Watches for sale.

After eight years, I am thinning out the collection a bit more, and have for sale on eBay the following items:-

Seiko 7A28

 

Citizen Cosmotron

Bulova Accutron

Please feel free to make me an offer.

Uh-oh! More Cosmotrons.

(All images may be increased in size by clicking on them)

PURPLE FACE
Well, just one Cosmo wasn't enough - I saw two more which attracted my attention and their cost fell right within the price-range which I have allowed myself for this hobby.

 

This first one is distinguished by its mauve/purple dial which has an almost iridescent effect, changing shade slightly as it is tilted towards or away from the light. I find it very appealing and very similar to a Seiko Advan I have - also from the early 1970s - although the intensity of the colour on this Cosmotron is not as strong as that on its Japanese cousin.

Apart from the colour the dial and hands are rather simple, consisting of thin silver batons for the hour indices and hour & minute hands of matching colour and width. The sweep second hand is also a simple silver sliver (how's that for a catchy phrase?!).

At the top of the dial, under the '12' baton, are displayed the CITIZEN name in silver relief letters under which is the word ELECTRONIC in tiny white-printed lettering.
At the bottom, above the '6' baton, is the Cosmotron logo, in silver relief, and the word COSMOTRON printed immediately above in white.

The '3' position is taken up by the combined day/date display, with the day showing in both Kanji and English.

The crown is recessed at the '4' position, easily popped out by a fingernail when time or date needs adjustment.

The whole watch is set in a stainless-steel case with bracelet of matching material, the design featuring broad rectangular folded links in a satin finish, all secured by a clasp signed CITIZEN and the Cosmotron logo.
Case is 37mm across x 42mm top-to-bottom and the dial face is 29mm in diameter.

The overall condition of this Cosmo is excellent; it appears to have hardly been worn or, if done so on a regular basis, then it has been well cared-for.

It runs perfectly, keeping very accurate time. I have never adjusted it since it arrived (July) other than to initially set the time and date.

ORANGE FACE
SOLD March 2013
This is the third "safety watch" that I own!
You may recall the two Seiko items that I recently featured here. Well, Citizen made an orange-dialled Cosmotron several years before Seiko produced those quartz items.

This Cosmo has a cool name to go with its brash face - 'X8'!
And the '8' is a stylised 'X', so looks like the 'X' laying on its side. Fab move, Citizen!

So at the top of the dial we have 'CITIZEN' in the same raised silver characters as the purple watch (above) but under that wording is the 'X8' instead of 'Electronic'.
At the bottom is the special Cosmotron logo, just the same as the other watch, with 'COSMOTRON' printed above it, but now there is the word 'TRANSISTORIZED' underneath.

The hour indices are also really neat items, consisting of chunky rectangles of alternating silver/black stripes and featuring a bevelled surface on the inside face.The hour and minute hands are styled in a similar manner as the indices, made of a silver material with black striping along the length - 2 stripes for the hour hand and 1 stripe for the minute hand.
The sweep second hand is finished in overall white.
Around the circumference of the dial face is a register of a lighter orange and it is marked with 1-minute segments, a bolder mark at every 5-minutes.

At the '3' position sits a date-only window and the crown, like its sibling, is located at the '4' position, although in this case, although recessed, it is not shrouded from above by the case overhang.

The bracelet on this watch is made of solid stainless-steel links in a "tank track" style, tapering slightly from maximum width at the lugs to a tad narrower at the clasp, which is signed 'CITIZEN' but without any reference to the type of watch to which it is attached.

Dimensions overall are about the same as the first of these two, but the dial is slightly larger at 31mm in diameter.

This Cosmotron - which, incidentally, came with the original Citizen cardboard tag - keeps excellent time and has also not required adjustment since purchase in July (from a vendor in Spain).

So there you have them - two 40-year old transistorised timepieces, each with a bright face and both capable of providing colourful and cool time-keeping.

Brand-new Citizen Cosmotron - 41 Years Later!

(All photos enlarge full-size when you click on them) 
SOLD March 2013

This is the story of a mint-condition, never-been-worn, Citizen Cosmotron X8 that first saw the light of day in 1970 - 41 years ago.

The Cosmotron was Citizen's response to Seiko's Elnix electronic watch - and remember (if you've seen the article I have here about the Elnix) that these designs pre-dated the quartz electronic movement - also developed by Seiko.

The Cosmotron, like its neighbour, was fitted with a conventional balance-wheel but was powered via an electrical circuit and, in this case, one that was transistorised, as Citizen told the world at the bottom of the dial.

