Movement Table Updated to v5.2

Posted on October 3, 2012 by sweephand

I realised this evening that there was an error in the Movement Table – I had exclusively used the ‘museum books’ as a reference for the table at first, but I have been able to get other original Citizen material since then. But I hadn’t noticed that one of the movement numbers in the museum book for the rare Highness model was incorrect. Although the date and day version was right – 7730 – it gave the wrong number (7740) for the date only version. It should be 7430. In fact there is no movement designated 7740.

I’ve now amended the table and uploaded version 5.2, and it can be accessed via the blogroll on the right.

Now for the ‘doh!’ moment….I have a date only Highness in my collection, and still hadn’t noticed the error in the Table!! The number is clear enough on the movement:

And the 4-740203 case number is a pretty good clue too!:

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67-9313 Chronograph – This One’s a Beater

Posted on October 1, 2012 by sweephand

Other than a couple of hands, I found I had enough parts to build one of my favourite chronographs – the 67-9313 model, often known as the ‘speedy’ due to  its resemblance to the Omega Speedmaster. I’d got a spare and complete 8110a movement, along with a case and a well (but nicely :)) worn bezel, as well as a dial, minus its feet. So following purchase of a set of hands, I put together this chronograph beater – one I can wear regularly so that my better example stays out of trouble!:

On a nice chocolate brown leather strap, it looks better on the wrist than the first shot suggests:

The case, back, crown and buttons are in decent original condition:

   

The movement needed a bit of regulation, since it was running fast, but it’s now keeping very good time.

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This Week’s Featured Watch #41 – the Seven Star V2 7280

Posted on September 26, 2012 by sweephand

Back in April, one of the Featured Watches was a Leopard 7220 from 1970, a high beat model with day and date window at the 12 o’clock position (https://sweep-hand.org/2012/04/13/this-weeks-featured-watch-30-the-leopard-7220/). The unusual day and date design, in one window, means that the changeover has to be instant at midnight.

Citizen also used this design in one of its Seven Star V2 models, this time using the 7280 movement. As a mid range model it runs at 21,600 beats per hour (the Leopard is 28,800), and has no fine adjuster on the balance. It hacks and hand winds though, like the Leopard. You can see where these two fit in the ’72 Leopard/V2 Family Tree’ via the link in the blogroll.

Here’s my well used example, with mid-blue dial:

The case back shows production in August 1970, and the case number is 4-780108 (as with the Leopard the 78xxxx indicates this particular day/date design), note the crown is in the fully out ‘hacking’/time setting position:

The 23 jewel movement, showing the movement number stamped in the usual place:

Crown is signed:

The Seven Star V2 models fitted in Citizen’s line-up just below the Leopards – in fact their retail prices overlapped to some extent. With solid and reliable movements, they were a nicely specified (hand wind-able and hacking, with quick set date) range of automatics.

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Before & After Bezel Insert Change

Posted on September 20, 2012 by sweephand

Here’s my 62-6198 Diver from 1976 – first with its original bezel:

And now with a replacement bezel:

Since the old one was missing its lume pip and was moderately worn, I thought a replacement bezel insert was in order. It was easy to do, with care taken not to damage the case when removing the bezel and also not to damage or dislodge the spring when removing the insert.

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This Week’s Featured Watch #40 – the Cosmotron X8 (0840)

Posted on September 18, 2012 by sweephand

Citizen’s pioneering first ‘Electric Watch’ was launched in 1966, and used the 25 jewel 0800 electro-mechanical movement, running at 18,000 beats per hour (see the Chrono Master model here: https://sweep-hand.org/2011/07/11/this-weeks-featured-watch-10-the-electric-watch/)

As the technology developed Citizen introduced the next version in 1970, now called the Cosmotron X8 and with the 12 jewel 0840 movement (designated 4840 with date complicaton). As with the jewel count the price was coming down too, from over JPY30,000 to under JPY20,000. Here’s my example, from May 1972:

The case back shows the usual information, but marked ‘electronic’ of course, with serial number confirming the date of production:

I don’t think this is the original bracelet since it’s a folded type, and does not have curved ends (the 1971 catalog shows this model on a leather strap), but at least the clasp is signed with the Cosmotron logo:

The movement is signed and the jewel count is shown. The battery for these is 1.55 volts, as with the earlier 0800 movements. The later 7800 movements use 1.3 volts power. The 0840 beats at 21,600 beats per hour, so again we see development in that area, which was upped to 36,00 beats per hour in the 7800 series, and peaked at 43,200 beats in the 5800:

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Not Just Watches…..

Posted on September 17, 2012 by sweephand

Once the collecting bug bites it can mean that it’s not just the watches themselves, but also some of the related stuff. Here’s a shot to illustrate:

The Cosmotron display stand was an unusual find:

http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk252/Sweephand/Cosmotron%205800/?action=view&current=CosmoTrioVid.mp4

The watches on the stand are an X8 in the centre from 1972 with the 4840 movement, and two Cosmotrons with the 5800 movement from 1974 (stainless steel) and 1975 (gold plated). The 5800 is the super high beat model, running at 12 beats per second, that’s 43,200 per hour.

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Twin Crown Diver Question

Posted on September 15, 2012 by sweephand

In the ‘comments’ section of my last post (‘Best laid plans and all that’) Pom asked about a twin crown diver he has, and whether it is a genuine model, since he hadn’t been able to find any information about it. From his description and dial photo I was pretty sure it is the genuine article, and after seeing a photo of the back I am even more sure. Here are links to the images Pom provided:

http://i48.tinypic.com/35lrcqe.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/2m34d3m.jpg

This is a rather rare twin crown diver, but I have seen one or two of them, which helps to confirm its authenticity. They date from the late 1960s, and as far as I know there were three models, all using the 21 jewel 5270 movement running at 18,000 beats per hour.

Pom’s watch has the case code of 4-520017,  and closest to that is the 4-521315 but has the winding crowns in different positions. The other model is the 4-520343 – this one is seen a little more often, but also came with different coloured dials and has a different inner bezel ring.

Here’s a slideshow showing examples of the three, first is the 520017 for Pom to compare with his, then the 521315 (with due credit to the sellers for the pics) and my own red dialled version of the 520343. Click on  an image to start the slide show:

There’ll be more on these and Citizen’s other vintage divers in the diver article I’m working on 🙂

NB: I have previously referred to this model as a ‘compressor’ model – however I am now aware that this is not correct, so I have edited this post to reflect that and refer to it as a ‘twin crown’ model. See this post for more information: https://sweep-hand.org/2014/05/01/citizens-so-called-compressor-diver/

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Best laid plans and all that….

Posted on August 29, 2012 by sweephand

I’d hoped that well before now I would have published my article on Citizen’s vintage divers – unfortunately real life has intervened and I have not been able to get it done just yet.

Apologies for the delay, I hope to get back to it soon.

Posted in Vintage Watches | 8 Comments

Oops…

Posted on August 18, 2012 by sweephand

I noticed a tiny error in the Movement Table v5.1 – I’d missed out, in the ‘Model Variant / Dial Markings’  column for the 7470 movement, that it is found in a ‘Citizen’ automatic (i.e. no model name) as well as in a diver rated to 150m. Now corrected, with apologies.

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Movement Table Updated to v5.1

Posted on August 17, 2012 by sweephand

Just uploaded version 5.1 of the Movement Table, which now includes the 7790 movement, which was previously missing.  Thanks to Marko form Finland for this, since he’s just bought one of these – a Seven Star V2 – which had me double-checking my reference material and finding the correct information. Thanks Marko! 🙂

Follow the link on the right to the latest Movement Table, and see the comments at the bottom of this page for the conversation with Marko: https://sweep-hand.org/movement-table/

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