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/
Starting 2014 with a 1968 Citizen Alarm Date – model ALDS51301a-y.
This is, again, an alarm Citizen, but in in an entirely different presentation.
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.
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.
The 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”.
Conclusion: 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/
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!
One 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.
The 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).
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.
Conclusion: Beautiful design, beautiful dial, loud sound. A true vintage timepiece with an alarm complication.
Vintage Citizen Watches 