Not Seen This Model Before….

Posted on March 18, 2018 by

One of the joys of collection and researching Citizen’s vintage watches is that you can be sure you’ve not discovered everything! Just the other week, ‘Martin’ visited my blog and, as many visitors do, asked for more information about his watch…

Martin kindly sent photos, and with his permission, and with full credit to him for the images, he asked me about this:

HMC5270Dial3

Although I’ve not seen this watch before, the quality of  the dial, for example the fine printing and the applied logos, suggest to me that it is an authentic model. The 23 jewel movement is also in good order and is marked as a 5270, usually found in Seven Star models, as reflected in the ‘7’ crown logo on the dial:

HMC5270Mvt

But the most intriguing part of the watch is this case back:

HMC5270Back2

So far in my experience, this is a unique design – and I believe it is an authentic one, given the quality of the markings and the information it provides. The movement number is present, along with ‘-71’ which I reckon is the production year. That fits with the use of ‘proof’ since that term was used until around 1973 when ‘resistant’ became the norm. The 000226 serial number suggests to me low volume production, which might well explain why I’ve never seen one of these before! The nicely stamped eagle motif in the centre is pretty much the same as the Chrono Master dial emblem:

SONY DSC

Finally, the back is stamped with ‘HMC’, which I have seen occasionally before on several watches. I have never fully got to the bottom of its meaning, but my best guess is that it relates to Citizen’s Korean casing and assembly factory, which was acquired in the early 1970s – and was known as the Hanmi Citizen Precision Industry. Here is an exceptionally rare Chrono Master case back I spotted some years ago:

KoreanChronoMasterBack

So here we have it – a ‘new’ vintage model, in my opinion at least 🙂

Thanks again to Martin for allowing me to post about his watch and for his photos.

Comments welcome!

Advertisements
Posted in Vintage Watches | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Citizen 150m Diver Crown SOLD, Part# 506-5061 (for models 52-0110, 62-6198, 68-5372 & case number 4-722710)

Posted on March 10, 2018 by

I have for sale one screw down crown, part number 506-5061, which is now, sadly, a very rare part. I haven’t offered anything for sale via my blog before, but I thought I would try it since visitors and followers to this blog clearly are particularly interested in vintage Citizens. I am inviting offers, which can be made via the Contact Form on the right side of the blog home page (i.e. below ‘Got A Question’). I will initially acknowledge receipt of offers and the best offer will win – payment to be via PayPal only.  Deadline for offers is 22.00 GMT on Friday, 16th March. I am in the UK and shipping will be via Special Next Day Delivery within the UK, or International Tracked (& Signed if service is available) so please check that tracking is available in your country here before making an offer:

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/international-delivery/international-tracked-signed/coverage

The crown fits the following 150m models:

52-0110, case number  4-820789

62-6198, case number 4-600851

68-5372, case number 4-740131

Case number 4-722710

The crown came direct from a supply house in Denmark, and was sold to me as unused stock, and I have kept it as a spare so it has not been fitted to a watch. There is a small dink in top of the crown – here are pics:

SONY DSC

 

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

 

 

Posted in Vintage Watches | 5 Comments

Leopard Highness Rehab

Posted on February 21, 2018 by

I featured my Leopard Highness some time ago (https://sweep-hand.org/2016/02/16/this-weeks-featured-watch-73-the-leopard-chronometer/), at that time referring to it as the Leopard Chronometer. No movement shots were presented then, because the piece had gone to Brian Leiser for crucial repair work, as well as a full service. Brian’s work is featured here, particularly on the 67-9313 ‘Speedy’ chronograph. He had also sorted out my 1958 Auto (https://sweep-hand.org/the-citizen-auto-1958/) so I was keen to see what he could do for the Highness…..

First though, a quick word about the correct name for this watch – it is part of the Leopard family of watch movements, with a high beat 72 movement running at 36,000 beats per hour.  As an officially certified chronometer, it had typically been referred to as the ‘Leopard Chronometer’. However, having since properly translated original catalogue text, it’s correct title is ‘Leopard Highness’.

