[31 Jewels]

What does one do when you have a bunch of crusty old Citizen parts, and not enough to make an original watch? Well...you have to make something. Dare I say a tribute? A Mod? If you have read and seen my work over the years I never quite liked to build Mods. Not to say I haven't, it's just when I have the opportunity to restore a watch back to it's original state I'll always do that.

"Speedy Mon" is a case where I wanted to combine two of my favorite watches together. Since I don't have an original Speedy dial.....(finding one is nearly impossible)....I feel justified that this needs to happen.

Combining a 67-9313 Speedy and the 67-9071 Monaco into something might not ever been done before. A "character" shall we say... instead of just a mod, using only original Citizen parts. Nothing aftermarket. Well....except for one thing. You have to wait and see later in the thread.

For starters.....I just love the Speedy. It could be said it's Citizen's most famous 8110a chronograph from the 1970's. The Monaco on the other hand was a watch that was very difficult to find to add to my collection. The cases are made out of PVD coated aluminum which wore terribly over the years. Had Citizen made the case in all stainless...I would have bought many. What I do love about the Monaco is its dial. They came in two colors....green and gold. Getting a green Monaco dial has been a challenge for years, and had it not been for Stephen, "Speedy Mon" may never have existed. I had built a Monaco for him using a lot of NOS parts he had provided me, and the left overs from the job included this green dial. Perfect for getting the best of both worlds in my eyes.

Now it was time to find a Speedy Case and a donor movement to make this a reality. I hope you enjoy where this is about to go, because it's going to get a lot cooler. Lets have a closer look at the parts in the next page. Be back in a bit..... "31"

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Lets have a closer look at "Speedy Mons" case.

It took quite a while to find a Speedy case complete, especially with a bezel that I could live with. My criteria had to be an un restored case with no polishing of any kind. That kinda made that more difficult because Speedy parts never really show up that much, and when they do, the pickens are scarce.
So... I had to pass on a few until this one popped up on Ebay from a seller in India.

Not really sure what this Speedy was from new. A black dial..a white possibly? It is clear it led a "very" hard life.

I mean...look at the bezel near the 11 o'clock position. That looks like a smashed crystal for sure.....all dented in pretty hard. What a knock that must have been. This proved to be slight problem, which we'll get into later.

The case back looks like it bounced down the road and took all kinds scrapes. Probably got run over by a truck as the case back is dented in. Still...it was un restored and came complete with it's original signed crown and stem. Both pushers looked pretty good so I couldn't pass it up..... but...it had no movement holder.

So next what we need is a donor 8110a movement, and a holder. I prefer a metal one, with screws and clamps as those work much better than the plastic ones that come in the Speedy.

I learned a lot of interesting things while making "Speedy Mon" that I'd like to share with you.
It became so much more than I ever expected, as you will see in the end.

I want to say....sorry Jaliya, but the 67-9119 is the perfect donor for the Speedy in every way and

lets face it ....we weren't restoring this one, but your welcome to have the left overs.

See ya in a bit......"31" View attachment 14171525

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

The donor.....is a Citizen 67-9119 which has crawled from the depths of what could have possibly been the worst flood or typhoon in the Philippines. As always.....Ramone stocks the best Citizen parts at awesome prices, but you ain't getting it with the original box and papers.

From the other side it looks like I can work with it. The movement looks intact and there is fine sand stuck everywhere.

I can see the hairspring appears to be good but.... I'm feeling pretty positive that what's underneath the dial could be scary. That dial is smashed and I don't see the main chrono runner pivot. I'm not going to put any faith in the calendar wheels being any good, or the bent minute recorder hand.....which is useless. What I'm hoping for is that the main plate is not bent.

Lets see what this thing looks like inside.

Stay tuned....

"31" View attachment 14171745

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Now it's time to get to the down and dirty. This is the risk of buying a parts watch where you cannot examine it up closely. Now I could have taken the easy road out and just overhauled a clean movement in my stock but..... that does not show case any skills. This movement is about to make the Watchmaker (man) out of you . Roll the dice and pull the trigger.... I felt confident that I could save this movement from the pictures Ramone had shown in his Ebay auction. If you look at the below picture of the balance side you can see that despite the sand and dirt....the damage really doesn't look all that bad. The screws look to be in nice condition and I see almost no rust.

