citizen glorious

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The best Vintage Citizen calibres


I often get asked: What is the best Citizen made movement? It is a good question but there is no straight forward answer for that. What does it really mean “the best movement”? Is it the most complicated, the most decorated, the most precise? Hard to say because for each of us it could mean a different thing altogether.

Let me start by saying that when this question is asked, these three watches are the ones I think about. They are not chronographs but all are precise and regulated to high standards. They have beautiful movements and at the time they were made they competed with Grand Seiko and their Swiss counterparts and most of the time Citizen winning the game.

You can read about each and every one of them following the links below:

Which is the best? I don’t know which one is the best for you but for me there will only be one. 🙂

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Choosing the perfect watch for Baselworld 2018


In just a few days I will be at Citizen’s 100th Anniversary Party at Baselworld. Proud to be invited at this special, once in a lifetime, event. So… which watch should I wear?   I have to take so many aspects into consideration when making this decision: first of all, it should be an important watch in Citizen’s history, a rare one, a cool conversation piece, one of my best… Also, I have to think about the way I dress, about the over 12 hours drive to Basel, the weather maybe? Hm…. Tough choice! 

In order to decide I created a POLL on Vintage Citizen Watches Facebook group and here it is what my friends think I should wear:

Third place: The Citizen Glorious

The 1971 Glorious is one of the rarest and most appreciated Vintage Citizen Watches. It is not called “Glorious” for nothing. At the time of its launch it had one of the most precise and accurate movements in the world, and many say it was a lot better than the direct competitor: the best of Grand Seiko line. Awesome 36,000 bph movement, no doubt about it, perfect SS case finishing, NOS, a pride to have in such condition. Does it get any better? I would love to have it with me at Baselworld!

Second place: The Citizen Diamond Flake

The 1962 DF is so much more than a beautiful watch. It was, at the time of its first appearance, the thinnest three hands watch movement in the entire world, at only 2,75mm! This is the ultimate dress watch: thin, elegant, no date, no lume, manual wind movement, silver dial and…. let’s not forget that my example is made of solid white gold!  Talk about class! What better choice for a formal Citizen party?

First place: The Citizen Chrono Master 500m

This in my Holly Grail, one of my pride and joy watches, the 1969 beast diver! The best of the best! Would I strap this on my wrist, hell yeah! Is it a good watch to wear with a suit? Maybe it is not, but look at it, read about it and wear it! I wrote a lot about this awesome watch and no more words are needed, this is the “to go to” watch at any Citizen get together. But is it the best option for this occasion? My Facebook friends think so and this is still to be decided in the next day.

And a special mention, on of my favorites:  THE Shokosha Citizen 

Somehow this simple pocket watch went under the radar but think about it, after all it is the 100th Citizen anniversary and the watch that started it all, the first, the one to be celebrated here is in fact this one, the one and only, THE CITIZEN. So why not more votes for this one? I would vote for it and in fact I will right now and give it a chance!

The battle is on and one of these will go the 2018 Baselworld  for the 100th year anniversary party. So… which one should it be?

Will keep you updated. 😉

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Vintage Citizen Watches case finishing


We talk a lot about watches because we love them. We love to strap them on our wrists, to wind them, to play with the chronograph, to turn the bezels. We enjoy to hear them ticking and to look at them. Most of the times we appreciate the details of the dial, the fonts, the lume, the movement… But let’s take a closer look at the cases, at the way these cases are crafted and finished.

Citizen watches are made in-house so the cases are also produced by them. It is not an easy task to make so many models. This means that a lot of  tools and work hours are needed. After all it is a business and profit margins should be there and case designing, producing and finishing are resource and time consuming. Let’s not take this work for granted. Today I will present to you three different watches. I chose one chronograph, one diver and one dress watch. The best of the best (in my opinion) when it comes to (not only) case finishing.

1 – Citizen automatic chronograph 67-9357, the octagonal “bull-head”

This piece has a stainless steel case, shaped like an octagon, and has 21 different surfaces, not counting the bezel. It is a combination of brushed and mirror polished ones. The top part (where the crown and the pushers are) is brushed laterally while the front part has a longitudinal finish. All the rest is polished. So manny angles and the way that the top part flows, from the powerful top part to the organic lower one! Lovely! This is for sure my favorite chronograph case!

2 – Citizen Super Autodater 39J 150m Parawater SADS52801-Y

The diver! The professional one, the first 150m with this design language. Well… this is the only uni body case 150m. This means that the movement comes out only if you remove the bezel and the crystal. Then you can remove the movement. The case-back is part of the case and it does not come off because it is safer this way when diving with it. After all it is the Professional one. All the case is polished, except the top part of the lugs. Now look at those lugs! Art! Just look at the beveled edges and the precision of the polishing. Perfect sharp edges everywhere. What a shape!

3 – Citizen Glorious

I can talk all day about it. After all, it is THE Glorious!  Just look at the pictures and realize that they just don’t do justice to the watch. In reality it is much better. And together with all the other details, the crown, the case back GC gold inlay, the GC stainless steel signed buckle… mesmerizing! So clean, so powerful, so confident without being over the top. All the precise lines and angles, the edges, the compact elegant shape… Yeah, I know that I am stating the obvious so I will better end it here and let you magnify the picture for better understanding the beauty of VCW.

As a conclusion, I will let you have it your own after you click on the picture and magnify it. Also click on the links above to read more about these models, you wont be sorry, but I have to warn you… it is contagious and soon you will find yourself craving for more Vintage Citizen Watches. 🙂 Enjoy!

