[31 Jewels]

Hi, my name is 31 Jewels and i am a master watchmaker located 80 miles north of Lancaster Pa. You may have seen my other service and restorations here in the Citizen/Seiko forums before of the 8110a 23 jewel mechanical chronographs. I have been collecting the 8110a models for years now and i have mentioned that my favorite model is the 67-9054. I have never owned, serviced or restored a Bull Head model before and this is the first time i have gotten the chance to have one in my shop. Actually 2. This thread is devoted to the restoration and service of 2 different 1970s era Citizen Bull heads. The watch pictured here is owned by Vsansbajo. He started the "Citizen 8110a High End Thread" here in the forums last year and has asked me to service and restore one of his personal watches. This Bull Head pictured here was purchased new by his Uncle in Spain in the early 1970s. Heirloom work is something i specialize in and really enjoy that aspect of my job. Finding out the history of the watches and their stories of the past. Stay tuned 31

 

[31 Jewels]

One thing i would like to mention is there is alot of pictures and information for these 2 Citizen Bull Head watches. I will post about every 2 days because this is going to take a while to get through all of both the service part and the restoration part and i will do my best to make it flow. This is my personal Bull Head. This is a later 70s version vs Vsans Uncles which is an early 70s. I have found some very interesting differences between the 2 and you might find it interesting what i have discovered. The dial on this one is beat and scratched. Plus the Citizen logo was destroyed by a prior "botch maker", so its going to get a over seas after market one. I have purchased one for this watch because i wanted to see first hand what you get when you buy one. Also, i wanted a color change since i am going to probably wear it. I will say that finding an original dial for these watches is not gonna happen and there is a big difference between the two. Quality is number "1" and will explain later in the thread. Plus I will be able to show you up and close why having an original dial is so important for future value of these very cool vintage 8110a Citizens. Stay tuned 31

 

[31 Jewels]

great to hear from you! have you ever restored a seiko 6105 diver? If so Id love to see some pictures of the restoration process.

Hi, i have restored and serviced quite a few divers watches. The latest one that i am almost done with is a 60s era Dacor 1000ft auto. It had extensive rust damage on the crown side to the point it rotted off the stem at the movement. I soaked the screws for a week with industrial grade penatrating oil just to get them out. The detent screw was the hardest to remove but i was able to. It took way longer then most guys would have probably tried but i was determined to keep it original. I'm familar with the 6105 and have serviced quite a few Seiko auto's but not the one you are speaking. I have at least 2,000 watch pictures to show case my work and document every job for myself and the customer. I will post a pic of the Dacor diver here but i will have to put the thread in the other diver watch section of the forums. I think the moderator might toss it out if i try. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

The first thing i will do when i get a watch here is do a prelim check to see what working and whats not. Both of these Bulls ran. V's was 2 minutes fast and mine was 2 min slow. I suspected beat error was way off and can tell by listening to them, especially if there more than a 1 Ms. These 8110a's run 28,000 bph and if you listen carefully you can hear them skip a beat or multiple beats when that is the case. The chronograph minute and hour recorder did work on both except neither would reset the sweep seconds to zero. (see pics) Just a note on that... the minute recorder and sweep seconds hands are by far the hardest and most time consuming to get exact, literally on all models of chronographs. I will dive into a more detailed reason later in the thread. The black bezels in these watches were glued in with epoxy or something and i think the resin might have caused some of the damage to the outer edge of V's dial. With out the case crab they would have never come off. V had mentioned that one of the pushers was sticking in, and after removing the pushers i see why. Massive amounts of crud and years of dust packed in behind the pushers. I will clean by hand all the case parts, pushers, threads and inside of the crown. I wont service any watch without a thorough spotless cleaning of everything. These watches have hardlex glass crystals and to my surprise V's had a plastic one. I'm guessing it was replaced back in the 80s, as V had said it was the last time it had seen a WM. The bezels on these watches are an interesing story just by themselves and i will cover them as i move through the restoration. V's wants his black as it was when new, and i'm going for polished with the inner part polished as well. The bezels were both pretty beat up and took alot of time to make perfect again. They can not be bought in the after market or NOS so i have to work with the hand delt. Stay Tuned, 31

 

[31 Jewels]

I am loving this thread! Keep us up to date on your progress 31j!