The dial side on the other hand shows a completely different disaster. All crunchy and crusty, it's clear we won't be using the calendar wheels. (I have special plans for that)

You can see the dial support spacer is crumbling away, and it's not until we remove the calendar disks that we see the horror that lies beneath. From all the dirt that has fallen out so far...I think I might need a mini dust pan and brush. See ya soon with some more...... "31"

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

View attachment 14184157 Now that we have the dial off, we can see the rust and dirt on a lot of the settings and chronograph parts. I've got to decide along the way what I'll save, and what is too rusted to re use. The hour recorder pivot is gone/broken off, and so far maybe setting parts and reset levers will be needed. Pictured above is a good shot of the center post tower. You can see it's bent, maybe due to the impact the watch took, and that will have to be straightened. The minute recorder pivot is intact and I hope it is re usable.
The main sweep seconds runner has the tip broken off, so one of those will be added to the parts list. Here is a pic of the runner out of the tube. It was so rusty and cruddy in the tube that the only way to remove it was with a set of hand removers. Since it has no tip anyway...in the recycle pile it goes.
After a soak, and cleaning by hand things look a little brighter. The amount of dirt and sand falling out of this thing is so bad that a pre wash in old solution is needed to see the over all condition of the parts. The escape wheels shock cap jewel has slid sideways from the impact, and jammed in the setting. The escape wheel pivots survived, but it's going in the lathe to be checked for straightness. I don't want any problems during the overhaul and repair. The cannon pinion is a rusty mess (below) and you can see the hour recorder with a broken pivot next to it.

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

This is an interesting pic of the minute recorder runner and the escape wheel. My focal point in this picture was the minute recorder runner. It's straight, and other than some crust on the pivot...it checks out ok. I'll polish the pivots later as I prepare for the ultra sonic cleaning. An extra bonus? The minute runner has it's original copper support washer still intact. Excellent. Those are missing in a lot of 8110a's and they are needed for the chronograph to work correctly.

But then...it happened. Right after I looked at this picture on my camera, something caught my eye. I could (see) the escape wheel pivot is bent.

Son of a gun.....remember the jammed cap jewel in the picture above? For sure I'll need to check the escape wheel jewel, as it might be cracked. Heck...all the jewels need a very close inspection with this kind of damage. This thing must have slammed into something pretty hard.

At this point I'm thinking.... what a tough Citizen 8110a chronograph movement... to go through what this thing went through.
Forget the lathe....we won't need it. The escape wheel pivot can't be straightened, as its made off hardened steel. It will just snap off so... in the junk pile that goes. Add escape wheel, and possible jewel to the list cause were not giving up on this 8110a just yet. See ya soon with some more......

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

For my detail oriented viewers....you may have noticed in the first picture that my 9119 donor did not have a stem and crown. When I got the watch and opened/examined it for the first time, I could see no stem at all. I had bad feeling that the stem did not rust off and the crown was lost. Someone had tried to turn the hands and snapped the tip off inside the movement. Here is a picture of the stem tip (below). When we get to the settings... were going to check and see if the clutch and winding pinion have lost teeth, cause its looking like that might be possible. Look at all the sand on the main spring barrel. This movement reminded me of those Citizen 8200 Diver watches I posted a few years back here on the WUS forum. Just click into my profile and onto latest started threads to view it. See ya in day or so...."31"

 

[jaliya48]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

View attachment 14171739 The donor.....is a Citizen 67-9119 which has crawled from the depths of what could have possibly been the worst flood or typhoon in the Philippines. As always.....Ramone stocks the best Citizen parts at awesome prices, but you ain't getting it with the original box and papers.

From the other side it looks like I can work with it. The movement looks intact and there is fine sand stuck everywhere.

I can see the hairspring appears to be good but.... I'm feeling pretty positive that what's underneath the dial could be scary. That dial is smashed and I don't see the main chrono runner pivot. I'm not going to put any faith in the calendar wheels being any good, or the bent minute recorder hand.....which is useless. What I'm hoping for is that the main plate is not bent.

Lets see what this thing looks like inside.

Stay tuned....

"31" View attachment 14171745

YIKES! A moment of silence for that 9119...May the movement live on in the SpeedyMon! The dial looks burned/heat damaged; wonder what happened.
I'll be keeping a keen eye on this thread! Another great writeup!

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Hey J. You know...I never considered heat. That crack and the melted hour markers. A possible heat gun to dry it out from further damage once it was found? It didn't smell like house fire, but of swampy stale water.

 

[jaliya48]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

It's possible, only us 8110 fans know that the 9119 dial is plastic! Looking forward to more updates!

