The Date Flake is one of the more obscure hand winding models – first produced in 1964 it uses the same thin movement as the better known Diamond Flake, which was the thinnest Japanese watch when it was introduced in 1962 (https://sweep-hand.org/2013/05/15/this-weeks-featured-watch-51-the-diamond-flake/) . Citizen also introduced a Diamond Flake Date in 1964, so there is scope here for confusion! The key differences are that the Diamond Flake uses the 0700/0701/0702 movement with either 25 or 31 jewels, the Diamond Flake Date uses the 2700 movement with 25 jewels, and the Date Flake uses the 2710 movement with 22 jewels. The lower jewel count indicates a slightly lower grade of watch and this is also reflected in the steel movement, whereas the Diamond Flake models have gold plated movements. Original retail prices supported this with the stainless steel models selling for ¥9,000, ¥11,000 and ¥8,000 respectively.

This stainless steel example is from 1968. The silvery white dial has simple black centred hour batons and hands, very similar in design to the Chrono Master models:

The back has the model name and the older style case / model number (DAFS2901), along with a June 1968 serial number and a water proof case type code of OR-D-2:

The back is very flat, to help keep the overall thickness to a minimum. From the side the case is clearly slimline:

No applied Citizen logo on these watches, but an elegant cursive script is used:

Here’s the 22 jewel movement, as per the Diamond Flake, but without the gold finsh:

This final shot shows the design of the hands more clearly:

The watch runs at 18,000 beats per hour and is keeping very good time. A classicly simple design, it is a compact 36mm across (excluding the crown) and is very easy to wear.