writting on the dial is thin, white, painted. It reads: “4H” (this is for 4 hands) “Citizen Alarm Date” and on the lower part ” Para 40 meter” and “21 jewels”.  The date wheel is white with black digits.

citizen 3102 alarm dateThe movement is the USSR calibre AS 1475 based Citizen alarm.  This is the calibre hand winding 3102 (date), 21 Jewels, 18000 bph. The crowns are one for the time and the one for the alarm. The crown at 2 o’clock in first position is winding  the alarm and the alarm is deactivated. If you pull it in the second position you can set the alarm (counterclockwise) and the alarm is activated. Pressing it while the alarm is ringing will stop it. The crown at 4 will wind the watch and pulling it out will set the time. The alarm will ring for 13-16 seconds. The date is set by changing 22-24h. The movement has a power reserve of about 50 hours and it runs great if winding it once a day. It is Parashock.

The bracelet is (as the entire watch) made of stainless steel. It has the most comfortable design ever – beads of rice. The central part is polished and the side links are brushed. As for the clasp – it is the other way around, the central part is satined and the lateral in polished. The clasp is signed – “Citizen”.

citizen alarm date alds51301a-yConclusion: Beautiful watch, comfortable, elegant design. It has a loud sound and a pleasant design. Such a beautiful vintage time piece!

For a VIDEO of this watch (with alarm sound) go to:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/02/17/vintage-citizen-alarm-date-4h-alds51301a-y/

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Vintage Citizen alarm date 67-7050


Let me show you my first vintage Citizen Alarm Watch. 

This is the stainless steel model, the Citizen reference 67-7050, and it is really loud!

Screen Shot 2013-12-25 at 23.04.21One of severals designs that is used by Citizen to fill the gap for alarm watches. This one is my favorite (I will write about some other models), with a blue sunburst dial, the cushion shaped case and this particular vintage bracelet. I love the sound of it, i love the feeling when I wear it and it vibrates. I often set the alarm just for the pure pleasure of hearing it.

The case is, as usual, made of stainless steel, with a polished frontal part and brushed sides, in a sunburst pattern. It is a relatively large watch with a nice wrist presence. The bezel is spectacular, with a combination of polished raised areas and sandblasted lowered square areas. It accommodates two crowns, one for setting the alarm and one for setting the time and date. The crystal is acrylic,domed, with a magnifier for the date.

The dial is the most beautiful part of this watch, bright blue, with a sunburst pattern, white (handwritten characters) writing. There is an outer black ring that has the hour markers, with luminous material (still working today).  The date window (red digits) is a t 3 o’clock, inside a painted white frame. The hands are simple, with a luminous part at the extremities, and the alarm is shaped as an arrow with a triangle inside a circle tip. The dial is bouncing the light in so many different ways that you have to see it in person to fully appreciate the entire beauty and finish.

citizen alarm vintageThe movement used is a handwound movement, based on the famous USSR calibre AS 1475.  There are the calibres 3100 and 3102 (date), 21 Jewels, 18000 bph. This one is the Citizen calibre 3102. The crowns are for the time and the other for the alarm. The crown at 2 o’clock in first position is winding  the alarm and the alarm is deactivated. If you pull it in the second position you can set the alarm (counterclockwise) and the alarm is activated. Pressing it while the alarm is ringing will stop it. The crown at 4 will wind the watch and pulling it out will set the time. The alarm will ring for 13-16 seconds.

The bracelet is shared with other vintage Citizen models but has an interesting design with curved large perforated links.  Nothing much to say about it, but for sure it is well integrated in the general watch design. The clasp is stainless steel, signed (as usual).  

citizen alarm calibre 3102

The box is small, made of plastic and looks like this. It is very rare for a watch to be found with it’s box after all these years.

Screen Shot 2014-02-17 at 16.41.17

Conclusion: Beautiful design, beautiful dial, loud sound.  A true vintage timepiece with an alarm complication.