Posting a bit later today, so only a short note – this is an interesting V2 Seven Star from April 1970. The hacking 7280 movement has the day and date in a single window at the 12 o’clock position. And the nice thing about that is it changes instantly at 12 midnight – no slow change over several hours:

More info here: https://sweep-hand.org/2012/09/26/this-weeks-featured-watch-41-the-seven-star-v2-7280/

Back to a high beat model today – and one of my favourite Leopard Superbeats. From March 1970, this one is case number 4-720458 with a 7210 26 jewel hacking movement, which runs at 28,800 beats per hour. The black dial with contrasting white hour markers and main hands is highlighted by orange on the 12 o’clock marker and an orange second hand. These sit in a softly round case held by a steel mesh bracelet. The result is a comfortable to wear piece that is easy to read quickly. It’s hard to fault the Leopard range – good quality pieces with a variety of dial designs and case styles, that make for very collectable watches. Mine is running well, and is on its original bracelet:

Here it is in a catalogue from 1971 showing the ￥16000 price – Leopards ranged from ￥15k to around ￥30k in that particular catalogue:

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Bert’s comments yesterday included a pic of his beautiful dual crown Seven Star Deluxe diver, and this inspired today’s piece. My Seven Star export model, with red dial. It’s marked ‘waterproof’ rather than ‘parawater’ and the Seven Star name is not printed on the dial, so it was not for the Japanese domestic market. With a 52 day/date 21 jewel movement as per the Crystal Seven it runs at 18,000 beats per hour, and features an inner rotating ring moved by the crown at 2 o’clock along with large lumed markers and a classic diver handset, including a nice ‘lollipop’ second hand. Date is quick-set, and it hand winds, and it is rated to 100 meters, so only designed for swimming and maybe a bit of snorkelling. This one is from April 1969:

For info on all Citizen’s vintage divers, including other variants of today’s watch, have a look here:
https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-divers-1962-to-1980/

And Bert’s lovely watch is in the comments of this post:
https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-divers-1962-to-1980/

Time for the second of three Adorex models today – the first one I featured was the lowliest of them, with its 8200A movement. Today is the middle one in the hierarchy, namely the 8050 movement. Although this is a high beat movement, running at 28,800bph, it has only 21 jewels so is unusual in that respect – typically Citizen’s high beat models have higher jewelling. Like the Leopard movements, the 8050 has a fine adjuster on the balance so it can be tuned for very accurate timekeeping. The notable thing about the 8000, 8050 and 8200 movements (but not the 8100 and 8110 chronographs) is that they introduced uni-directional auto winding for the first time, for Citizen at least. The dial colour on my example is an unusual pale greyish green, which looks quite appealing. The smart main hands and hour markers have black centre lines, and the movement hand winds and hacks. Both date and day are quick-set as well – pull the crown out one step and the date changes when turned in one direction or the day when turned the other way:

And here is the movement, showing the winding direction of the rotor and the fine adjuster:

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Here’s the second of Citizen’s two movements used in the SM models – this time with 17 jewels. The other has 21, but both use the same date only 2410 calibre. The day and date version of this, the SM 7, uses the 4600 movement with 23 jewels. They were all launched in 1965, and share the same unique date quick-set, namely it’s set when the crown is pulled out to set the time and then the hands moved backwards to advance the date. It’s odd at first, but actually works very well. The dial and hand set is the same as the 21 jewels version, with slender lumed hands and lume dots out side the hour markers. The bezel is plain on this one though – and maybe all the better for that, since it gives a smart and uncluttered overall appearance. These were reasonably priced watches but nonetheless seem to be of a decent quality – both are functioning and running well after nearly 55 years. This one is from February 1966:

Here’s the 21 jewel example:
https://sweep-hand.org/2020/04/05/todays-watch-citizen-sm-auto-dater-21-jewels/

Back to another Leopard today – from April 1971, this is a 26 jewelled model using the 7700 day and date movement. With quick-set day and date and the characteristic 4 o’clock crown position, this may have been the first Leopard I purchased. With 28,800 beats per hour and a fine adjuster on the balance, it runs well and accurately. It has a silvery white dial with smart hour batons and hand set, and is marked ‘Superbeat 8’, i.e. 8 beats per second:

Here it is, bottom left, in a 1971 catalogue:

