[31 Jewels]

Its probably obvious by now that i'm a proud collector, watch repair and service man of the Citizen 8110a chronograph. Back in the 70's this movement was used in quite a few Citizen chronograph models. But there are special select models of that time that really send it home for me. For me so far its always been the big stainless cased, blue dialed Citizen 67-9054 8110a chronograph. That model started it all for me in watchmaking and has lead to this Citizen chronograph shown here in my restoration thread. Other than the "Citizen Speedy 67-9313" or (Challenge Timer)(for you Stephen), what i consider the rarest and the holy grail of vintage citizen chronographs is the 67-9151. Only 7 pictures of this model is all i have been able to find in web searching. Experts in vintage Citizen chronographs will mention that its probably the rarest of all 8110a chronographs made. Its has taken me almost 2 years to find one with all its original parts. Hands and dial condition are why i passed on 2 others because i wanted a completely original one. Even if it was rough and needed to be restored. Nothing except movement parts can be found for this watch, and i have searched on a serious level world wide while prepairing to show you the restoration and service of this example. This 67-9151 posed a few challenges for me along the way, and i hope you enjoy the thread as i move along through it. 31

 

[Sodiac]

Can't wait to see more!

 

[plainsimple]

Congratulations on finally finding one. It will surely be fun to see more of this project.

 

[Morris Minor]

Great to see you are restoring one of these 31j They are hard to find, and I'm interested in whether there were any dial variations, or whether the ones I have seen are in different stages of fading. For example, the colours on the borders of the sub-dials. On yours they are yellow all round, whilst on mine there is orange on one side:

Maybe the dial codes will help determine the answer - mine is 901204 - is that the same as yours?

Looking forward to more pics as your restoration progresses,

Stephen

 

[31 Jewels]

Stephen, hey! I'm glad you showed up to the Citizen resto party.
And look what you brought. A very nice 67-9151!
I'm hoping more 67-9151's show up here while i type this resto. I know there at least 2 others here in the WUS forum. Hoping the owners will read this thread and post pics.
I have some real interesting info i collected in the last couple months that i can share.
I was missing 2 key parts for this watch, which sent me on a buying wild goose chase.
It was bummin me out because i couldnt post this resto thread untill i could find those 2 parts. Then a couple weeks ago i scored. As a result.....
I ended up with 3 more Citizen chronographs and some other rare parts. I'll post up some more in the next couple days and discuss those questions with you. I look forward to seeing what happens here. See ya soon. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Stephen, 901142 is the dial code for this one.
It appears your on to something.
I have read, and i say that loosely, that this model also came with a black dial. I looked at the picture shown of that watch and it looks like another Citizen chronograph 8110a model in a 67-9151 case. I'll let that be up for debate later. Back to the resto. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Have you ever, and i'm sure alot of people can relate to this, couldnt wait to get your new, or old watch you bought in the mail? The day this watch arrived, i skipped dinner...girl friend mad......and went right to the bench to open it up and check it out. I usually will take a picture of my restoration watches complete before i show the process. With this one, i couldnt wait and forgot. So it will be sorta of a reverse thing here when the thread ends. Usually i will start with the movement, which in this watch right from the get go looks real nice already. This time around i decided to start with the case/pushers/bezel and crown instead. See ya soon, 31

 

[wysanz]

I do have one 67-9151 and three 67-9178's and I love them all, because they looked so unique to me. I just love the design of those sub-dials as they are designs that I could only find in these two Citizen series. I believe that the 8110 movements deserve more attention and it's great that there is a forum thread dedicated to the discussion of the 8110 movement in depth. I am looking forward to see your "New" watch...:-d. well done!

...and mine is here to say "HI!"

 

[deluded]

@31 Jewels, just gotta tell you I love reading your threads (ok, more of looking at the pictures than reading actually, haha!). But yeah, I can imagine the amount of work and passion it takes to painstakingly restore the timepieces you've detailed. Great work and I'm following all your restoration threads!

