Citizen Parawater – The Oceanic Tests Update

English language sub-titles are now included in this excellent YouTube video:

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19 Responses to Citizen Parawater – The Oceanic Tests Update

  1. Andrew says:

    Re: 8110a octagon

    Any idea how to replace the crystal?

    My 9 year old son and I were messing around and he whacked it with his knuckle. Smashed it.

    Watch seems ok. Any advice?

    Thanks.
    Andrew.

    Ps great site!

    • sweephand says:

      Hi Andrew, thanks for visiting my blog. What a shame that your crystal got broken. I’m afraid original ones are very difficult to find. The original part number is 54-70600. The glass is pressed into place over a white gasket that sits inside the bezel – the gasket has to be fitted in the correct way. Is yours still in position? If so you should be able to see that it is thinner on the upper edge so the glass can be pressed down against the the lower, thicker edge to get a tight fit. Needs to be done carefully and preferably with a crystal press. If an original crystal can be found, it would come with a new gasket since the old ones can get kinked/damaged when the old glass is removed. If you’ve not dome this before I would recommend going to a good watchmaker – these are valuable (increasingly so) these days so worth minimising the risk of damaging it. Stephen

      • Andrew says:

        Thank you!

        Ok so the Crystal is pressed in from the top, ( so movement does not need to be removed I guess?). The gasket still seems to be in place. I see some crystals/bezels on eBay, not sure if original or aftermarket parts .. Like this one,

        https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mineral-Glass-Crystal-With-Black-Al-Bezel-Citizen-8110-Cal-67-9011-Bullhead/323638335119?hash=item4b5a59168f:g:tYMAAOSwu3ZcMpb5

        which has a black bezel (for the “brad Pitt” base metal bullhead) … presumably the crystal could be pushed out of this and installed into mine. But do you know if the crystals are all the same size for the octagon and the base metal bullheads?

        Do you know the exact specs/size of the Crystal I need?

        Thank you!!

        • sweephand says:

          I would advise that the movement is removed when fitting a crystal, just in case something goes wrong. It’s not a difficult task. The eBay crystal would not fit, they are different sizes. I’m afraid I don’t know the measurements, I couldn’t measure it accurately enough either. There is this on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mineral-crystal-Fits-Citizen-8110-67-9356-Bullhead-Oktagon-27-/112851203607 No idea how good it is or whether it is sized to fit the gasket, but might be worth trying.Stephen

          • Andrew says:

            Thank you so much for the link and all this info !

            • sweephand says:

              you’re welcome

              • Andrew says:

                Follow up question, (I may have asked this elsewhere on the site, sorry for multiple posts) as you showed me There are some after-market crystals available on eBay
                To install, do they simply push straight down into the watch bezel with a crystal press? Does the bezel
                Need to be removed for any reason? I believe I saw there is a thin black gasket still in there around the bottom of the inner bezel after I picked all the broken glass out. That just stays there I guess? Is there any procedure to this or is it a simple (careful) push-in?

                Thank you!

                • sweephand says:

                  Hi Andrew, sorry for my late reply. The crystals are pressed in with the bezel still in place. Original crystal gaskets are white though, so it looks like yours is a replacement, so it’s a bit of try it and see what happens I’m afraid with non-original parts. Original crystals came with a new white gasket – do the after market ones also have a gasket? Stephen

                  • Andrew says:

                    No gasket on the aftermarket crystal.

                    Thanks for the info. I guess I’ll buy one (or two) and try getting it in. I wonder if aftermarket gaskets are available. Hopefully the one still in there will suffice.

                    Thank you!

  2. Roroos says:

    It’s a cool watch. I happen to have one in my watch shaker.

  3. John says:

    Hi, I’ve been finding your posts really helpful,
    I’m embarking on 2 restoration projects, both Citizen Challenge Timers, A 67-9020 bullhead and a 67-9356 octagon. I’m having the same issue with both; trying to securely press the bezels into the case before I can install the new crystals… the bezels will bottom out but still pop right out with a slight touch or shake. There seems to be a groove in the case that could receive a gasket to help secure them… if that is the thing, I don’t have either and can’t find any info on what size or part numbers I need to be looking for. How the heck do you install these things? Any ideas or can you point me in the right direction.
    Thanks
    John

    • sweephand says:

      Hi John, the case type code is the key to this one – two types were used on the chronographs, designated GN-4-S and GN-4W-S. The latter one, i.e. with the ‘W’ indicate that a gasket is used to fit the bezel as well as a gasket for the crystal. So if yours are GN-4W-S then a gasket is needed, More info in Section 14 of this technical manual: https://sweephand.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/1971-citizen-technical-information-02-watch-case.pdf

      Part number for the 67-9356 gasket (Citizen call it ‘packing’) is 393-4397. I can’t find a part number for the 67-9020 – is it marked GN-4W-S or jGN-4-S? If it is ‘W’, then the part number may well be 393-4026 since that is used for other ‘bullheads’. The problem will be finding replacements – I couldn’t find any on-line. It might be worth taking them to a watchmaker to see if there is a modern alternative. Stephen

      • John Gandola says:

        Wow! Thanks for this info Stephen!
        I could not find any online either.
        Kind of a bummer after all this work, overhauling movements, restoring the cases and sourcing new, old stock dials and bracelets and crystals that I’m stuck now to press the dang bezels on. I’ll think of something
        Thanks again for your help.
        John

      • John Gandola says:

        The 67-9020 is just marked GN -4-S

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