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Had a busy day, and not done a daily watch photo, so………let’s celebrate Citizen’s automatic mechanical chronographs Introduced in 1972 the two variants of the 81 calibre are very well designed, compact high-beat movements, running at 28,800 beats per hour – 8 beats per second – all with 23 jewels. They have a fine adjuster on the balance for highly accurate tuning – if you have looked at Brian Leiser’s restorations on this blog, you’ll see in his comments how well these things can run. The 8100 has one sub-register, counting elapsed minutes, whilst the sweep hand counts the seconds. The 8110 adds a second sub-register so hours can be counted too. They can all be hand-wound, and of course have start and stop/reset chronograph buttons. And they all have ‘fly-back’ capability, whereby the chronograph can be reset instantly without having to stop it first. One of the nice features, unlike a lot of other chronographs, is that it is best to leave the chronograph running, since there is less load on the mechanism. So the smooth sweep of the second hand is always there It is advised to run the movement with the chronograph stopped from time to time – this helps to avoid it seizing in the running position. The 8110 had a much longer production run, to the early 1980s, whilst the 8100 was perhaps only two or three years. The so called ‘bullheads’ are the most well known, but there are a good variety of other designs, some of which reflect the more colourful design trends of the 1970s. By the way, the correct model name is ‘Challenge Timer’. ‘All original’ ones are increasingly hard to find unfortunately, so care has to be taken! Always do your research before buying – my blog page is (I hope) a good place to start:
https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-chronographs/

Not a complete collection but here are mine, several of which have been serviced by Brian (aka 31 Jewels):

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Today is the third of the three Adorex calibres, although it was the first of the three to be sold, in 1974. And it is the most interesting of the trio, since it has a unique feature, not found on any other Citizen watches, and maybe not on any other manufacturers’ products either. Before describing that, let’s look at it’s more familiar attributes – the 8000A movement (there was an 8001A too) is a high quality mechanism, running at 28,800 beats per hour it can be hand wound and ‘hacks’, with quick-set day and date. It was Citizen’s first movement to have a uni-directional winding rotor. The unique part is the fine adjustment mechanism. Typically the fine adjuster is a screw that moves a cam on the balance spring, but on the 8000 the adjustment can be done without removing the case back. This is achieved by pulling the crown out to a third step, i.e. beyond the day/date setting and time setting steps. The crown can then be used to make adjustments. It needs a very strong pull to move the crown out to this step, which is somewhat disconcerting! This approach was never repeated, so it wasn’t a success – it is odd to try and make small adjustments without site of the adjuster on the balance. It makes for an interesting curiosity in the collection – if you look for one make sure it is an 8000 or 8001 movement to ensure you get one with this mechanism. My example features a white dial with sparkles of silver, and is from February 1974:

Here’s the instruction leaflet showing the crown steps:

For more detail on this one, go here:
https://sweep-hand.org/2013/04/29/this-weeks-featured-watch-50-the-adorex-8000/

Well, I ran out of time and camera battery to day, so here’s another quick look at three Challenge Timers, i.e. Citizen’s automatic chronographs from the 1970s. These three are all ‘bullhead’ designs, all with different case materials. In the centre is the full stainless steel 67-9356 from October 1980, with the octagonal case. On the left is the nickel alloy 67-9011 from February 1979 which is perhaps the most familiar Citizen chronograph from that time. Although the case material code is ‘SSB’ (stainless steel with black bezel) the case is not steel. On the right is the black coated 4-901096 from December 1973 – same case design as the 67-9011 but with a light alloy case and polished steel bezel, so a case code of ‘BLS’- this one has no model number:

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Today’s piece is from February 1969, and is Citizen’s ‘Monthly’ version of the Seven Star Deluxe. Using a 5270, 23 jewel calibre from the 52 line-up of automatics introduced in 1965, it features a manually set month display above the 12 o’clock marker as well as the usual day and date complications. The month is set via a small winder at the 2 o’clock position, which is quite easy to move accidentally as you can see from the photo! The Monthly was sold on the Japanese Domestic Market, with all the dial markings you expect, whilst for export markets it was re-badged as the ‘Moon Dater’, lost ‘Seven Star’ and ‘Deluxe’ from the dial and used the 21 jewel variant of the movement. I have seen ‘Moon Dater’ described as a mis-translation by Citizen – it’s a cool name for a watch though

The Monthly runs at 18,000 beats per hour, can be hand wound and has quick-set date. The case/model number is the older style on mine – ACSS52704 – which tells us not only that it is a 52 movement, but also that it has a hardened mineral glass crystal (i.e. the ‘C’ in ACSS). The later style of case number can be found on these, either 4-521897 or 4-520319. Mine has a black dial – there is a silver dialled version as well:

More info on this, and an earlier Jet automatic Monthly that is much harder to find (with apologies for some missing images, PhotoBucket needs to explain that!):
https://sweep-hand.org/2011/05/20/this-weeks-featured-watch-4-the-monthly/

