[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[31 Jewels]

Great explanations of the work you're doing, and cool shots too, 31j. How does a balance wheel get bent - is it most likely rough handling by a 'botch maker'?

Stephen

Thank you.
Yea, pretty much. Or putting the movement in the wrong holder/picking it up wrong and bending the balance with fingers.
The watches i get are all 40-100 plus years old. And like a car, there have been (alot) of other hands in it.
Most of my work is fixing mistakes made by men who have probably died by now, or ones that didnt have any formal training or education in watchmaking or repair. I would say for me, the ratio is 1 in 20 watches that are pristine. I can tell when a watch was handled/serviced correctly in the past. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Spotless and on the way back together.

And here she is fully serviced and assembled. The balance and escape wheel cap jewels are a beautifull rose colored pink.

 

[31 Jewels]

Earlier in the thread i had mentioned that i was missing 2 key pieces to my Citizen 67-9151. I have discussed in my other restoration and service threads about Citizen 8110 movement holders. Some models use plastic ones and some use metal ones with screws and clamps. Well, this watch's metal movement holder was missing. My first thought was crap. Where am i going to get a very important rare part for this watch. I know what you might be thinking. Just buy a parts Citizen 8110a watch to get one.

Easy enough, so i buy 3. Any of these models look familiar? I bought these for one thing. The metal movement holder and the 2 clamps and 2 screws. But, there was a problem. The single registers here i just tried to fit the whole movement in the 67-7151's case. Guess what? It wouldnt fit. How is that possible? I can explain later. So i then buy a Bull Head. Restoring Vsansbajo's, i learned that these too came with metal movement holders. Ok, so it fits in the 67-9151's case, but not in the case back. So, this is what i did.......

 

[31 Jewels]

The 8110a Bullheads movement holder is .50 MM bigger at 29.50MM. So in the lathe it went. And very carefully i machined down .50MM. A 4 jaw chuck was to strong to use with out bending it. So i had to modify one of my lathe tools to be able to turn the Bulls movement holder down .10MM at a time to get 29.00MM. And presto, i have this....

31

 

[31 Jewels]

Which lead to this. Lookin real good. Now 31's getting a late christmas present. Remember the wasted original crystal. Look whats in the back round. It just keeps getting better now the movement holder is a reality.. The dial took a long time to carefully clean. Remember in the first picture of the thread the staining it had. I use a special trade secret cleaner and now its virtually perfect. See ya soon, 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Your work is amazing! Interestingly, if you required a metal movement holder for the 8110, I would've sent you one I had. It's from a 9119 and should fit.

Thanks J. I have a 9119 here and i measured it. 30.50MM. I would have had to machine off alot more, but it would have worked. I appreciate the offer. Hey at least there will be more 8110 restorations. My problem was the single registers 8110's arent as thick of a movement as the double register 8110s. The movement sat too far away from the 67-9151's bezel. I realized only after i got the bull that it would have worked. Only still I would have had to machine off metal to get it to fit.
I need to get some stainless Citizen single register cases. I have 2 8110a single register movements that need homes. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

View attachment 975436 The way the dial changes colors in certain lighting is so cool on this watch. Next time you see her she'll be cased up. 31 View attachment 975442

 

[31 Jewels]

View attachment 990871 Here she is all done with an original Citizen bracelet, NOS Citizen crystal and all her original hands that are un restored. I have been so busy i could barely find the time to finish her up. Also a pic of the finished 8110a movement with the custom made movement holder. This 67-9151 timed out to about 7 seconds a day positionaly. View attachment 990875 Pretty darn good for almost a 40 year old watch i'd say. View attachment 990878 Fine regulation and alot of time yields really superb timing results. Hope you liked the thread and ill try to post some more pics in the future with my signature mirror and the sun. Oh, almost forgot.....