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Citizen Glorious


Citizen… GLORIOUS ! 

2014 March 13 – this is exactly the date when I decided to really start searching and get myself a Citizen Glorious! It took me 3 years, 5 months and 26 days to have it in my hands. During this time, after seeing literally over one million pictures and spending at least 2 hours each day looking at Citizen watches, I can say that I have seen only 4 or 5 for sale but none was good enough to actually make me pull the trigger. Fast forward to 2016 August: I finally found it. It looked NOS and had the original strap, buckle and tag! My heart raced and my hands got all sweaty while reading the description and looking at the pictures. It was really expensive and I was sure it will get even more expensive as the auction will take it’s course. Soon after discovering it, I contacted my friend Eric and told him about the watch, that I found it. I needed an inside man. Well… Eric is THE Glorious friend I have inside. (side note: not enough beer in the world to thank him enough 🙂 ) Unfortunately the seller decided to end the auction early… What a sad day! So sad… I started asking questions and even though Japanese guys are not really talkative, I managed to find out, with the help of another friend, that the watch will be relisted. I was determined to make it mine. The time has come for me to put my money where my mouth was. I knew I was fighting in the big league, with the serious Japanese collectors, but I was prepared for this day. I trained a lot. 🙂  So… in a few days, the watch was back on-line. I made up my mind regarding my highest bid that I was willing to commit to, and I added a little more. Then I added just a little bit more. 🙂 As the auction was about to end the price got higher and higher and higher… Obviously… I won!

In a few long days, that felt like years, the watch was finally here! Needles to say that I checked the tracking at least twice a day. I opened the box and here it was in all it’s glory: THE GLORIOUS!

(If you want to read about another great find, my Holly Grail Citizen, you can do it here, The Citizen Chrono Master 500m diver. )

citizen-glorious

So… The Glorious, reference 4-770285 Y.  Stainless steel case with the perfect finishing. I have never seen another Citizen case polished like this. So precise, so… beautiful. Some say that Grand Seiko is the best when it comes to case polishing, but maybe, just maybe they didn’t see this. The buckle is signed with GC logo and marked stainless steel. No wonder that one buckle alone sold a few years ago with over 700 USD. The black strap was original too but I changed it with a Citizen brown one for the photo shooting because the black one was almost to fragile to handle all the fuss. It was placed for safe keeping along with the GC tag.  The winding crown is SS too, with the GC logo. It is made of two parts. The outer part winds it (first position) and sets the time (second position). The inner part (the one with the logo) is used for changing the day and the date. Keep the watch vertical and press it. The date will jump. Turn the watch twelve side down and press it and the day changes alternating English and Japanese.

The dial is simple, white. No luminous material, no useless writing. It doesn’t need to brag about it. So Japanese…  The applied polished Citizen and GC logo and printed in black  is just enough: Automatic 36000. It is after all a high beat one, 10 per second. And it is no ordinary Leopard. It is the Glorious. In fact it is powered by in-house calibre 7750, gold plated, that has a daily rate in 5 position better than COSC of today. It was guaranteed to be at -2 +3 S/ day! Mine after all these years (made in 1971 September) seems to run at +1S/ day.

Measures (as from Stephen’s blog article HERE ) for Citizen watches: 

Standard            Excellent               Glorious

  • Mean daily rate in the 5 positions

S. -3.0 +12.0      E. -1.0 +10.0        G. -2.0 +3.0

  • Mean variation of the daily rate

S. 3.2                    E. 2.2                    G. 1.8

  • Maximum variation of daily rate in the same position on two consecutive days

S. 9.0                    E. 6.0                    G. 4.0

  • Difference between horizontal and vertical positions

S. ± 12.0               E. ± 8.0               G. ± 6.0

  • Greatest difference between mean daily rate and any individual rate

S. 18.0                   E. 12.0                 G. 5.0

  • Variation of rate per 1 degree centigrade

S. ± 1.0                  E. ± 0.6               G. ± 0.3

  • Rate resumption

S. ± 9.0                  E. ± 5.0               G. ± 4.0

Also, in the same article written by Stephen, you can see the evolution of the best Citizen calibres, starting from the awesome hand winding Chronometer and going through the Chrono Master range with the Elite special and Superior Chronometer and then the Leopards  with the Highness.

Each movement is marked with a serial number, and so is the case back. Unfortunately, Citizen doesn’t have an archive to match the two serials. Well.. the case back… beautiful again. What can I say, I love the way it looks, with the gold medallion, like the Chrono Masters. This time we don’t have an eagle inlay but a GC one.

citizen-glorious-vintage

What else? I could talk a lot about it, the simple, elegant look, so understated beauty and power at the same time, so clean and perfect in every way… How can someone not love it? Is this the best vintage Citizen? It could be.

And, one more picture, just because: 🙂 Oh, do’t forget to click on it and magnify it. The details are outstanding.

The Glorious also came in a few other options. Here are a few pictures from the catalogue with some variants, a date only and a solid gold? (or is it Gold Filed? – EGF 100µ?) one. You cab see the price at the time 55 It also came in a slightly different case design and one with dark blue dial. Click the pictures to magnify them for better details.

citizen-vintage-glorious-leopard-copy

And here it is a NOS blue dial one (pictures from online seller) found in 2022 February:

citizen glorious blue dial

To make a long story short, because I could go on and on and on… this is…

The glorious…  GLORIOUS!