Three days on and the Highness is now running at about +5 seconds per day 🙂 Trying another tiny shift of the fine adjuster:
Now it’s down to just a few seconds per day, moving the adjuster screw by a very small amount is quite difficult! Let’s see how close I can get it, +/- 2 or 3 seconds per day would be very nice but I guess that is unlikely through use of a screwdriver, albeit a small one, and a steady hand 🙂
A short holiday means that the next featured watch will be posted at the upcoming weekend, so in the meantime here’s an update on fine tuning the Highness. I’ve had it on a watch winder for the last week to 10 days and whilst I was away, and it’s running at around -8 seconds per day. Not too bad for a 30+ year-old watch. But I’ll try and get it a bit more accurate, and keep you posted.
NB: I know many people don’t care for watch winders, and in my case I use it only for a relatively short time whilst checking watches and regulating them. I can run two at a time in mine which is handy and means I can check a couple out whilst wearing a third 🙂
This one wasn’t the planned featured watch for this week – but once it arrived, I thought I’d change the plan! So this week it’s the Highness, a high grade, high-beat automatic from the early 1970s.
When I first started collecting vintage Citizens, I hadn’t heard of a model called the ‘Highness’, but as I gathered more information, I found more references and finally pinned it down in one of the ‘museum’ books. Launched in 1971, probably followed by only a short production run, the Highness was made in two versions – the 7730 movement with day and date wheels, and the 7430 with date only, as in mine:
So where does this model fit in the Citizen line-up? Essentially it is a member of the Leopard family, and uses either the 72xx movement as its base (for the 7430) or the 77xx movement (for the 7730). The Highness movement though has been tuned to meet what Citizen called the ‘Highness Standard’ (‘Highness mis-translates to ‘Haynes’ in this quote from Citizen’s own historical site):
It is highly accurate mechanism (machine type) clock that represents the citizen. Accuracy has been achieved by original “Haynes standard” that has the same degree of the performance, “Excellence class of the chronometer”
Citizen produced in the Highness a chronometer level Leopard, using the 36,000 beats per hour movement to achieve the required level of accuracy. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any documentation or certification on the Highness Standard.
Let’s take a closer look at my 7430 version. Firstly the back is a standard design, with serial number indicating a production date of July 1971:
If you know Leopards, then you’ll immediately recognise the movement and rotor design as is found on the 36,000bph models – with 28 jewels and a fine adjuster on the balance as you’d expect of a high grade watch, and the movement number clearly stamped :
No fancy finishing on the movement:
The case and silver dial design is plain and simple – a classic look typical of high level mechanical watches from Citizen and Seiko:
The Highness logo is a unique font, and the high-beat nature of the movement is also clearly indicated:
Other Highness models featured ‘CH’ on the dial in place of Highness, and crowns were also signed ‘CH’. This is not the case in mine, which may indicate a replacement since it is signed ‘CTZ’.
Here’s a catalog scan from 1973, showing mine retailing at 24,000JPY, which was more expensive than the Leopards in that catalog, other than the solid gold versions:
Here are the other Highness models featured in the 1973 catalog, note the price differences for the two movement versions, the type of case finish and whether on strap or bracelet:
Since these models were probably made only for the Japanese domestic market and for a short while, they are seldom seen, certainly outside Japan – finding the Highness, and other vintage Citizens, has been one of the joys in my modest journey of discovery!
A little added to ‘this week’s featured watch #1’, to include reference pictures. Further info can also be found found in the vintage Citizen section of Seikoholics Forum watch information database
A couple more pics of the Highness – I think this one will be an early candidate for ‘watch of the week’ 🙂 so for now here’s a quick peek:
Here’s a little trailer – I just took delivery of one of Citizen’s hard to find automatics. Only one pic so far……
Once I’ve done more photos I’ll post more about this rarity
Here’s one of Citizen’s lesser known hand winders – the Crystate. First produced in 1967, I believe production ran to about 1971. Two models were produced, the Crystate and the Crystate Deluxe. Uniquely using the 0911 movement the standard version had 21 jewels, whilst the Deluxe version featured 22. Interestingly, Citizen’s hand winding Chrono Masters were also launched in 1967/8 using the 0920 and 0930 movements with 22 and 25 jewels. This clearly suggests that the Crystate shared the same base movement as the high grade Chrono Master.