A very stylish watch today – in my opinion anyway A Square Custom from December 1970, which must have been one of the last of the 52 calibre in this range since a second generation was in production by 1971 using 72 movements. A quick way to identify the earlier version of this particular model is the jewel count – 27 on the 52 dial, 25 on the 72 dial. Mine is also on its original solid link bracelet. There is no case type code on this, but Citizen called this the square flange type – the second link below shows how these are constructed. The movement is the 5204, introduced in 1965, and is also found in the Dandy Sevens. This watch has separate day and date windows, and demonstrates a small thing that I love about Citizen’s vintage watches with the date at the 4/5 o’clock position – i.e. the date is printed to appear vertically in the window. A nice touch that seems to have been left behind these days where the date in that position is usually at an angle to the wearer’s viewpoint, so there is no special printing done for that design. It is also seen on the Challenge Golf and the Seven Star Rally Custom, for example. Little things like this make these pieces all the more appealing:

More info on this watch here: https://sweep-hand.org/2012/02/11/this-weeks-featured-watch-22-the-square-custom/

And here: https://sweep-hand.org/2012/02/12/this-weeks-featured-watch-22-the-square-custom-part-2/

Having a manual wind weekend, so I can forget about having to set the date on the two I have chosen, but I am using today’s photo Today’s piece is the Crystate, a fairly rare hand winder launched in 1967 – mine is from December of that year. The movement is designated 0911 and is a higher quality version of the 0200 (Homer) calibre. The standard Crystate was produced with 21 jewels, with a Deluxe version having 22 jewels, and has a finish to the movement plates replicated only on it’s Chrono Master sibling. It runs at 18,000 bph, and has second setting, and is the same movement that is used in the Homer railroad watch issued to Japan National Railways’ employees. So it will have been tweaked for greater accuracy to meet the requirements of Japan’s renowned railway punctuality. Certainly my examples run very accurately, and I would recommend the Crystate as a more unusual hand winder to acquire. It is a close relative of the Chrono Master manual watch, which has the 0920 calibre inside. I like the simplicity and clarity of the dial on this, with italicised Arabic hour markers and black centred dauphin hands. Like the railroad Homer it does exactly what is required of a watch – tells the time very clearly at a glance:

More info here: https://sweep-hand.org/2011/04/17/this-weeks-featured-watch/

No surprise, given yesterday’s featured watch, that today’s weekend hand winder is the Crystate Deluxe. With one more jewel in the 0911 hacking movement than the standard Crystate, the dial adds ‘Deluxe’ to the name and a single applied star to differentiate it. This one has a separate chapter ring, and has the older style case/model number of HOOS3003. The crystals on these are mineral glass, so I guess this where the unusual name of Crystate is derived from – both of this weekend’s watches are on original solid link bracelets:

Here’s more on the Crystate Deluxe, featuring a different model, case number 4-020308:
https://sweep-hand.org/2011/09/04/this-weeks-featured-watch-13-the-crystate-deluxe/

I think we’ll have a chronograph week The first one is model number 67-9577 from October 1972, which was the year these watches were launched. This one is powered by the 28,800bph 8100A 23 jewel movement, with single sub-register for counting minutes. The second hand counts the seconds of course, and it’s nice that these chronographs are better left running most of the time since that causes less wear then when the chronograph is stopped. With a black coated light alloy case and polished steel bezel, this one has an easy to read black dial with orange chrono hands and a minute/second track around the circumference. The baton hour markers are lumed at their outer ends and the main hands are also lumed. The black day and date wheels blend well with the rest of the watch, whilst the multi-coloured sub-dial brightens the look, and helps to read the passage of time as it is shows 5 minute sections. The original bracelet is a nice addition on this one, although the leather parts of it were beyond hope, so they have been replaced:

Yesterday’s watch has a more extrovert sibling, who insisted on appearing today This version of the 67-9577 has a rich blue dial with contrasting orange lumed hands – something of a classic colour combination. This one also features a white tachymeter ring and silver sub-dial with cyan highlights. My example is from July 1973. There is one more dial variant of this model to be found, with black dial, white tachymeter and silver sub-dial.

Here’s the other dial – from a 1974 German catalogue:

More on the 67-9577 here:
https://sweep-hand.org/2011/11/28/this-weeks-featured-watch-17-67-9577-chronograph/

Chronograph week continues with another 8100A single register model – with no model number, this is identified by its case number – 4-900014. After a recent discussion with a fellow collector, we reckon that the model numbers used on many watches, for example yesterday’s 67-9577, were for international markets, whilst Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) models use only the case number. This is supported by the catalogues I’ve seen – Japanese language ones use a different reference number system alongside the case number, but German and Australian catalogues have the 67-9577 type model numbers. So I also reckon that today’s watch was sold only on the JDM initially – and this one was made in May 1972, which was the month when the 8100 models were first launched.