I found this watch on Ebay.
It was advertised as mint, complete with its original tags and the only new item was a battery that the vendor had fitted.

 

One of the tags displayed the original price - 19,800 Yen  in 1970.
I did a conversion and that equates to $242 dollars at today's rate of exchange so forty-one years ago that was a lot of money.
Oddly enough - almost eerie, in fact - that was within 63 cents of what I paid for this watch just two weeks ago. Including postage from Japan it cost me $242.63.  As I said - weird.

I was tempted to just store this watch away with my collection and then I thought, bugger that......I wear my watches and this one should be no exception.
So the tags and instructions were removed and popped into a spare Citizen watch-case I had, the X8 was given a polish with a microfibre cloth and now sits on my wrist, to be worn to the office when I feel like it, rotating its usage with the others.

The solid-link bracelet is a work of art in itself - one of the nicest bracelets I've seen on any Japanese watch and certainly equal to anything Seiko produced in that style.

When not being worn this will sit on display next to its contemporary, the Seiko Elnix, and they can chatter away to each other.

After all, they have all the time in the world to do so.

Citizen Bullhead

SOLD - November 2011.

I bought this watch nearly two years ago and really did so just for the sake of having an example of the bullhead style in my collection.

It's been worn occasionally and sits nicely on the wrist, but I'm not carrying on a love affair with it........I don't find it an attractive design. The crown and pushers sticking out the top remind me of an insect!

The dial is immaculate but is in a rather dull brownish shade, although the overall effect is quite pleasant, with the white markers, white minute & hour hands, splashes of reddish/orange with the other hands and a bit of greenish-blue showing on the 30-second dial on the right.

The automatic movement includes a day/date complication, its positioning being somewhat unusual when compared to the vast majority.

The case is all stainless-steel, with a sort of "helmet" shape and it does sit very nicely and unobtrusively on the wrist.

I really like the (original, signed) bracelet design.......I think it's cool and very 1970s.

The case-back advises that the watch is water resistant and that it is made of stainless steel.

A very original item - it hasn't been mucked about - and runs perfectly, keeping good time.

Just a shame that I don't find it particularly attractive.

The Citizen "Altichron"

(Click on any image for a much larger view)

In the 1980's, Citizen released a trio of very special watches, all designed for the rugged, adventurous outdoorsy type of male who was really into diving into the depths of the Marianas Trench, climbing Mount Everest or leaping out of high-flying aircraft and hoping that your parachute opened.

This group of watches was termed the "Promaster" series and each had something special about it.

The Aqualand differed from traditional diving watches in that, as well as providing elapsed time info, it also had a depth sensor.

The Aqualand came on a rubber strap.

The Aerochron also sported elapsed-time capability but it came with a sensor that gave altitude readout. Good for knowing the minimum height at which to pull the ripcoard.

This model was fitted with a stainless-steel bracelet.

The Altichron - the Promaster model which I obtained - is similar to the Aerochron in that it also gives a barometric readout and elevation data (in metres, as compared to the altitude readout in feet of its sibling).

The Altichron was sold with a leather strap, almost the watch equivalent of a holster.

This is not a small watch.

It is 48mm across the widest point - from the extremity of the sensor on the left to the curve of the case on the right - and is 41mm from top to bottom of the case, yet the actual clear dial diameter is only 29mm.

The overall thickness of the watch itself is 11mm and then it is backed by 2mm of the leather strap.

The Althichron is a reasonably heavy piece of kit, too. Not uncomfortably so, but it's no lightweight titanium item, either.

 

The face is very easy to read.

Where the 11, 12 and 1 numerals would be located is a window in which the day/date and barometric information is displayed in digital format (LCD).

Large, easy-to-read numerals are provided at the remainder of the hour locations.

There is a sweep second hand with arrow-head pointer which, like the hour and minute hands, is "lumed" and, in daylight, easily seen against the black face of the dial.

An adjustable compass bezel surrounds the dial externally and is clickable into 5-degree positions.

There is a conventional crown located at the 4 o'clock position with which the time is adjsted.

All other functions are handled by the three pushers at the 2, 8 and 10 o'clock positions.

The barometric sensor sits within the housing which protrudes from the left of the watch.

The case-back is a flat plate, held in place by four screws.

The leather watch strap is a work of art in itself and is made in three pieces - the buckle section, the tongue section  and a separate piece on which the watch sits. All three sections are laminated, the front and rear sandwiching a fibre material.

I bought this watch for its rarity and the technology that it features.

