Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog

With thanks to Paul (aka ‘1386paul’) who is something of an expert on Citizen’s vintage divers, I have made two amendments to the Diver Page. First was to remove an image of a Crystal Date model which had a wrong, and much later, bezel fitted.

Second, I’ve removed the reference to (and pic of) a 52-0110 model with no lume to the right of the date window. Paul has advised that he’s never seen another example so it does not appear to be correct.

I really appreciate Paul taking the time to let me know – I want my reference material to be as accurate as possible 🙂

About a month ago I posted a link to the Watch Bloke’s site since it showed some work Duncan had done on a vintage Citizen diver, and I also added his site to my Blogroll. Since then I referred Gonzalo,  a visitor here, to Duncan since he had inherited his grandfather’s watch and it was in need of care and attention. The watch in question is an export model using one of the 52 family of movements, as used in the Crystal Seven range.

Duncan has done an excellent page on the service and repair work needed to get Gonzalo’s watch back in good working order – other than Brian’s (’31 Jewels’) work in the USA it is rare to find this kind of detailed presentation, so I am very grateful to Duncan for letting me post a link here: http://thewatchbloke.co.uk/2015/02/09/citizen-parashock-5210/

It’s great to see Gonzalo’s watch up and running, especially since it was his grandfather’s watch.  Now Gonzalo can happily wear it himself knowing it has had a thorough service and repair, so it should do him proud for a good while to come. For that reason I was very pleased to help out with a donor movement so Duncan could resolve the parts issue, which can be the stumbling block when vintage Citizen watches have problems.

I heard from Bogdan yesterday, who owns the ‘Vintage Citizen Watches’ site – he is a very happy man!

Many collectors have a ‘grail’ watch that they search for, and may sometimes find, sometimes not. Bogdan is such a man, and his grail piece is very hard to find, especially in good condition. And yesterday he was able to tell me that he had just taken delivery of his grail watch!

Bogdan’s story of how he located and acquired the watch is a great read too, a mix of knowledge, determination, clever networking and a kiss from Lady Luck 🙂

And what a watch it is, the …………..well, I’ll let Bogdan tell you about it himself, just follow this link: http://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2015/02/07/citizen-chronomaster-500m-chronometer/

Many congratulations to Bogdan 🙂

Sometimes the winding stem and crown of a watch have to be removed, for example to access the dial or to tighten a loose crown. Here’s a quick look at how to remove the stem on a Jet Autodater. Once the back is removed, either by levering off the snap-on back, or unscrewing a later screw-on back, the button which releases the stem can be found close to the stem itself. On this Autodater Monthly, the snap-on back is off and the release button is identified:

Important: Before the button is pressed the crown, or stem if the crown is off, should be pulled out to the time setting position

Once the stem / crown is at the time setting position, the button should be gently pressed using a suitable tool, and the stem should come out – using a watch holder allows one hand to hold the tool to press the button and the other free to pull out the stem. The button is located slightly under the rotor, so care is needed to avoid it when pressing the button:

If you are re-fastening a loose crown or replacing one, then the stem can be held in the ‘wrong end’ of a pair of tweezers, again being careful so as not to damage the flats on the stem as in this example:

If the crown has come loose it is important to check that the threads of the stem and crown are still ok so that it will tighten nicely. Some lock thread can be applied before fitting to help bond the crown to the stem:

Whilst keeping a sound grip on the tweezers to prevent the stem from turning, the crown is then twisted clockwise onto the stem, tightening firmly, but not too strongly to avoid damage.  If the stem and crown threads are good, the crown should seat square on the stem and tighten properly.

Replacing the stem is the opposite of removal – the button might need to be pressed gently again to allow the stem to get fully into position, and the stem may need to be  turned slightly as it is pushed back in. On my movement the stem went back in with a nice click and the button didn’t need to be pressed.

This is intended to be a simple guide, showing how I did this on my watch – I hope it is useful, but please carry out the work at your own risk and only if you feel confident that you can do it and have the basic tools to carry it out properly.

Just done a quick edit of the diver page – first, the movement number for the B52806 and 62-5370 models is now correct (i.e. 5401, not 5410) and second I now have reference material that confirms the B52806 is an export version of the 62-5370.

Citizen pioneered the use of black coatings on light alloy cases in the early 1970s. I’d noticed one or two images where the coating looked to be brown. I saw one example for sale a while back which was advertised as a ‘brownie’ (Citizen called their black coated watches ‘blackies’) but I thought this may have been a result of wear. However, I recently got hold of a Cosmotron from late 1974, in good condition, and this has a dark brown finish, rather than black:

It does appear to be the original finish. I shall keep a look out for other examples…..

Been busy over the last week with a new PC – said goodbye to good old Win XP and switched to Win 8.1….not entirely without its challenges! So I’m afraid there has been a lack of posts as a result, but should be back on track very soon 🙂