SONY DSC

When I bought my example, case number 4-720300, although in reasonable cosmetic condition, it had a known problem, the nature of which wasn’t exactly clear from the translation of the seller’s description. I thought it was worth a risk, since I was able to buy it relatively cheaply 🙂  On arrival, it was quickly clear what the problem was once the back was off – the rotor was loose, and broken. The threads on the winding  plate stud were completely worn away:

SONY DSC

 

Although one of the rivets on the rotor was missing, I could see that the screw threads looked ok:SONY DSC

I had a spare 72 movement, from a Seven Star V2, and after consultation with Brian we agreed that it would work as a donor, namely for the threaded stud:

SONY DSC

Brian had just one chance to press out the rotor studs without damaging anything and he was able to insert the decent stud into the original movement. And he repaired the rotor itself with screws that he ‘blued’:

017

The good news from Brian was that the movement looked to have been untouched and after service was running perfectly, well within chronometer specifications. And he had been able to replace the original rather worn faceted crystal with an OEM flat glass:

005

I’m hoping Brian will do a piece on this watch with his more detailed technical notes, but for now this post gives a little more insight into his expertise.

This is the watch today, now with an original NOS (very hard to find!) faceted glass:

 

SONY DSC

Posted in Vintage Watches | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Diver Page Updated Again!

Posted on February 15, 2018 by

It must be ‘add a diver’ week this week 🙂 After including the Super Deluxe model a couple of days ago, an exceptionally rare silver dialled version of the 120m Jet auto dater diver emerged. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen, and previously I thought only black dials were produced. I am very grateful to its owner, Jalaludin Adzali, for allowing me to use his pics.

I also realised that I had not included another rare model, this time a 100m rated Crystal Seven, alongside it’s Dandy Seven sibling., so I’ve taken the opportunity to add that one too.

AutoDaterDiverSilver  Crystal7Diver

I wonder if there are any other models out there, yet to show their faces? 🙂

Here’s the page link: https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-divers-1962-to-1980/

Posted in Vintage Watches | Tagged | 2 Comments

Diver Page Updated

Posted on February 12, 2018 by

I’ve just updated the Diver reference page, to include a rather unusual – and very rare – early model. In 1958 Citizen introduced the Deluxe and Super Deluxe range of watches. They proved to be popular and were Citizen’s most successful models in terms of sales value up to that point. The Deluxe and Super Deluxe are very much ‘dress’ watches, but I have seen three examples of a diver version, with a depth rating of 120m, in a monocoque case and with an external bezel, produced in 1965. Because of these features I’ve decided to add it to the Diver reference page, even though some elements are not quite what you’d expect of, or need in, a true diver.

I have to say when I first saw this model  I thought it was a ‘franken’ of some kind, but I can confirm that it is authentic. I have found it correctly referenced in an original parts Citizen technical manual from the 1960s.

SuperDx120m2

Here’s a quick link to the reference page: https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-divers-1962-to-1980/

Posted in Vintage Watches | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chronograph and Jet Page Updates

Posted on January 18, 2018 by

I’ve just done amendments to a couple of reference pages. Here’s a quick summary of the changes:

1) The ‘Jet Automatic’ – amended the text about how to identify the 41xx movements versus the 03xx and 11xx movements. See the 8th paragraph of the page: https://sweep-hand.org/the-jet-automatic/

2) ‘Automatic Chronographs’: I’ve added notes and images to the 67-9011, 67-9020, 67-9038 and 67-9577 entries to include what I’ve referred to as the ‘Australian’ models. With many thanks to Mikko, who sent me a scanned 1970s catalogue for, we believe, the Australian market, I have now described dial variations, particularly to the tachymeter ring and the scale used: https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-chronographs/

67-9577Australian

I have never seen an example of these outside of the catalogue, so please let me know if you have!

 

Posted in Vintage Watches | Leave a comment

Brian’s 8110a (‘Speedy’) Restoration Page Updated

Posted on January 15, 2018 by

It’s nice to start the New Year with an update to Brian’s ‘Speedy’ restoration page. It’s always a joy to see his work 🙂 You’ll find two new additions at numbers 16 and 17, and a better pic of #13

Here’s a quick link to the page:

https://sweep-hand.org/brians-8110a-restoration-the-speedy-67-9313/

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Posted in Vintage Watches | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments