After my plan for week 2 was disrupted by the arrival of the Highness, I can now get back on track and present my Super Deluxe.
Citizen made higher grade models of their earlier hand winding watches, and prefaced them with ‘Super’ to distinguish them. So we can find, although not that often, Super versions of the Ace, the Hi-Line and of course the Deluxe. The Deluxe was Citizen’s hugely successful line launched in 1958, with sales worth over 100 million yen until production ended as soon as 1963. The Super version was also launched in 1958, and production of this ended around 1966.
What makes the Super Deluxe er…Super? In terms of the accuracy of its timekeeping the watch was subject to a higher level of adjustment at the factory – the standard Deluxe movement is marked as having 3 adjustments, whilst the Super is marked as ‘Specially’ adjusted, suggesting to me adjustment in at least 5 positions. Another indication is that the jeweling range is up a notch to 23 and 25 rather than the standard model’s 19, 21 and 23. The quality of finish applied to the movement is also superior, and gold filled cases were typical.
Mine is from 1962:
There were a couple of dial variations, one has an applied logo and three stars at the 6 o’clock position. Mine has simple printed markings in an elegant cursive script:
The case is gold-filled, using 14k gold to a depth of 80 microns, serial number shows production in February 1962:
The dial finish and printing are shown better in this shot:
The hands are nicely shaped to ensure they reach the outer edge of the dial under the curve of the crystal:
Finally, let’s take a look at the 9200 movement – finished in gold plate the markings clearly show that it’s a Super model:
The Super Deluxe – a high grade hand winding watch which oozes the dress style of its day, and would have represented citizen’s most accurate timepiece at the time just prior to the launch of the Chronometer in 1962.
Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog 
Hi Stephen, there is a green dial version of this Citizen Super Deluxe on Chrono24 right now (you might like the photos for your archive), with different caseback markings and serial number 40211544, which suggest production did not end in 1963 but continued in 1964. They are asking $1,187 / € 1,140, wow…
Hi – this is hugely over-priced imho. The description says that these are overhauled and ‘re-polished’. All the watches seem way over-polished, and this takes away a great deal of the original crisp lines. I wonder whether it has been re-plated too? Maybe gold filled watches can be polished like this since the plating is thicker. It all looks too shiny! I have never seen another Super Deluxe with a green dial, so I would seriously wonder whether this is a re-dial.
My comment about production ending in 1963 relates to the Deluxe, which is correct. For clarity I’ve now added that the Super versions were in production longer, to 1966/7 in fact.
Stephen
Ok, that is very clear now. I agree that these watches look way too shiny and new, it’s literally incredible. However, he is – to my limited knowledge – the only person on Chrono24 (or in the world) with such a vast offering of vintage Citizens. That is in itself quite special. He sells other brands too, so at least he is trying to increase the popularity of vintage Citizen. I hope he doesn’t succeed though, because underappreciated means undervalued and I bet Citizen fans enjoy the usual friendly prices.
I’ve certainly noticed that prices, especially of Citizen’s higher end / rare / divers has increased over recent years, so the era of ‘bargain buys’ may be largely gone……Stephen
And the same seller (GMTSKY) has many more very pricy 60s Citizens!
Very pricy is definitely correct!