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Diamond Flake, Diamond Flake Date, Flake Date


Diamond Flake… yes… the famous Citizen Diamond Flake (DF) had two younger brothers, the Diamond Flake Date (DFD) and the Flake Date (FD). The older, well known brother held the record of the worlds thinnest three hands watch, with a a movement as thin as 2.75 mm. Now, that is slim indeed! Citizen named this calibre 0700 and had 25 jewels and was gold plated.

citizen diamond flake dateAll three of them are made of stainless steel and are powered by the same base manual wind movement. The crystal is acrylic and the dial is simple and elegant for all of them. Obviously the DFD and FD have a date complication that adds some thickness to the overall appearance of the watch. This can be easily seen in the picture below.

citizen diamond flake, date flake

The shape of the lugs and the lugs width are also different. The crowns are similar and are not signed. On top of the added date, the youngest of the three are also marked Parawater for 40m.

diamond flake, diamond flake date, date flake

The case backs give clear indication to their age: 1963, 1964, 1966. The middle one had a beautiful diver engraving (the Parawater logo, not an indication that you should take it diving). The movements look almost identical but the third one is no longer gold plated and it only has 22 jewels.  The first one is Citizen calibre 0700, the second calibre 2700 while the last one is the calibre 2710 and it is no longer marked Diamond Flake. They all run at 18,000 bph.

citizen diamond flake thin watch diamond flake date flake

All three are beautiful watches, simple and elegant and a nice addition to any Citizen collection. Even though the DF is the famous one, the youngest two (DFD and FD) are more rare and more difficult to find in a good condition.

If you want to read more about the oldest one, the DF, click HERE.

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Vintage Citizen Diamond Flake – World’s thinnest watch


What is so special about this one? 

Is it made with diamonds? No. Than what?

Citizen Diamond Flake

The case is made in fact of stainless steel and is really elegant. This is how a suit wrist watch should be like. Simple, 3 hands, white dial, manual wind. Back to the case, we can see that it is really, really thin. In fact it is called Diamond Flake because at the time it was the thinest watch with 3 hands (about 7 mm thickness and 38mm diameter, with a really nice wrist presence and appears larger). In August 1962 it was the world’s thinnest 3 hands watch developed. The acrylic crystal is slightly domed making it thicker. The winding crown is small but easy to operate, not signed. On the case back it is marked with the model, serial no. (dating this watch February ’63, that means it is one of the early production).

The dial is very simple, silver, with a sunburst effect. The hour markers are applied and both the hour markers and the hands are polished without luminous material. It is marked: ” Citizen Diamond Flake” and “Parashock 25 jewels”. At 12 o clock there is the Diamond Flake logo.

Citizen Diamond Flakecitizen diamond flaThe movement is a piece of art named Citizen Calibre 0700. I love the way that it is gold plated.  At the time the race for slimmer watches was on and having a thin movement was a must. Well, this one was the champion. It is only 2.7mm, 0.2mm thinner than the competitor Seiko Gold Feather. The calibre 0700 has 25 Jewels (calibre 0701 had 31 jewels). Later on a date was added to the 25 jewels movement and this how Citizen calibre 2700 was born.

The strap is a vintage Citizen brown leather one, with a stainless steel buckle. I think it compliments the watch nicely and adds something to the overall appeal of the watch.

Pocket watch diamond flake

The watch can also be found (not easy, but it can de found – I did it) in a pocket watch form. Here it is, with original chain. Same beautiful movement in a large case, with an acrylic crystal.

Conclusion – some might say that this is the ultimate elegant watch, some might say it the perfect suit one, but no one argues the fact that it has it’s well defined place in history as a champion of it’s own time.

The world’s thinnest 3 hands watch developed

Competition for thin movement at that time :

1958 -Citizen Deluxe               – 3.65
1960 – Seiko Liner                    – 3.35
1961 – Citizen Hi-Line              – 3.25
1960 – Seiko GoldFeather       – 2.95
1962 – Citizen DiamondFlake – 2.75

Update: I also found (pictures from the seller) a black dialed one (still not sure if original or repainted dial) in a gold plated case. The dial on this one is marked Parawater.

citizen diamond flake parawater

Update 2017: We can’t really argue on the fact that this model is one of the best dress watches, isn’t it? Having it made of solid White Gold I guess it makes it even better. Is it perfect this way? I don’t know but it is a real beauty. Well… here it is so let me introduce to you, the pure awesome, the best of the best, my keeper,  THE WG DIAMOND FLAKE! At the time the price was 40,000 JPY, and that was expensive!

Read about the three brothers: Citizen Diamond Flake, Citizen Diamond Flake Date and Citizen Date Flake, HERE.