A question a visitor called Lawrence recently asked reminded me of something I have never quite got to the bottom of – did the 67-9011 Challenge Timer, commonly known as the ‘Bullhead’, originally come with white day and date wheels, or only with black day and date wheels? Now this may seem a somewhat geeky bit of detail, and not exactly the ‘meaning of life’, but if I can answer this question I can add it to my guide to buying an original piece. I have my own theory about it, but I’ll keep that to myself for now 🙂
So, if you have what you believe to be a fully original example, I would like to know (a) what the colour of the day & date wheels are, (b) what the day wheel language combination is – this may give a clue to my theory! – and (c) what is the dial colour (i.e. one version had a black or grey dial and a printed, not applied, Citizen logo).
Although there are other versions of the ‘bullhead’ with the same case design, to keep it simple, at least for now, I want to stick to the most common 67-9011 model, with one of the following case numbers: 4-901177, 4-901053, or 4-901011. In the catalogue images I have of these models, the day and date wheels are black……
Here’s one of my examples of case number 4-901177 – as you can see it has white wheels, and the language combo is English and Arabic:
It will be great to hear from anyone with an original piece – please remember to answer all three questions and use the comment facility for this particular post for your answers.
Thanks in advance!
Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog 
My example (case: 4-901177)
(a) colour of the day & date wheels: black
(b) what the day wheel language combination: english-spanish
(c) what is the dial colour: silver, black subdials & applied silver Citizen logo.
thank you Konstantinos
Hi Stephen
My challenge timer 4-901177K has a black on black day date with english and Spanish days silver face and an applied citizen logo
You should still have photos I sent a few years back
Regards
Alva
Hi Alva – thank you
Hi! I am a 67-9011’s first owner.
A) Black wheels.
B) Spanish and English languages.
C) Silver dial, black subdials and applied logo.
Regards. Luis.
Hi Luis, thank you
Had a reply on the SCWF (thanks to ‘koekoek’):
A: both are black
B: English and French
C: Dial is white
Hello Stephen,
I have a restoration project (4-901177 Y)
Citizen Challenge, which I believe to be original, but in poor condition. To answer your questions tho’;
A) Day/ Date wheels are both white.
B) English/ Arabic
C) white, with applied Citizen name, with black sub-dials. Hope this helps!
Best regards
Nick Miller
Thanks Nick, very helpful – that matches mine 🙂 Stephen
Well we haven’t had a massive response! But I am very grateful to Konstantinos, Alva, Luis and Nick for their replies here, and for Koekoek on the SCWF. Although it’s not quite a full research sample, I’ll do a post on my theory about the white and black wheels 🙂
Hi Stephen,
Sorry for the late response.
My Challenge Timer details are as follows.
Case number 4-901177K
White Dial with Black Sub-dials and applied silver CITIZEN logo.
White Day wheel in English & Kanji
White Date wheel in Arabic
Hi Brian thanks for visiting my blog, and for the information about your Challenge Timer. Stephen
Well, it’s very late, I know, but I’ll at least add to the archive. Mine is a 4-901053, white dial, applied Citizen logo and markers, orange chrono hands (all three), black subdials, and black day wheel in English/Chinese.
Hope this helps! Thanks for the excellent site/resource.
Hi Russ, thanks for the info on your watch – it’s never too late to add to the resource here 🙂 Stephen
Stephen,
A bit late to this but just found the article (despite being a longtime reader).
I’m not the original owner, and this obviously had a yellow aftermarket dial. Brian did a phenomenal job restoring it, including a much better quality yellow dial. Just got it in yesterday.
67-9011 Bullhead, Case 4-901177 Y
Aftermarket yellow dial/black subs.
But more importantly, originally sported white English/Kanji day dial. Brian replaced with a NOS English/French dial, also in white.
The serial number suggests this was produced late in 1977. Perhaps in later years the black type on white dial became more common; I feel like I’ve seen far more of those in the wild.
Hi Ian, thanks for taking the time to comment. I agree with you that the black wheels were probably the first ones, with the white ones soon becoming an option. Good to read about Brian’s work 🙂 Stephen