Today is the third of the three Adorex calibres, although it was the first of the three to be sold, in 1974. And it is the most interesting of the trio, since it has a unique feature, not found on any other Citizen watches, and maybe not on any other manufacturers’ products either. Before describing that, let’s look at it’s more familiar attributes – the 8000A movement (there was an 8001A too) is a high quality mechanism, running at 28,800 beats per hour it can be hand wound and ‘hacks’, with quick-set day and date. It was Citizen’s first movement to have a uni-directional winding rotor. The unique part is the fine adjustment mechanism. Typically the fine adjuster is a screw that moves a cam on the balance spring, but on the 8000 the adjustment can be done without removing the case back. This is achieved by pulling the crown out to a third step, i.e. beyond the day/date setting and time setting steps. The crown can then be used to make adjustments. It needs a very strong pull to move the crown out to this step, which is somewhat disconcerting! This approach was never repeated, so it wasn’t a success – it is odd to try and make small adjustments without site of the adjuster on the balance. It makes for an interesting curiosity in the collection – if you look for one make sure it is an 8000 or 8001 movement to ensure you get one with this mechanism. My example features a white dial with sparkles of silver, and is from February 1974:

Here’s the instruction leaflet showing the crown steps:

For more detail on this one, go here:
https://sweep-hand.org/2013/04/29/this-weeks-featured-watch-50-the-adorex-8000/