Here’s my Crystate:
The watch is on its original solid link bracelet as far as I know, and its original retail price was 9500JPY (12000JPY for the Deluxe), which was about twice the price of a basic Homer model, and half the price of a Chrono Master. The hands have black centres, and the dial features the unique Crystate logo. The deluxe model would also carry that name of course and a small printed star at the 6 o’clock position.
The back has the name engraved in the same font and style as the dial, as well as the serial number showing production in December 1967 and standard ‘Parawater’ marking. I’ve yet to decipher what the ‘HOOS’ marking indicates on this and other watches in citizen’s line-up although this combined with ‘2901 – C’ would describe the model:
The 0911 movement runs at 18000 beats per hour, and carries the same finish as the 0920 & 0930 Chrono Masters, again suggesting these used the same base movements and parts, with the Chrono Master being adjusted for greater accuracy, to ‘superior chronometer’ grade on the 0930. The movement also ‘hacks’, i.e. the watch is stopped when the crown is pulled out to enable accurate synchronisation:
One feature of this watch is the second hand, which is quite short yet has a long ‘tail’ – this style is verified as authentic for this model though, see this pic from the relevant ‘museum’ book:
The Crystate then is a hard to find mid to high grade hand winding watch, that is not only interesting in its own right but is also of note in that it is in the same line as Citizen’s hand winding Chrono Masters. The deluxe version would be a nice addition to the collection! Here’s an example from the museum book:
Ok, first off I’ve added a page on the Movement Table I’ve put together for the period 1931 to 1974. I hope this is proving to be a useful resource – it’s WIP and I’ll update it from time to time when new or revised information becomes available. You’ll also see that there’s a guide to dating your old Citizen included as well. You can grab it via the Blogroll.
And I’ve done the first page on an actual watch 🙂 This is the Deluxe, which was a great success for Citizen. You’ll find a link in the Blogroll to the relevant section of Dr Seiko’s Seikoholics Forum where I have put together a data base for vintage Citizens. Another (major) WIP, as I develop it to provide as much info as I can for each model. The Deluxe section there is one I’ve sorted with a revised layout from my earlier efforts, giving more technical and background information.
erm, good question 🙂
after my first rather random foray into vintage watches, snagging a few hand-winders mainly of Swiss origin, I started to research the merits of Japanese watches from the 1960s and 70s. I was impressed with reports on their quality, reliability and robustness, in particular the Seiko models. And there was a fair amount of historical information available, and a good few collectors posting photos of good looking watches on various forums.
And so started a small Seiko collection, with examples of dress, sports and chronograph models, as I became a more and more experienced eBay-er!
As I searched the net for possible purchases I came across Citizen models from the same era – but I could find very little reliable information about the brand and the model lines they produced. Very different from Seiko.
I remained drawn to Citizens, and despite the lack of information being widely available, there were posts from collectors here and there which fueled the fire, and I made my first purchase.
I was hooked!
I remained frustrated though about the lack of information about these old Citizens, so rather than remain largely in the dark, I set out to fill some of the gaps. I hope this blog will help others learn more about the models and movements, and their development over the important 30 years from around 1950 to 1980, and appreciate the range and variety of great watches made by Citizen in that era. I’m also developing a database on vintage Citizens on Dr Seiko’s Seikoholics forum. Please take a look – and join a great forum 🙂 – via the blogroll.
As a collector of vintage Citizen watches I have started this blog to provide a reference point, and through my own collection, provide representative examples of the models that can be found from the heyday of mechanical watches for anyone who may be interested. I’ll also be sharing the information and knowledge I’ve gained through my research about Citizen’s mechanical and electro-mechanical models from before 1980.
My knowledge and information is of course far from complete so I hope that fellow collectors and others interested in the Citizen brand will, through their contributions, add to the data we have on these quality timepieces.
Welcome again, thanks for taking the time to visit this blog, and please add your contributions!
Sweephand
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Sweephand’s Vintage Citizen Watch Blog
Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog 