Hello and welcome to Stephen’s Citizen Watch Blog.
Stephen had asked me to build, from scratch, an original Citizen Monaco from two parts watches. Citizen ‘Monacos’ – unlike Seiko Chronographs – are not exactly a dime a dozen. Demand is much higher than the market will bear. Quite honestly, there’s a shortage.
So the goal here is to take the best of the best parts, and make one very nice watch.
Stephen provided me with two of everything (ed. well, nearly everything!), including a NOS Citizen crystal and a very cool original hand set:
I started with choosing the case….
The case on the right was the nicest. It looked like it was 100% original with not a lot of heavy wear. The pushers looked original but were slightly taller than what I have seen on a Monaco. Early production maybe?….Not sure:
The other case was beaten and worn, with the wrong case back (ed. oops didn’t spot that 🙂 ) The pushers were very worn too.
Choosing the dial was easy:
This one had an even “pea green” color that sometimes color shifted to gold. Monacos were made in a gold dialled version so Stephen has the best of both worlds.
I’m not sure which movement was from where, but I picked the nicest cosmetically to overhaul:
It had some problems, and needed parts, but we had a donor just in case:
The nicest crown was in trouble. The stem that was attached was too short and too small at the threads to work. None in Stephen’s parts supply would work:
So I took a Bullhead stem from my stock, re-cut the length, and with my Swiss set of taps…..saved the crown. Laugh….but that is my favorite part. Saving that crown to re-use. I say that because these crowns are impossible to get and wear hard. Stephen’s is really nice (ed. it was very hard to find!), and matches the watch perfect:
The pusher case “C” clips were literally corroded off:
The parts donor supplied one, and I supplied the other. It had a jeweller/jewellery store tiny chain link “C” clip made. Ingenious, but dangerous since the pusher might fly off and be lost. The pushers are just as hard to get as crowns. A proper “C” clip was in order:
The case looks like it fell in the mud:
The movement:
Literally just drowned in motor oil…don’t ask me how I know that. 🙂
The minute recorder brake bent all to hell. Some past botch-maker messed that up:
Hand restoration to factory colours:
How cool —- a factory Monaco Hand set. I have never seen anything like this before. How or where he found these I don’t know (ed. that was very hard too!). They have a florescent glow…what a match they will be:
I noticed something very interesting though. The package was sealed but the hour hand had some corrosion on it. I can’t explain this other than the fact that I tried to clean it off carefully and it would not come off. Strange….but I have the sense to let it be. Its hardly noticeable, but I see it with 5X magnification.
Patina born new to match I guess…LOL. Those poor things have been in a package for 40 years:
Movement out of the cleaning machine:
Take a look at the clean dial. Same dial…..two different light angles…two different colors…..cool 🙂
Movement first start:
Timing results:
Amplitude — 243
Beat Error — .0 -.01 near perfect
S/D positional — +10 A winner!
The pristine movement ready for a case back gasket:
The Citizen NOS Crystal is icing on the cake:
Looks super!
Editor’s Note: Now back on its original bracelet:
Although this one may not have the most pristine of dials, it looks great on the wrist 🙂 As always, Brian has done a superb job.
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