 

[Morris Minor]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

I reckon you must be the only watchmaker who would look at this and think ' I can do something with that'! Great thread - remarkable what you can do.

Stephen

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Time to dig into the Citizen 8110a parts tray of despair. This is where all the misfit/broken/cosmetically challenged parts go. The final destination, and some.....deemed to cosmetically unfit for nicer builds, is where we will find what "Speedy Mon" needs to finish his 8110a. I never throw anything away...even damaged beyond repair because sometimes I'll go back to this tray for metal parts to repair other brand watches where.... I have no replacements. Example: I needed a vibration pin to repair a 70's Tissot Diver watch with a Lemania 2591. The vibration pin was snapped of the Tissot's regulator...so.... a Citizen 8110a works as a donor with professional modifications. (Above picture) I'm lucky....as the tray of despair has provided the rest of the parts we needed. Some of "Speedy Mons" parts are just too rusty to re use and you will see on the right what is being replaced. Some rust is eating into the metal, and lifting the plating on the parts.

Needed and found---Broken detent/calendar advance coupler and spring/set levers. Since I'm building "Speedy Mon" for the long haul..... I'll use the nicer screws too.

Finally...coming down home stretch with two more pictures to show you in the next page.....see you there. "31"

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

(Above picture) Here we have a cannon pinion, stem detent spring that is not rusty and weak. Remember our broken stem tip? Yes...we needed a clutch and winding pinion too. The teeth were gone from the clutch and I did not photograph that....sorry. I even found an hour recorder with a straight pivot (those are getting really harder to find these days) and I stock no more NOS ones.

(Below picture) is a semi cleaned main plate. This is where I will make the final checks and inspections before the ultra sonic cleaning. At this point I'm inspecting all the jewels for cracks...and.. as you have seen from earlier pictures...our escape wheel is no good. Plus...we (had) a jammed cap jewel. Since the escape cap jewel could not be installed due to the damage/impact, I had to remove and replace the entire setting. The jewel did survive though (amazingly) but I had to press out the setting and replace it. With that installed now... I'll set and check the end shake of the escape wheel. With the above finished and the center post tube tower straightened, we are ready for the ultra sonic machine. See you in a couple days with a tray of sparkly clean parts.

"31"

 

[Simon]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

OUTSTANDING post - so enjoying it, cant wait to see the final outcome.
I think this is so good and many WIS here would love to follow it, but fear it will get little appreciation on the low traffic Citizen forum
Perhaps a Mod could move it to Public Forum?

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

OUTSTANDING post - so enjoying it, cant wait to see the final outcome.
I think this is so good and many WIS here would love to follow it, but fear it will get little appreciation on the low traffic Citizen forum
Perhaps a Mod could move it to Public Forum?

Hi Simon. Thank you for the positive reply. I never considered publishing this thread in the Public Forum. I just figured "Speedy Mon" would be for the vintage Citizen fans.

Perhaps.... one of our viewers could (post a link) to the beginning of this thread in the Public Forums.

Then... up date the link every couple of days as I publish new information until "Speedy Mon" is finished. There is a lot more to come yet.

 

[Nokie]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Fascinating.

Besides your great pictures, you also write in a very entertaining, common sense manner.

Will now be checking back here everyday to see your results.

Good luck.

 

[NC_Hager626]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Your creation of a "SpeedyMon" out of two watches and your parts bin is very interesting and shows a lot of skill, dedication, patience and ingenuity on your part. And I will be following your progress - cannot wait to see the end product.

 

[Crucible]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Is it weird that, for me, this is like watching some watch-maker thriller? It elicits a mix of emotions - anxiety, fear, hope, humility, excitement...

I honestly find the pictures more fascinating than 99% of new watch pics. The best part for me is that you are being so thorough and methodical with the details.

I tend to be a real hard-liner for a nice case-back.... but I'm in love with that mangled beast. It just raises so many questions. Has so much mystique. Makes me imagine Mad Max wearing a Citizen chrono....

And it warms my heart to see pieces of history that were destined for the land fill being saved from oblivion. Reminded me of that old Disney movie "Suzie the Little Blue Coup". Crazy to think that Speedy Mon is looking at another 60 years of life after this.....

 

[31 Jewels]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The Speedy Mon" A Custom Chronograph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

Thank you all for the inspiring and positive compliments. I'll post more later tonight.

"31"

 

[Dxnnis]

Re: Citizen 8110a "The SpeedyMon" A Custom Chrongraph by Brian Leiser "31 Jewels"

You really should film these kinda things for YouTube, skill is amazing