day-date

by

Citizen Auto Dater Seven para40mwater day-date


A special place among my favorite Citizen movements is reserved for the Jet ones. And this one has the last of the Jets Citizen ever made. My watch was made in September 1966 and Citizen produced these movements up to about 1967. The last JET is the day-date Auto Dater Seven.

citizen auto dater para water

As you can see, it is in perfect, NOS condition, with price tag and booklet. The writing on the paper is in Japanese only. The day wheel is written in Japanese so, it is safe to conclude that, the watch was intended for JDM (Japan domestic market). The entire case as well as the bracelet, are made of beautifully finished stainless steel. The crystal is acrylic. and has a date magnifier.

The style of the watch is elegant, with a fluted bezel, simple silver dial with a sunburst effect. There is no luminous material on the dial or hands. The frontal part of the case is brushed, and all the rest is polished. The bracelet is also finished with a nice combination of polished and brushed surfaces.  As I mentioned before, it is a day-date. That means that in addition to showing the date (at 3 o’clock), it also displays the day of the week (at 12). The day is in Japanese only, printed in black with red for Sundays. All the hour markers, the day and date frame and the Seven logo are applied.

The crown is used for winding the watch (although it is an automatic it can be winded by hand) and setting the time in the first position. The day changes by advancing the hands passing midnight. The date changes by pulling the crown. One pull of the crown will advance the day of the week one time. The crown get back to first position by it’s own due to a spring. Pulling it again, will change the day one more time. This system was named by Citizen “Easy Change”. What can I say, it is easy indeed.

The movement, is the last Jet, calibre 4102. It has 25 Jewels and beats at 18,800 bph. Beautiful!

Read more about watches powered by Jet movements HERE.

Advertisement
by

Citizen “Leopard” 150m diver day-date 4-722710 Y


In fact it is not really a “Leopard” but it is equipped with the same movement that can be found mostly in the Leopard range. Also, the case style is the well known one used by Citizen in their 150m divers. What can I say, the perfect combination of style and functionality. This is the (October 1972) Citizen 150m day-date diver model 4-722710 Y.

citizen 150m day date leopard 7200 4-722710 y

The case, as stated before, is similar (not exactly the same though) with other 150m divers. Read about similar divers HERE. It has the same 40mm diameter, brushed top surface, polished sides, large unsigned screw in crown, screw in case back. The lug width is 20mm. There is also a bidirectional friction type bezel. Again, the bezel has a few variation among 150m divers. It is important to pay attention to this because a lot of these pieces come with aftermarket bezel inserts or wrong ones. I wrote an article about one particular fake & real inserts HERE. The crystal has a flat surface and it is concave on the inside. Of course, the water resistance is 150m.

The interesting feature of the watch is the automatic movement, Citizen cal 7210, 24 jewels. It works at 28,800 bph, 8 ticks per second, 4 Hz. It can be hand winded too as most of the Citizen movements do. Because the watch has this calibre, it displays the date as well as the day of the week. The dial is black, with raised hour markers, logo and day-date frame. The printing is white. On the bottom it is also printed the dial code 726257 Y and Japan. The hands are similar all across the range, with slight variations in size and shape. In this case the sweeping second hand is straight without the luminous dot as others have. I have seen a variation of this exact model with a black day and date wheel and that one has a second hand tip with a luminous ball.

The strap is a curved end Tropic rubber one that fits the watch nicely and gives it a lot of personality. Lovely watch to have and wear.

Read more about Citizen divers HERE.

by

Citizen Chrono Master Auto Day Date 5240


“Citizen Chrono Master”, what a beautiful sound!

This is the Day-Date automatic version,  ACSS 2929 Y GN2.  It is made in a stainless steel case with a screw in caseback. On the caseback the eagle medallion gold inlay proudly proves the high grade of the watch. The case finish is superb, having clean lines, angles and polished surfaces.

citizen chrono master auto day date

The movement is the Citizen calibre automatic 5240 with 33 jewels, beating at 18,000 bph. It can be hand winded too. Chronomasters can also be a date only or even no date. There are some Chronomaster movements adjusted to a higher precision called Chronometer. This was possible by the adjuster positioned on the balance.  It is a quick set date, and it hack for better time setting. The day changes by advancing the hour hand past midnight.

Some of these watches came on leather straps, others on stainless steel mesh bracelets. I have yet to find a real one on bracelet. The one presented here was made in 1968 and back then had a price list of 28,000 YEN.

Read more about Citizen Chronomasters here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/chronomaster/

by

Seven Star Citizen 100m diver 67-5776, APSS-52904 Y


This was one of the last years (1971) that Citizen used the term “parawater”. Unfortunately it came to an end and this particular model was one of the last parawater divers. It marked the end on an era. What can I say, I just love this Seven Star – Vintage Citizen Diver!

citizen diver 67-5776It was made in four dial color variations: black, blue, silver and orange, my favorite is the orange. This era was so colorful and full of life and it is also true when speaking of Citizen watches.

Update 2018 April:

Kim, aka WVE from The Seiko and Citizen watch forum, was king enough to let me use his pic so you can enjoy them. Thanks Kim, lovely collection you have there! 😉 Blue, Silver, Orange and Black dial!