 

[Morris Minor]

Stephen, 901142 is the dial code for this one.
It appears your on to something.
I have read, and i say that loosely, that this model also came with a black dial. I looked at the picture shown of that watch and it looks like another Citizen chronograph 8110a model in a 67-9151 case. I'll let that be up for debate later. Back to the resto. 31

Thanks for the info 31j - that fills in a bit of missing info for the page on my blog Looks like there were two variants - yours with a case code of 4-901142, and dial code of 901142, and mine with case code of 4-901118 and dial code of 901204.

I don't believe these were made with black dials - the one you have seen sounds like a 67-9151 case with a dial from a 67-9178, like the one on this pic (it should have second markers round the edge of the dial, they have been painted out at some stage):

Stephen

 

[31 Jewels]

wysanz, thank you for posting a pic of your 67-9151.
The first picture i ever saw of one was yours,
after seeing this model number on Stevens blog. You have a fantastic example.
Looking at yours has inspired me to search for, and buy one. The 67-9151 is a very interesting, unique and rare model. I can only hope that my example here in the thread looks as nice as yours when finished. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Having an original signed crown is a key element for the value of a watch, as well as a good indicator of the watches condition. Crowns can be damaged through the years and replaced, and not having the correct one can also affect value. Collectors or anyone serious in buying a quality watch will tell you that its one of the things they look for. This is what an original crown looks like for this watch, signed CTZ. This model also has a very unique case that is solid stainless, as well as the bezel and case back. The cases cut and shape have complex gem like facets. With out a doubt, a precision tool made the case. The dial isnt the only thing to love with this watch. Time to start polishing parts, see ya soon. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Nothing is more gross sometime than the amount of dirt in "old' watches. Whats even more outrageous are the things you can smell when you work that close to old DNA. Well..... womens watches are better....sometime, but i'll leave that up to your imagination. Watches that i'm going to wear are like my cars. I call it the french frey test. If you drop a french frey on the carpet and then can eat it, without being grossed out, then you have a clean carpet. After i'm done cleaning the major dirt from the pushers and crown, they go into a special ultrasonic cleaning solution. Then its time to work some magic......

 

[31 Jewels]

They look better than new when their done. If the pushers were bigger, you could use them as a mirror to shave in.

Time for the case, see ya soon. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

I spent a great deal of time being "very" carefull to polish in the direction of the original finish. This is to ensure that the case facets stay sharp.

Pretty sweet! Time to service the 8110a movement. See ya soon, 31

 

[Morris Minor]

Looking very good 31j.

Think I'll link to this thread from my blog

Stephen

 

[31 Jewels]

This is what i consider a major bonus. A flawless date and day wheel. Even has my favorite (friday) on it. Note the hair on the barrel. I found a few interesting things in this movement. I'll post some more in a little bit. 31

 

[jaliya48]

It's great to see another restoration by you, 31J! Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[31 Jewels]

Thanks J. I'm really stoked about this one. As a watchmaker, i have to be sort of a detective and problem solver. It is amaizing what you find when you disassemble a movement. Especially a chronograph with lots of parts. You have to look at everything because sometimes what you find (foreign) will be the reason that the watch doesnt work. Look to the right of the cannon pinion. I found a little blue piece of rubber. I thought it might be grease dried up. Nah, its a piece of blue plastic. I dont know how it got in the movement but i can guess. Check out the broken setting gear below. I never even tried to set the watch when i got it because i knew i would fix any problems i might encounter anyway. And this can definatly cause problems. An important jewel lies under this gear and the botchmaker before me broke it trying to remove it. No question. Good thing i have 8110a parts in stock. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

This is a pic of the original balance and hair spring in my 67-9151. The best time to examin the balance and hairsping is at this time after the ultrasonic cleaning. I have to admit one of my best side shots of a balance wheel. Anyway, the reason i took this one is i noticed that the wheel is slightly bent. And sure enough it was. Givin what i have found messed up in the watch already, it didnt surprise me. Sure, i could have used it because the hairspring is perfectly flat, but imagine your "bent car rim" as it spins down the highway at 60 MPH. No different here, and i have one mint spare straight balance wheel, and its going in this watch. I want this baby super accurate when i'm ready to time it. 31