Mark, glad you like it so far.
31

 

[31 Jewels]

This pic shows V's dial and movement out of the case. As you can see the damage to the outer edge of the dial. I believe to be caused by the epoxy or glue from when the bezel was set into the case. He said he was surprised too that the crystal was plastic. We both would like to know from other Citizen BullHead Owners. Whats on your watch? Tap the crystal gently on your tooth and let us know. I'm thinkin it was replaced back in the 80s when it was serviced last. Since this watch is original, i suggested to V that the dial and hands stay that way. Even though it may look better with the hands refinished, i suggested and we agreed that everything stay original. It still has to be recognized as his uncles and thats what makes this watch so cool. Especially when you see it restored here at the end of this thread. Another interesting thing here is if you look at the 2 and 4 markers you will notice the lume dots are missing. Before i had gotten the watch here at the shop we had spoke about what to do about that issue. At first, i was hopeing that the lume dots would be in the watch somewhere. He said that he couldnt see them in the watch. It was a long shot because i was going to carefully re apply them to the hour markers so all the lume dots would match. As of this pic they were not in there. When i took the movement apart to service it i even looked for them. Not there. So out comes the lume kit.
Nothin cooler than a little glass vial of glowing green powder. When i sit down for lume night , i will schedule other watch hands that need to be done too at the same time. The glue that you mix with this stinks, and i have to be right on top of the work while wearing an eye loupe. I give myself 2 tries at perfection, and if i dont get the hands perfect, I walk away and get some air. Thats how stinky it is. The next pics i'll up load are the night i did dots and divers watch hands.

Stay Tuned,31

 

[31 Jewels]

My bullhead has a mineral crystal that is slightly raised above the bezel by about 1mm, and it has a beveled edge.

Thank you for your reply. I just saw a Citizen Bull Head sell on ebay with a really rare minute recorder dial and a numbered bezel. Morris Minors Citizen blog has a pic of the same one with the light blue minute recorder dial. Thats where i got the idea for the polished inner bezel for one of the watches being restored here. I never realized how cool the Citizen Bullhead was until i had one. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

These next few pics offer a quick reference for skOeric of the Dacor Diver i had mentioned. It includes Vs lume dot repair, and some before and after shots of the Dacor 1000ft eta 2472 auto i just restored just days ago. Its slightly off topic as far as watches here but i also

restore and service diver watches as well. This is an after pic of V's dial after the lumeing of the 2 and 4 dot markers. The outer edge still needs repair and that photo to follow. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

The 2nd pic shows how the Dacor looked just as it washed ashore here. The minute hand lume fell out and that left me with a few decisions. The first was let it be, since i am a big advocate for originality. Unfortunately it didnt make the watch look good, and my bigger concern was that the lume would fall out and contaminate the freshly serviced movement. I was going to relume the dial but changed my mind because i could'nt go back. Pic 3 shows the movement before the resto. The winding stem was completely rusted off at the movement. After soaking the screws for a week with Industrial grade penetrating fluid, they came out except the detent screw. That was the real challenge. I had to file the slot larger because i kept twisting screw driver tips. Pic 1 shows after the movements restoration and service. It took hours to clean the rust damage and polish the screws. So I decided to polish the rotor too and that really put the finishing touch on the movement. Pic 4 and 5 is the finished watched. Next stop, the 8110a movements. Stay tuned. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Stephen, Thank you! You are more than welcome to link this thread. I have found you blog to be the best by a land slide for Vintage Citizen information on the internet. I'm hoping that everyone will find the information i have posted so far helpfull in many ways, as you have spent so much time providing that too. That green dial Bull is a rare bird. Thank you for posting the pic and the info as far as dials go. These 2 Bullheads here turned out just beautifull. I'm sure that you will be impressed. V has his Bull back as of today. I will keep posting and the next pics will be of both 8110a movements. My 8110a movement that is going in my Bull has some custom decoration ideas. It might be the only one like it in the world. Stay Tuned, 31

 

[31 Jewels]

These first couple of pics show how dirty the movement is. The oils and grease on and about the plates were sticky and in some places way over oiled. Over oiling drags on everything and can really make it difficult to time the watch later on. Note on the second pic how much oil is on the minute recorder wheels resting point. That will drag the rate down, especially when the watch is cold. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

This is the calendar side of my 8110a. I noticed on the first inspection that the calendar was sticking from 28-5. This pic captures the reason. If you look on the outer edge you will see grease there. I didnt shoot a pic after i removed it but there was thick green oil completely under the whole calendar wheel that looked the same as the above movement pics. No wonder it wouldnt turn right and change the date correctly. Next stop, the ultrasonic cleaner 31

 

[31 Jewels]

These first 2 pics are V's movement ultrasonicly cleaned and almost fully assembled. His movement was not like the others i have had to rescue as in V's 8110a high end thread. His was in 9.5 condition from the start. I had to replace 3 calendar spring screws because his were munched by the previous WM. I stock at least 2 8110a parts movements just in case. If you note on the previous pic (#16 post) in the center of the movement is the fly back lever. I remove every one as i explained in earlier resto threads because of the problems they cause. There is no "flyback" function after i'm finished. Just a smooth accurate reset to "zero."