Today’s piece has a polished stainless steel case with black bezel (case material code SSB), with a black dial and sub-register with colour highlight. Along with black day and date rings, white baton hour markers and white hands, this is a smart design that has stood the test of time very well in my opnion. As with all the 8100 and 8110 chronographs it can be hand wound and has ‘fly-back’ capability, i.e. instant zero’ing and restart:

Over the past 2 months or so I’ve covered my 8100A chronograph collection, so time now to move on to an 8110A model. This one has no model number, so (as I suggested yesterday) it’s likely that it was originally made for the Japanese Domestic Market only. The case design is the same as the much better known model 67-9011 – the ‘bullhead’ – with its apparent stainless steel case (actually a nickel alloy), but this one has a black coated light alloy case and polished steel bezel. And it sports a very different colour palette on the dial – the main colour is green, with a black minute/second track and black sub-dials with multi-colour highlights. It’s finished off with orange centred hands, orange chronograph hands, orange highlighted hour markers and black date and day wheels. Despite the various colours it presents as a harmonious design in my opinion. The 8110A hand winds, has quick-set day and date (the stop/reset chronograph button moves the day forward on all 8110 and 8100 movements) and of course if has ‘fly-back’ capability. Mine is from December 1973:

Here’s this model in a 1974 Japanese catalogue – as you can see there is no model number in the form of 67-xxxx, but there is a different type of reference number – for this one it is 1552-21. It’s also interesting to see the original strap used on this model, alongside the more familiar bracelet on the 67-9011 seen here:

I think this is the 61st of the ‘lockdown’ Today’s Watch series – and as it’s the end of Chronograph Week, it’s one more of the 8110A range. The 67-9011 is Citizen’s best known vintage chronograph, clearly it was produced in the largest quantities. And although the case code is SSB (stainless steel case with black bezel) the case is in fact made from nickel alloy. They started life with a smooth satin finish, which naturally gets a little polished over the years – it you see a mirror finish on one of these, you know it has been polished to that state and is not in an original condition. There are two dial variants, mine is the most common, whilst the other has blue highlights on the minute sub-dial and a different tachymeter ring – this can be seen in yesterday’s post.

The silver dial and black sub-registers create a ‘Mickey Mouse’ look, and the orange chronograph hands create a bright contrast. Date and day dials were either black or white which my casing parts list from 1977 confirms. One of the problems with buying these nowadays, if you want original, is that there are many aftermarket dials and hands. Take a look at all the original chronographs here: https://sweep-hand.org/citizens-vintage-chronographs/, whilst here’s some help with identifying an original one: https://sweep-hand.org/want-an-original-citizen-bullhead-a-quick-buying-guide/, and here as well: https://sweep-hand.org/2018/12/11/how-to-identify-an-original-bullhead-dial-some-tips/

This model had a longer production run than some of the others, reaching 1980 I think. Mine is from February 1979 and is on its original bracelet:

After a chronograph week, I’m having a hand wind weekend again. And this time it’s a Deluxe from August 1961. The Deluxe was introduced in 1958, using the 2B/9200 movement with 19, 21 and 23 jewels. It proved to be Citizen’s first really successful watch, with sales exceeding a value of over ¥100million. There were many dial designs, along with steel and gold/gold-plated cases, combined with a high quality movement that can run very accurately at a leisurely 18,000 beats per hour. It is also a fairly slim movement, with no date or day complications, so it is a very stylish dress watch. I would recommend getting hold of a good example of these, you can feel the quality of them somehow – smooth winding and hand setting tells you that it is a superior thing.

Well, it had to be this one, after yesterday’s Deluxe The Super Deluxe is the high grade version of the range – the 9200 calibre came with either 23 or 25 jewels and as with the Deluxe they first appeared in 1958. The ‘Super’ version had more adjustments before leaving the factory – the standard version had 3 so this one probably had 5, and the movement is marked ‘specially adjusted’. The movement is nicely finished, and the case is 14K gold-filled to a thickness of 80 microns. My example is a 25 jewel model from February 1962, and is one of my favourites in the collection. No special features, it just tells the time, but it is a classy, high quality piece that runs very, very well. Again, I would recommend a Super Deluxe for any collection – even if you are not a fan of gold tone, I think you will be impressed by the look of this one since it is a step above the usual standard:

More on this one here: https://sweep-hand.org/2011/05/09/this-weeks-featured-watch-3/