The case is the well known Citizen cushion shape having a diameter of 44 mm without the crown. It is made in stainless steel and so is the caseback and the bidirectional frictional type bezel. The bezel insert is aluminum? painted black with white numbers and markers. At 12 there is a luminous dot inside an upside down triangle. The entire case is polished, except for the frontal surface that has a circular brushed finish. The acrylic crystal is raised and flat. I love the way the light  bounces back from underneath an acrylic crystal! The water resistance is 100m, maybe because the signed CTZ crown is a non screw in type. But… 100m is plenty for normal use.

blue dial citizen diver 67-5776

The dial is made from two distinct pieces, glued together; an outer ring is sitting higher than the dial itself and has hourly numerals from 13 to 24. A silver ring delimitates the two surfaces and has minute markers. The lower part has raised polished hour markers with luminous material. The spade shape hands have luminous centers as well. By contrast, the second hand is simple, entirely polished. At 3 o’clock the watch has the day and date display inside a polished frame that connects the two parts of the dial. The usual Citizen logo is at 12 and at 6 it reads: “para 100m water, automatic, 21 jewels”.

citizen 7270 automatic 21 jewels

The movement is the 7270 calibre – simple, reliable, automatic with 21 jewels and beating at 21,600bph. As usual with Citizen, the automatic movement can be hand winded. It has jewel bearings for barrel and a power reserve of 41 hours. It features a quick set date and the day changes from advancing from 20 to 0:30. The sweeping second hand doesn’t hack.

The bracelet is a common Citizen design called bead of rice that fits the case shape really nice. I have seen other designs (see the cool one on my NOS APSS-52904 Y below) but a lot watches found today have nato replacements or rubber straps. Certain leather straps look good on it too. It is easy to find a bracelet or a strap because it has 20mm between the lugs and a look that makes it easy to wear on anything.  

vintage citizen 100m 67-5776

Update 2018 April:

It seems that the models above are export models since the domestic ones, for Japan market, are marked “Seven Star APSS-52904 Y” and have a slightly different dial. I managed to find a NOS one and here it is, also side by side with the orange export version. The case back is also different, and so is the winding crown. Take a look. UPDATE to the info above from my fellow collector Stephen: It seems the APSS52904Y would be found in the slightly earlier 61-5773 which uses the 52 movement. That model also uses a different, smaller crown.

And side by side:

Conclusion: Beautiful watch, warm, colorful and full of life.  One of the last “parawater” divers made. A real joy to wear and look at.

Read about other Citizen divers here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/diver-vcw/

Read about “Parawater” here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/26/citizen-parawater-citizen-parashock/

by

Citizen Leopard 36000 pocket watch 67-2192


The first pocket watch presented here, a rare (never seen another one and my searches lead me nowhere) Citizen Leopard.

This is not only extremely rare but very interesting too.

Citizen Leopard pocket watch 67-2192First of all it is a pocket watch. Citizen had a lot of pocket watches but why is this so special? Well, because it is a Leopard – the hi-beat range – 36000 bph. Also, very interesting, it is an automatic! Why is it an automatic, I don’t know, it doesn’t make a lot of sense because as a pocket watch it doesn’t get enough movement to wind up. Nevertheless, a beautiful movement that is a joy to look at.  The case seems to be mirror polished stainless steel but I see no references to the material . It is not large but rather small, the same as a wrist watch. There is also a nice chain that compliments it really nice. Both sides have a thick mineral crystal that sit high above the case. Beautiful design! As for the crown, is signed, as usual, “CTZ”.

The beautiful hi-beat parashock Citizen calibre 7230, running at 36000 bph can be admired because the watch has a see through back crystal. In fact the watch face has the same crystal shape and size as the back, so the same importance was given to displaying the movement as it was given to the dial part. This says something about this movement. It has 28 jewels, it has a sweeping central second hand that hacks, it can be winded by hand also and has a quickset date feature.

citizen leopard 7230C_0048 copy

Here is a scan of the movement from a vintage Citizen book to better understand the beautiful movement.

Citizen leopard calibre 7200 36000

One of the nicest feature of the back (apart the movement and the crystal) is actually the metallic blue ring that has printed: Automatic Citizen 67-2192 OR-D-1 (or is it OR-D-i ?) 4-721811 . Not too much information unfortunately. If someone knows more about this magnificent piece, please let me know!

The dial is simple silver, with delicate vertical brushed lines. The hour markers are applied with black  painted center. They share the same design as the hands. Only the sweeping hand is bright orange to accentuate the hi-beat movement. It has a wonderful sweeping motion, almost gliding above the dial. The Citizen logo is applied too.  The day and date are located at 3 o’clock, inside a window, both having it’s own frame.

citizen leopard 36000Conclusion: A rare elusive watch, beautiful to operate, listen to and look at. It has a wonderful design with an orange accent on the face (the second hand) and a bright metallic blue on the back (the ring).

Check out the video here:

https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/01/28/video-citizen-leopard-pocket-watch-67-2192/

Here is the elegant wrist watch version with the same movement:

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

Enjoy!

UPDATE:

I found its pair, the Citizen Seven Star Deluxe pocket watch, so you can see them side by side HERE.

by

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!

by

Citizen automatic diver 51-2273


Another vintage diver is the model 51-2273.

This one is  more recent than the previously featured watches here.

citizen diver 51-2273One 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.

citizen diver 51-2273The 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.

citizen diver 51-2273 Miyota 8200AConclusion: 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!

by

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.

Citizen aviator 51-1811

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.

Pilot aviator Citizen

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.

RAF aviation watch RAF Citizen

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.

by

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.

vintage citizen automatic chronograph 8100

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!

Screen Shot 2014-03-16 at 11.28.56

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. 

vintage citizen chronograph 8100a

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/

by

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.

vintage NOS citizen 4-520068 T

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”).

vintage NOS citizen 4-520068 T

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.

vintage NOS citizen 4-520068 TConclusion: 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.”