Note the escape wheel jewel. Its shock protected on both sides and has cap jewels just like the balance. They will hold way more oil then a standard jewel. Which is fantastic for years of service. The escape wheel is by far the most delicate and fragile of all the 8110a's parts. Also note the size of the reverser wheels. They are huge and over engineered. Eat you heart out Seiko. The Citizen 8110a's got you on winding mechanisms.

 

[31 Jewels]

My 8110a dial side pic. Both movements have rare black date wheels. Mine has Japanese and V's has a Spanish. I decided to gold the screws. This is an unpolished gold screw pic. Wait till you see the rotor. Stay Tuned 31

 

[31 Jewels]

The black day/ date wheels look cool, and were certainly the original type. I believe white wheels were also original, but I have not got definitive evidence, so for the time being we can't be absolutely sure....

Great to see the pics of your work 31j, and a rare treat to see restoration work in progress on 8110's!!

Stephen

Thank you! These restos take alot of hours to do like this. 31

 

[31 Jewels]

These are 8110a's at their best. I polished the rotor and heat treated the screws gold on the all bridges. In the sun light you can see the rotor is gold too. I considered a glass case back as i know how to make one. I want to check if a 67-9054 case back will screw on. If it does and time permits i'll give it a go. Next stop are dials and cases. Stay tuned, 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Here is V's case and pushers after polishing. I hand polish each pusher by hand and use water proofing grease on the "O" rings to ensure a smooth action. The springs are also cleaned and you will notice on the radico how dirty they were. Its been asked on many different occasions and in other Citizen threads as well as this one on what alloy these cases are made out of. I didnt have any here at the shop to comment but after having these 2 i can add my 2 cents. I can say that the octagon are all stainless for sure and its signed on the case back. The non octagon cases, at least these 2 here being restored are solid nickel. I louped the spring bar holes to make sure they are not brass with chrome plating. These 2 are solid nickel. As far as whats refered to the base metal top on the case back, in my opinion it appears Citizen is refering to the bezels. Which are very soft metal and appears to be either nickel, stainless steel or aluminum. There are alot of these Bull Heads around and V has sent me his NOS Bull Head to compare. I have 3 Bulls here now and i'm planning to weigh the cases complete and see if there is a difference as far as metal content. These 2 older Bulls feel heavier compared to the NOS repo. I will post the weight results in a couple days. Stay Tuned, 31

 

[31 Jewels]

This is V's dial after repair of the dials outer edge. What i like about his dial is the sub dials have faded to a almost chocolate color. Short of the edge and lume repair on the 2 and the 4 hour markers, its pristine and ready for the movement and hands.

 

[31 Jewels]

This is V's refinished case, bracelet and bezel. This is also his case and dial after the hands have been cleaned in the 3rd pic. Its now time to set the dial and hands on the movement. The bezel took alot of time to refinish. I have experimented with enamel before on watch parts but have to say i think that the originals were powder coated from the factory. Its a very touchy part to work with because its so soft a metal, and very difficult to get the original paint off so that it could be restored. None the less, i have yet to see a Bull Head that was refinished like this. It looks really nice fully polished, and has a much richer "high end look."

 

[31 Jewels]

Your welcome Tanwill, i can't speak for every single one out there though. Alot of repos are being sold. I looked at the one V sent me and it doesnt seem the same as the originals. It does have an 8110a in it. Its scratched and appears that the movements are originals, but all the rest of the parts are reproduced. The crown, pushers,case,bracelet and definately the dials all seem not as nice quality. I mean as far as being made out of stainless steel with the exception of the caseback . I weighed the Bull Head cases complete, and the bracelets just to verify any difference in content. One correction i would like to make is i thought only 67-9054's had metal movement holders. I was wrong about that. Some Bulls have them too and it reflects in the weight ratings. Here is the results.

V's case complete- 68.1 grams-metal movement holder
My case complete-64.2 grams-plastic movement holder
V's NOS complete-67 grams-metal movement holder
V's original bracelet w/original Citizen raised logo clasp-45.5 grams
My aftermarket Citizen jubilee from over seas-30.8 grams
V's NOS bracelet repo and Citizen non raised logo clasp-44.0