re: Any Watch experts here? Dumb question about an old Citizen watch

Thanks for everyone's help. I figured it'd be easy to swap out the band to one I prefer. I'm going to ship it off to a repair shop in Atlanta that is an authorized Citizen repair place. I'd rather have it done right, with a warranty, than some shady guy in the mall working on it.

My brother. He's more of a watch person, and I really didn't like it all that much. I also got a Seiko dad had, but I don't like it either. This was the Tissot, though I remember it looking slightly different.

First, it that is a picture of the watch it is indeed a mechanical watch and does not use a battery. Citizen didn't use Mercedes hands on many of their dive watches but it looks like a B52806 but that would mean it was older than 1980.

As for a straps you have tons of options, NATO, canvas, rubber, and leathers. I have raw and polished stingray on several of my divers and is my favorite non-traditional strap. You want to change the spring bars out as they may have rust and corrosion down inside the, if not visible. You can measure the inside width between the lugs and order a band if you like, they are measured in millimeters and it is likely a 20, 21 or 22mm. While in a perfect world you would use a spring bar tool a small precision screwdriver can be used by most people to get the spring bars out.

The watch may or may not keep decent time, since it has ben sitting so long the oils will have dried out. I wouldn't be surprised if it runs a minute or more fast or slow. You really have three options, run it into the ground if it runs, have it serviced or replace the movement. Replacing the movement with a new one is usually the cheapest route for inexpensive automatics like Citizen and Seiko, though the Seiko movements are easier to source. Without knowing the movement in that particular watch I can't tell you.

If you plan to use it in the water, it needs a new gasket on the caseback at a minimum possible on the crown or a new crown.

The watch being an automatic you can probably start it by gently shaking it back and forth in your hand. I am not 100% that movement will hand wind, some Citizens did some did not. If you unscrew the crown but don't pull it out once unscrewed (position one) turning it clockwise will wind it is if does hand wind. As you pull it out the second position allows you to set the date, do not set the day between about 10pm and 2pm on the watch, it can bugger the date mechanism. On an unwound watch set it to the day before the actual date and run the time around until it changes the date so you know you are at midnight then set the proper time. You can always be safe by setting the time to 6 before setting the date. You can set time by pulling the crown out to the third position. Always rememeber to screw the crown down when finished setting the watch.

If you want the watch serviced etc in BR then go to Watch Repair Inc on Florida.

That sounds like a plan. While I know it has sentimental value and that changes the entire cost/benefit analysis you can get a new Citizen auto dive watch for less than it will cost to service that one, just throwing it out there for information sake. I personally would get it serviced (well I would replace the movement myself but that is a different story).

If you want to know more about the specific watch (Japanese watches are not my forte') take a picture of the back as well, sign up on Watchuseek.com and post the questions on their Citizen forum and if you don't get much info in a couple of days, it isn't the most active sub-forum, post it on the dive watch sub forum. Someone there will be able to tell you exactly what you have.

Wear it in good health!

I’m generally okay with day/date windows wherever as long as they look clean.

Date magnification windows however ruin any watch they are on. fricking gross.

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It is interesting to me how much date hate has exploded in the internet age.

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Go back up to that Tissot above. Close one eye. Slowly close the other. As your vision blurs and the watch’s detail starts to fade, how closed does your eye have to be before you can no longer distinguish that date guichet?

My guess is it’s literally one of the last details you can distinguish before your eye closes entirely.

That watch designer took a silver and blue symmetrical watch and stuck a large bright white blob in the bottom right corner with a slanted numeral in the middle. It’s eye catching.

Now, I understand how Tissot sources their movements, so I understand that compromises have to be made, but more often than not, I would rather not have a date window than to have one forced into a dial when it doesn’t fit.

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A good watch repair place can put a nice leather band on it.

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Or you can easily do it yourself with a $10 tool from Amazon. It isn't difficult to change a watch band at all.

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This was the Tissot, though I remember it looking slightly different.

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if your watch looks like the first pic you posted, you got by far the better deal IMO. a vintage looking diver beats the hell out of that chromed out, new money looking, busy arse chrono any day of the week.

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So I got the watch out last night, and either my memory is completely crap, or the watch I'm thinking of was lost somewhere along the way. It does not have the Pepsi bezel, and the serial number on the bottom cover was almost completely rubbed off so I couldn't even really read it. Had some contractors at the house so didn't have time to really get in good light with a magnifying glass, so I'll try that tonight.

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no one is interested in the serial number. just take a pic of the watch.