Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog

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 titanium case – a world first – as a limited edition, in 1970. However, there was also one other ‘world first’ in the Cosmotron line-up, this time a special feature of the 7803 movement. It was known as ‘Just Setting’ and allows the watch to be accurately synchronised to a radio or TV time signal. Although the watch has a conventional ‘second setting’ function, the additional unique element of this movement is that the hour and minute hands as well as the second hand can be set if within ± 3 minutes of the 12 o’clock marker, using a button at the 8 o’clock position. Here are Citizen’s original instructions for this function (with thanks to whoever uploaded this to the internet):

And here’s a video of ‘Just Setting’ in action:

http://s282.beta.photobucket.com/user/Sweephand/media/Cosmotron%20Page/7803Hacking.mp4.html

Known as the Cosmotron Special, these are very nice watches. Running at 36,000 beats per hour they are an accurate and unusual timepiece, with that rather unique feature

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 lever. Panos had searched long and hard for a replacement with no luck, but it so happened that I had a spare lever.  Although it was a little corroded it was in one piece and I was happy to help, so sent Panos the part in the hope that his watchmaker (from whom he’d bought the watch) could use it and restore the movement to full working order. Panos has now kindly got back to me to show me the outcome, which I thought I would share here 🙂

The restoration is all the more interesting because the wear and damage to the original gold plated case was severe, so it has been re-plated. I don’t know if many people go down this route, and my only experience of it (and seeing some examples on the internet) left me thinking the new finish was just too bright and shiny! However, on Panos’ watch I think it looks pretty darn good, and the dial is excellent so it looks to be a nicely unified piece. See for yourself by visiting the watchmaker’s blog, where there are also some very nice pics of the movement in various states of disassembly:

http://watchguy.co.uk/service-citizen-diamond-flake-calibre-0-700/

Thanks to Panos for agreeing to me posting about his watch. It’s great to see a Diamond Flake up and running again in all its glory 🙂

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 renowned master watchmaker Brian Leiser in the USA, and he did a splendid job with it. A new crystal was needed, since the original faceted glass was deeply scratched, and although Brian managed to source an original replacement it was the flat version.  So the search was on for the faceted type, a part I’d not seen anywhere for sale….but….as they say ‘hope springs eternal’……

This has just arrived 🙂

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 supposed to come to the UK. They bounced in and out of a depot in Chicago, and then….nothing! Despite being chased up several times by the sender, the USPS could do nothing to help, so it seemed that they had gone AWOL, and we gave up on them.

Then, completely out of the blue, they were delivered through my letter box last week, a mere 4 and a half months after posting!!  I have no idea where the package has been but someone, somewhere, managed to get it on the right plane 🙂  I was totally amazed to receive the crystals after all this time, but it does go to show that there is always a chance of a good outcome, even when things seem to have gone irretrievably wrong.

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 ahead and only show the profile of the crown. I would think all crowns should be signed with the ‘C’ mark, rather than ‘CTZ’ – but otherwise please use the images in this article as a guide.’

Recently Max from Italy contacted me about his 1870 model (hand winding with date), from 1967 when Chrono Masters were first launched. Max noticed that the crown is plain, not signed, and he had found one or two other examples, from the same year with the same unmarked crown.  I have also found a couple more like this, suggesting that an unsigned crown, on this model at least, may be an original fitting. So I will update the Chrono Master article to include this information, with many thanks to Max 🙂

Max has also kindly allowed me to use photos of his watch, and as you can see it looks like a very ‘honest’ example, and, remarkably, still fitted to an original strap:

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 represented in my collection (especially after a drop or two of wine!) so this week a large box arrived from Japan…..

This is a wall clock with a thirty day mechanism, striking on the hour and half hour, and featuring date and day wheels. Although I’ve seen few Rhythm clocks like this for sale, similar Seiko, some Aichi Tokei Denki and one two other makes can be found, most of which are in brown wood cases with patterned glass in front of the pendulum. So I was pleased that my Rhythm example is in black wood with plain glass, and although clearly vintage, it has a design that goes well with modern décor, at least in my opinion anyway 😉  As far as I know it was made in the mid to late 1960s.

I’ve mounted the old printed paper instructions for setting the day and date on a piece of card, which you can see in the pendulum box. The method is the same as with a watch, so the day is set first, then the date can be moved forward. The date is reset at the end of each month (it will move to 32 if not reset). The right winder is for the clock spring, and the left for the striking spring. Hopefully it needs winding just once a month, and the power window is neat feature.

The red button is a marker for where the pendulum should hang when centred, and there a couple of adjusters in the lower part of the case, which can be turned to move the case away from the wall to help get it vertical. The strike gives a pleasant and not too loud ring, so it can be left running and striking without disturbing the rest of the house.

Historically this type of wall clock has not been common in the UK, and more recent (non-Japanese) versions have a poor reputation with clock repairers who regard them as being of poor quality, using inferior metals etc. I think it’s important not to tar Rhythm and other Japanese makers with the same brush, particularly for their 1960s/70s offerings where I have only found good reports about them and their reliability and accuracy.

Although it is early days, my Rhythm ‘Three Star’ is keeping excellent time, without any regulation on my part. Not bad for $29 (US) (+ a lot of shipping!)