I've never worn it (too cumbersome to be worn to work and I don't climb mountains) but I have used it......to check rising/falling barometer. I have also determined the altitude of my home. It works perfectly in that respect and also keeps excellent time.

When the battery dies I'll undo the back and see what is inside but until then the Altichron sits on a shelf and occasionally tells me what the weather is going to be like.

UPDATE April 2011
This watch has been sold to a chap in the USA who bought one new in 1991 when he was serving in the first Gulf War. That watch was stolen in 1992 in Turkey and he had been on the lookout for another ever since, to no avail. I was glad to help him find a replacement.
A happy ending to the story. :)

Citizen Eco-drive "Alterna"

A very utilitarian watch - the rotating bezel (uni-directional) with the large numbers indicating time remaining before your oxygen depletes; the very dark gunmetal finish to the stainless-steel case and solid-link bracelet; black dial with stainless-steel bars indicating the hours; the screw-down crown protected by the buttresses north and south........all make for what one would think is a big hefty time machine best used by Navy SEAL's or Abrams tank commanders or oil-rig workers.

But looks can be deceiving because although this watch is no dress watch, it is a not an obese chunk of steel either.
The display area of the dial is 30mm in diameter, the overall diameter of the face is 38mm and the crown adds another 4mm. Thickness? A mere 11mm.


The Alterna is a very comfortable watch to wear and I find it so easy to read, with the lighter coloured hands contrasting nicely against the black Eco-drive solar panel which makes up the majority of the dial-face.
And the ease is the same in the dark, with the hour and minute hands sporting green luminous material, as do the hour indices at 3, 6, 9 and 12.

I have two Eco-drives, this and another which is a gold-tone, dressy watch. This one is by far my most favoured of the two.

A Citizen "Eagle" from 1972

This 21-jewel automatic features a silvery-white dial, day/date display at the 3 o'clock position and a with silver hour indices.

The stainless-steel case and signed bracelet are original and in very nice condition and the overall presentation makes for a nice dress-watch - very appropriate for business or evening wear.

The Citizen "Eagle" keeps excellent time and is a watch that I wear occasionally to the office.

The America's Cup - 1992 & 1995.

Several watch companies have produced special editions associated with the America's Cup yacht-racing extravaganzas over the past couple of decades. Omega comes to mind and also Girard-Perregaux, TAG-Heuer and, in this instance, possibly the first of them, Citizen.

For longer than I like to admit I was a mad America's Cup enthusiast, commencing with the first Australian Challenge back in 1962 with Gretel. From that moment, until the demise of the 12-Metre class after the 1987 event in Perth, I was hooked.

Once rampant commercialism entered the arena I turned off and today I have almost zero interest in what, to my mind, has become a travesty of what its original Deed of Gift intended.

Anyway......this fascination with the 'Cup recently expanded to include watches, but the prices being asked for Omega, Girard-Perregaux et al were just overwhelming for me.

However, a little bit of research came up with the fact that, for 1992 and then as a re-issue for 1995, Citizen produced a marvellous example specifically designed for the yacht-racer in general and the America's Cup aficionado in particular.

Within the space of two months I was lucky in securing two examples of this rarely-seen watch, each at opposite ends of the scale insofar as wear & tear was concerned.

The first, (seen immediately below) and marketed for the 1992 challenge, had been a favourite of some previous owner. It had lived a useful life, perhaps seeing many wrist-hours on the water being used to time starting countdowns. Or maybe it simply adorned the wrist of an office-worker on a daily basis for many years. Who knows?

It came without its original stainless steel bracelet, being mounted on a rubber strap, albeit one that was designed for the yacht-racer in mind.

There was no other accompanying paraphernalia - no box, no documentation. Just the watch.

It works beautifully, keeping accurate time. The only function that I cannot activate is the alarm. Other than that, it works as intended and is an excellent example of a well-loved watch, now more than 16 years old.

UPDATE 27th. OCTOBER 2011

This 1992 watch has now gone to a new owner as a gift for her husband, who has been involved with America's Cup yacht designing for some years.

================================================================

SOLD  MARCH 2016

THE 1995 ISSUE - NOW FOR SALE

The second example was marketed for the 1995 America's Cup defence and is identical to it's older sibling.

I get the impression that any 1992 models not distributed by Citizen were simply re-packaged for the 1995 event. Smart move by the company.

This one is the complete, pristine, unworn package.

The watch wears its untouched and un-sized original bracelet. It is packaged in its original boxes and the ensemble includes the original documentation.

It is a superb example of the type and one in which collectors of America's Cup memorabilia may be interested.

