Today’s Watch – Citizen Automatic Chronograph, 67-9577, 23 Jewels

Posted on May 25, 2020 by

I think we’ll have a chronograph week 🙂 The first one is model number 67-9577 from October 1972, which was the year these watches were launched. This one is powered by the 28,800bph 8100A 23 jewel movement, with single sub-register for counting minutes. The second hand counts the seconds of course, and it’s nice that these chronographs are better left running most of the time since that causes less wear then when the chronograph is stopped. With a black coated light alloy case and polished steel bezel, this one has an easy to read black dial with orange chrono hands and a minute/second track around the circumference. The baton hour markers are lumed at their outer ends and the main hands are also lumed. The black day and date wheels blend well with the rest of the watch, whilst the multi-coloured sub-dial brightens the look, and helps to read the passage of time as it is shows 5 minute sections. The original bracelet is a nice addition on this one, although the leather parts of it were beyond hope, so they have been replaced:

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Today’s Watch – Citizen Crystate Deluxe, 22 Jewels

Posted on May 24, 2020 by

No surprise, given yesterday’s featured watch, that today’s weekend hand winder is the Crystate Deluxe. With one more jewel in the 0911 hacking movement than the standard Crystate, the dial adds ‘Deluxe’ to the name and a single applied star to differentiate it. This one has a separate chapter ring, and has the older style case/model number of HOOS3003. The crystals on these are mineral glass, so I guess this where the unusual name of Crystate is derived from – both of this weekend’s watches are on original solid link bracelets:

Here’s more on the Crystate Deluxe, featuring a different model, case number 4-020308:
https://sweep-hand.org/2011/09/04/this-weeks-featured-watch-13-the-crystate-deluxe/

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Today’s Watch – Citizen Crystate, 21 Jewels

Posted on May 23, 2020 by

Having a manual wind weekend, so I can forget about having to set the date on the two I have chosen, but I am using today’s photo 🙂 Today’s piece is the Crystate, a fairly rare hand winder launched in 1967 – mine is from December of that year. The movement is designated 0911 and is a higher quality version of the 0200 (Homer) calibre. The standard Crystate was produced with 21 jewels, with a Deluxe version having 22 jewels, and has a finish to the movement plates replicated only on it’s Chrono Master sibling. It runs at 18,000 bph, and has second setting, and is the same movement that is used in the Homer railroad watch issued to Japan National Railways’ employees. So it will have been tweaked for greater accuracy to meet the requirements of Japan’s renowned railway punctuality. Certainly my examples run very accurately, and I would recommend the Crystate as a more unusual hand winder to acquire. It is a close relative of the Chrono Master manual watch, which has the 0920 calibre inside. I like the simplicity and clarity of the dial on this, with italicised Arabic hour markers and black centred dauphin hands. Like the railroad Homer it does exactly what is required of a watch – tells the time very clearly at a glance:

More info here: https://sweep-hand.org/2011/04/17/this-weeks-featured-watch/

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Today’s Watch: Citizen Square Custom, 27 Jewels

Posted on May 22, 2020 by

A very stylish watch today – in my opinion anyway 🙂 A Square Custom from December 1970, which must have been one of the last of the 52 calibre in this range since a second generation was in production by 1971 using 72 movements. A quick way to identify the earlier version of this particular model is the jewel count – 27 on the 52 dial, 25 on the 72 dial. Mine is also on its original solid link bracelet. There is no case type code on this, but Citizen called this the square flange type – the second link below shows how these are constructed. The movement is the 5204, introduced in 1965, and is also found in the Dandy Sevens. This watch has separate day and date windows, and demonstrates a small thing that I love about Citizen’s vintage watches with the date at the 4/5 o’clock position – i.e. the date is printed to appear vertically in the window. A nice touch that seems to have been left behind these days where the date in that position is usually at an angle to the wearer’s viewpoint, so there is no special printing done for that design. It is also seen on the Challenge Golf and the Seven Star Rally Custom, for example. Little things like this make these pieces all the more appealing:

More info on this watch here: https://sweep-hand.org/2012/02/11/this-weeks-featured-watch-22-the-square-custom/

And here: https://sweep-hand.org/2012/02/12/this-weeks-featured-watch-22-the-square-custom-part-2/

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Today’s Watch – Citizen Seven Star Deluxe Monthly, 23 Jewels

Posted on May 21, 2020 by

Today’s piece is from February 1969, and is Citizen’s ‘Monthly’ version of the Seven Star Deluxe. Using a 5270, 23 jewel calibre from the 52 line-up of automatics introduced in 1965, it features a manually set month display above the 12 o’clock marker as well as the usual day and date complications. The month is set via a small winder at the 2 o’clock position, which is quite easy to move accidentally as you can see from the photo! The Monthly was sold on the Japanese Domestic Market, with all the dial markings you expect, whilst for export markets it was re-badged as the ‘Moon Dater’, lost ‘Seven Star’ and ‘Deluxe’ from the dial and used the 21 jewel variant of the movement. I have seen ‘Moon Dater’ described as a mis-translation by Citizen – it’s a cool name for a watch though 🙂

The Monthly runs at 18,000 beats per hour, can be hand wound and has quick-set date. The case/model number is the older style on mine – ACSS52704 – which tells us not only that it is a 52 movement, but also that it has a hardened mineral glass crystal (i.e. the ‘C’ in ACSS). The later style of case number can be found on these, either 4-521897 or 4-520319. Mine has a black dial – there is a silver dialled version as well:

More info on this, and an earlier Jet automatic Monthly that is much harder to find (with apologies for some missing images, PhotoBucket needs to explain that!):
https://sweep-hand.org/2011/05/20/this-weeks-featured-watch-4-the-monthly/

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Today’s Watch – Challenge Timers

Posted on May 20, 2020 by

Well, I ran out of time and camera battery to day, so here’s another quick look at three Challenge Timers, i.e. Citizen’s automatic chronographs from the 1970s. These three are all ‘bullhead’ designs, all with different case materials. In the centre is the full stainless steel 67-9356 from October 1980, with the octagonal case. On the left is the nickel alloy 67-9011 from February 1979 which is perhaps the most familiar Citizen chronograph from that time. Although the case material code is ‘SSB’ (stainless steel with black bezel) the case is not steel. On the right is the black coated 4-901096 from December 1973 – same case design as the 67-9011 but with a light alloy case and polished steel bezel, so a case code of ‘BLS’- this one has no model number:

SONY DSC

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Today’s Watch – Citizen Adorex 8000 Automatic, 25 Jewels

Posted on May 19, 2020 by

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/

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