[jaliya48]

Hi fellow collectors!
You've probably seen my 67-9119, but my pride and joy didn't start off that way! My story begins like this- back in late 2011 I wanted a chronograph to add to my collection. I made up my mind to get a mechanical chronograph, so my choices were the Seiko 6138s and the Citizen 8110s. The price difference between the two made my choice an easy one; I would be getting a 8110. The first models I looked at were the Challenge Timers (Bullheads) but I wasn't fond of it much. The handful of Octo bulls that showed up on eBay sold for more than I had intended to spend so that didn't work out either. Then I saw the 9038s and although I liked it better than the other models, I didn't bid on any examples that showed up. Some days later I saw the 67-9119 model. The black dial with white accents and the rotating bezel (I didn't know what it was at that time!:roll caught my attention and I was sold on it. Unfortunately, most pristine examples sold for more than my budget and the cheaper ones (from the Philippines) had various faults. After months of not winning any watches, I won this-

Wow, talk about a basket case! The crown at 11 was glued tight and the dial was off a 67-9038. The only pluses were that the hands were excellent and the caseback was correct. I removed the movement from the case and started on the case. Results-

It's far from perfect, but this was my first case restoration and the only tools I had were various sheets of sandpaper and metal polish!;-) Fellow WuS member Morris Minor (Stephen) provided me with excellent advice for refinishing the case and tips on troubleshooting the faults on the movement. I was then introduced to the fantastic world of Citizen 8110s through his blog.

After scouring the 'bay for a parts watch, I came across our resident 8110 maestro, 31Jewels' restoration thread. Turns out, he had bought a 9119 as a parts watch and only required the movement. Sometime later, I received these-

The dial cleaned up beautifully and was perfect for my project. The rotating bezel was fully functional after swapping the mechanism from Brian's parts case. This is what the watch looked like before heading to the watch smith's (I couldn't fit the hour and minute recorder hands and I didn't want to botch the movement)-

Here she is then, fresh from the watchsmith's!

The watchsmith had scratched the paint on the hands so he had repainted it white. The movement was serviced and repaired, but it still had minor faults so my watchsmith advised me to get a donor movement and swap some parts.
The donor from Philippines-

I was happy because I had a 9313 as another potential project, but the dial was gone and the stainless steel case had a minute crack near one of the pushers, so basically it was trash:-( The movement was decent and had an English/Chinese date wheel, which was swapped with the original English/Portuguese wheel.
Many months later, my 9119 was looking much better-

The hour recorder hand is of a different colour because that was painted later without the other hands for reference. I'll repaint them all the same colour some day!:-! The beautiful 67-9038 bracelet was a gift. Thanks, Stephen!

The final part of my restoration came when I found an original two-tone Citizen bracelet for the 67-9119. I received it after almost a month in transit as it was shipped from Peru. Here's what it looks like after a thorough clean and polishing the clasp-

So, am I happy with my restoration? You bet!:-! Now that I've completed one restoration, I'll be looking forward for more restorations in the future. My next project will be a Seiko 7002 diver.

I've still got plans for my 9119 though; I'm in love with black day/date wheels so I'm looking for a black Kanji day/date wheel for this. I'm also going to refinish the case professionally and paint the top bezel black. Then there's repainting all the hands (which includes a possible reluming as well) and polishing the bracelet.

From this-

To this-

To this-

Completing this restoration was an international affair- The basket-case watch came from Istanbul, Turkey, 31 Jewels' parts from the US, the donor watch from Cebu, Philippines, the 9038 bracelet from the UK and the original 9119 bracelet from Lima, Peru and put together in Sri Lanka!

Thanks for reading my thread!
Jaliya.

 

[alexiscabel]

Cool restoration, that's what it's all about, reviving the classics back from scrap. I noticed you kept the black plastic bezel intact despite the light fading away near the 4 o' clock pusher. It just shows your point of keeping close to the original, and that is cool. Overall, the end piece IMHO looks like a brave piece that survived endless dogfights. Among the 8110s, the 9119 kind of has an aviator theme with its rotating inner bezel. It is a great chrono.

 

[Sunset_Va]

Its always amazing seeing what the forum members are able to do with watches, interesting Citizen you have and very good work. Probably one of the most required and needed traits for watch restoration is patience.

 

[jaliya48]

Thanks for replying, gentlemen! @Alex: the bezel isn't faded but the crystal has very fine scratches so the dial (and the bezel) appears cloudy. It's also chipped near the 12 o' clock marker so a replacement is in order. I've seen crystals for the bullhead online but I'm unsure if they'll fit the 9119. I've noticed the similarity of the 9119 to aviator watches too and that's one reason I chose this model exclusively!
@Sunset_Va: This restoration took me one and half years to complete but it was well worth the wait.

 

[alexiscabel]

Hi Jaliya48, I think your watchmaker can get you a crystal for that. I had one restored before, and I think the 9119 and the bullhead has a standard crystal size that they have. It's not expensive (PHP200 here or USD5; maybe the same there). You just have to show him. I'd like to share my 9119 with you. You beat me though with labor of love of restoring 9119s. My only labor for this is stalking the bay for years, driving to the seller's residence and paying him for it. It was a great find for me though. It was this way since the 70s.