UPDATE MARCH 2012
Following several requests for information on the functions of this watch I have scanned the Instruction Manual and it is available as a PDF file (approx 9Mb in size).
Just email me if you would like a copy.

Let's not forget the LCD's!

Remember when the magic of digital watches arrived?
Firstly it was the glowing red LED's of such things as the Pulsar range (now very collectible) and then the world was taken by storm with companies such as Casio, Citizen and Seiko producing a vast range of LCD watches - such as the two seen here.

The first watch featured is an example of Seiko's A639 module, from 1981.
This model included regular time-keeping, in 12 or 24-hour mode; day & date; an hourly chime; an alarm and a stop-watch. It also boasted a light - operated by the bottom-right button.


This watch - like most LCD Seiko models - came with a stainless-steel case and bracelet, as pictured here.
The clasp is signed and includes Seiko's "SQ" logo to indicate quartz timing.

12-HOUR or 24-HOUR SETTINGS:
For those of you who have this watch but not the user's manual or guide to the settings, one of the most confusing is how to switch between 12-hour and 24-hour display. Each of the others are pretty straight-forward, but this one had me beat for a while.

This is the sequence:
Go to Time Setting mode, then sequence through seconds, then minutes, then tens of minutes, then hour and when in the hour-setting mode (the hour digit is flashing) press the bottom right-hand button.
Voila! You can switch between 12 or 24-hour display.
_______________________


SOLD (July 2010)

One of my favourite LCD watches is this Citizen digital-analogue (Digi-Ana) hybrid from October 1979.
This watch features dual-time capability - one display in analogue and the other in digital. Two time-zones can be monitored if desired.
In addition there is an hourly chime; an alarm feature; day & date and also a stopwatch.

I was fortunate when buying this watch in that it includes the original Citizen (signed) leather watch-band; a nice change from the regular stainless-steel bracelets.

Both of the watches operate perfectly.
I had to clean around the press-buttons of the Citizen, removing a couple of decades of gunk.
Once this was accomplished, all functions resumed normal service - just as they had done some 20 years previously, when the watch was shipped from the Citizen factory.


A nice detour from the analogues and these are two watches which I wear occasionally but mainly use to keep a pretty accurate check on the time-keeping qualities of some of my non-quartz models.

Everyone should own at least one period Seiko, Casio or Citizen LCD.....just for old-times sake!

Citzen's 8110A chrono - in Green & Burnt Orange!

With a face like that it has to be from the 1970's........and, of course, it is. October 1974, to be precise.
As with most of my previous acquisitions I was attracted by the design and colours - the hexagonal sub-dials with their graduated colouring from yellow to orange; the emerald-green dial; the octagonal case. All worked for me, baby!


However, upon arrival of the watch I noticed that the dial was more blemished than I was led to believe and that the 12-hour hand (sub-dial at 12) was inoperative.
Other than those glitches, the watch operated correctly, keeping good time, and was all-original, including the signed stainless-steel bracelet.

Apparently the Citizen 8110 movement is considered to be somewhat ordinary by those who know watches (and I'm not one of them and don't pretend to be), and can be a pain in the posterior to work with.
However, a local watchmaker, whose expertise I have used in recent months, is taking a look at this blast-from-the-past in order to bring the non-functional sub-dial back to life, although the blemished main dial will have to stay that way.

But irrespective of the few scratches and aging, nothing can take away the nostalgic charm of this 1970's design.
It evokes mini skirts, flares, cassette tapes and ABBA! Groovy!

More new technology - Citizen Eco-drive

There are many who do not like "gold" watches but I don't mind them. Spending the majority of my working hours in an office environment also means that I can wear dress-watches without the hazards associated with manual labour.

I wanted a Citizen Eco-drive simply because of the technology: The light (be it sunlight, desk-lamp, whatever) shines down on the dial-face, passes through it and is collected by a photo-electric device which keeps the battery charged.

This particular item was chosen because of the price and the styling; it was a new watch selling for a very reasonable amount and I liked the dial and the fact that the case was not too large.

One thing which struck me about the movement in this watch is the fact that, as the second hand marches around the dial, it hits each hour marker (there are no other indices) smack on dead-centre.

Citizen Titanium

Not exactly a "classic", this Citizen quartz model (from 2005), with gold highlights on its all-titanium case and bracelet, caught my eye for two reasons; in this world of gigantic watch-faces, it has a small diameter (36mm) case and therefore suits my skinny wrist, and it is extremely light, being made from titanium.

I also like its "industrial" grey colour, which is softened by the gold trim around the black dial and on the bracelet.