Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog

Following the last Featured Watch here’s an example of the 27 jewel Cutlass, again with some interesting features.  First is the slim case, with its brushed finish:

The back on this one is marked ‘Citizen’ this time, rather than ‘Cutlass’ but is the correct one, with case number4-260066. Serial number shows production in July 1969:

Here’s the 5260 movement – these hack and can be hand wound, whilst the movement i.d. is stamped in the usual place:

A further interesting feature is the black hand set which contrast nicely with the pale silver blue dial, with the black also picked up in the design of the hour markers. The applied Cutlass logo is unique to this line – note the main number in the dial code starts ‘260’ as seen in the case number:

One of the less familiar models in the 52 Crystal Seven / Seven Star movement family, is the Cutlass. First produced in 1968, three years after the Crystal Seven was introduced, the Cutlass has either date and day windows, with 27 or 33 jewels (movement number 5260) or is date only with 33 jewels (5460), or has no day or date with 30 jewels (6420).

The key characteristic of the 5260 Cutlass which differentiates it from the Crystal Seven models is the slightly slimmer movement – Citizen shaved approximately 0.5mm off compared to the standard Crystal Sevens. See the 52 Family Tree for where the Cutlass fits in the group: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.netherwood/52FamilyTree.v1Secure.pdf

As indicated by the high jewel counts, the Cutlass was an upper medium model, broadly on a par with the Crystal Seven. They have a unique applied logo at the 6 o’clock position. This week’s example has 33 jewels, and features a textured dial with contrasting black roman hour markers and main hands:

Detail of the dial finish and Cutlass logo, note it’s marked ‘AUTODAY DATE’ rather than the more typical ‘Autodater’ seen on the Jets and other automatics such as the SM and the 520/540:

The case back is specially marked for this line, with ‘CUSS 3002 Y’ model number, and the serial number gives a production date of July 1968:

The movement runs at 18,000 beats per hour, and is stamped with its number near the balance wheel. It can be hand wound and, unlike the Crystal Seven movements, it can be hacked:

The case is nicely shaped on the sides and around the signed crown:

The Crystal Sevens are relatively easy to find, whilst the Cutlass is much rarer, and is an interesting dress watch from the late 1960s.