Category Archives: Vintage Watches

Leopard (Highness) Chronometer Original Faceted Glass

Posted on June 18, 2016 by sweephand

There’ll be a full write-up on the work Brian Leiser did to repair my Leopard high-beat Chronometer, so for now here’s a post about the original crystal I managed to source from Japan – the only one I’ve seen in … Continue reading →

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More About the 777 Autodater…

Posted on June 12, 2016 by sweephand

Although in good condition, this example was not running  when I bought it, except for a few seconds when shaken or wound. Otherwise it seemed to be winding properly by hand and the sound from the rotor seemed ok. Time … Continue reading →

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This Week’s Featured Watch #76 – Jet Autodater ‘777’

Posted on June 10, 2016 by sweephand

Citizen sometimes produced special editions, and one of the rarer ones is this week’s featured model – it’s an ‘Autodater’ from the early to mid-1960s with a 27 jewel version of the 1121 date only Jet movement first produced in … Continue reading →

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Citizen’s Special Cosmotron was a World First

Posted on June 4, 2016 by sweephand

Citizen was the first Japanese manufacturer to sell an electric watch, in 1966, using a battery and printed circuit instead of a mainspring, powering a relatively conventional hairspring. As the technology was developed, they also produced one version in a … Continue reading →

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An Interesting Diamond Flake Restoration

Posted on May 19, 2016 by sweephand

Back in April a great guy called Panos visited the blog with a question about a gold plated Diamond Flake which he was thinking of buying. Although in running order it had a problem –  the 0700 movement had a broken set … Continue reading →

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Never Give Up Hope! – Part 2

Posted on May 10, 2016 by sweephand

They say that ‘patience is a virtue’ – well that’s certainly true when it comes to looking for parts for vintage Citizens! A while ago I acquired a  Leopard Chronometer which was not without its problems. It went off to our … Continue reading →

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Never Give Up Hope!

Posted on April 28, 2016 by sweephand

Back in mid-December 2015 I was sent some very, very hard to find crystals from the USA. They were the last I could find anywhere. And they went to Canada….so Canada sent them back to the USA, bearing in mind that they were … Continue reading →

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A Word About Chrono Master Crowns

Posted on April 16, 2016 by sweephand

In my article on the Chrono Master line, I included this note about crowns: ‘A quick note about crowns – I can’t be absolutely definitive about crowns for all the Chrono Masters, since many of my reference pictures are straight … Continue reading →

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My ‘New’ 3 Star Auto Day-Date

Posted on April 7, 2016 by sweephand

In 1953 the Rhythm watch and clock company became an affiliate of Citizen, and although they continued to make watches using Citizen movements, their primary business was making clocks.  I thought it would be good to have this part of Citizen’s heritage … Continue reading →

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This Week’s Featured Watch #75 – 4-722132

Posted on April 1, 2016 by sweephand

This week’s watch might be called a Leopard that has lost its spots 🙂  I came across this model for the first time recently, case number 4-722132, with 26 jewels, from August 1971: Although the 7200 movement with 26 jewels runs at 21,600 beats … Continue reading →

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