Automatic, 28,800 bph, inner rotating bezel, day/date, 30-min & 12-hr chronograph. Go 9119s!!!

 

[jaliya48]

Alex, that is just AMAZING! You are very fortunate in locating this example! Thanks for the tip on the crystal, I'll ask my watchsmith to locate one later on.

 

[Satyricon73]

Hi!

Wonderful thread, Jaliya and excelent restoration work !!! I found this thread, because i´m looking for information about 9119. I was lucky, i found 67-9119 case in NOS condition, inclueding crystal etc., what i need is the movement and the dial and of course the hands. And the bracelet .
As Sunset said, what i need too, is patience, this will take a lot of time to find all original parts and especially the movement could be a challenging one... My demands for the movement are in high level, maybe i should buy a couple of them and put together one shiny and super accurate movement from them
Gentlemen, how about your 8118´s, how accurate they are?

 

[alexiscabel]

I haven't timed it with a quartz watch or a mobile phone's clock, but it's accurate wearing it everyday. Even the chrono function's good if you just let it run non-stop.

 

[31 Jewels]

J, Just awesome! I'm glad the Citizen 8110a community is finally coming together. Its good to see that dial go to a good home. Great Job! You have inspired me to post a new resto thread. I have a few more new ones to post for your "Citizen 8110a entertainment." See you there, 31

 

[31 Jewels]

Hi!

Wonderful thread, Jaliya and excelent restoration work !!! I found this thread, because i´m looking for information about 9119. I was lucky, i found 67-9119 case in NOS condition, inclueding crystal etc., what i need is the movement and the dial and of course the hands. And the bracelet .
As Sunset said, what i need too, is patience, this will take a lot of time to find all original parts and especially the movement could be a challenging one... My demands for the movement are in high level, maybe i should buy a couple of them and put together one shiny and super accurate movement from them
Gentlemen, how about your 8118´s, how accurate they are?

I can get them in the 4-6 S/D positional range. With a zero beat error. They can be worn for weeks/months without ever having to think about adjusting the time. 8110a is world class in my op. Fine regulation is one of the best things that happened to watches and the 8110a has a fine regulator. Click on my profile and view the restoration threads I have posted. You might be more inspired to join the 8110a club. I'm a life member. 31

 

[Morris Minor]

Good work Jaliya - great to see your 9119 project here.

Stephen aka Sweephand

 

[Satyricon73]

Sorry for a bit late reply, but now i have got it: 8110a with dial and dial is in great shape!!! Only minute recorder hand and stem are missing, but i would say these are quite easy to find. I´ll put pics to next post.
@31: Thanks for the invitation! I´m now in the club! And there´s a couple of other clubs, where i´m a member too, Citizen overall club, Zenith-Mads and etc...
And yes, 31, i have read the one thread earlier, where you restoreted about 5 8200 divers, found via Stephens blog, just perfect job you have done! Now it´s time to check out all the other threads, that you have done. Actually i have read that "Citizen 8110 Was that a high end watch"- thread today and i´m impressed! So, have anyone started a new thread for 8110a, as there was some talk about that or should we continue this one...?

Satyricon-"The infinity of time and space"

 

[jaliya48]

Welcome to the 8110a (and 8100) appreciation club! What model is your 8110? 67-XXXX is the model.
Regards.

 

[Satyricon73]

Welcome to the 8110a (and 8100) appreciation club! What model is your 8110? 67-XXXX is the model.
Regards.

Thanks, jaliya!
I have NOS-condition case for 67-9119, I found it couple of months ago and paid very reasonable price. Yesterday arrived "The Donor" , 67-9119 also, case in a bit bad condition, but it could be saved. But not by me There´s a very decent dial, movement is dirty, but rust free, so i might can get it serviced. One small hand is missing and other fluoricent hands are in faded condition and lost some paint, so i have to get full set from somewhere. Main issue wright now is that there´s no stem at all! I could not do anything without it!
I´ll post pics a little later!

Satyricon

 

[jaliya48]

Well I'll be! Another 9119 restoration! You're more than welcome to post your photos on this thread. Stems and hands can be bought by a seller on eBay originating from the Philippines. Of course, the new stem will have to be cut to fit the movement.

 

[Satyricon73]

Finally, it´s time to introduce my 67-9119 project, or the elements of it. The First will be (and that´s the name of the first element ) the NOS case:

Weird thing here are the markings in caseback:

There is no serial number! And we have discussed with Stephen about this and he noticed that there is "411" after the case type code. He mentioned that he have never saw that kind of marking.
So, could this case be a "salesman example"? Stephen couldn´t tell, he have never seen the one. Do anyone know anything about this kind of case or the markings in it ...?

Next picture is from crown system, which moves the inner bezel ring:

As you can see, the cogwheel of the crown do not link correctly to the inner bezel ring and that´s because the stem is too long! I tried to tighten the crown with a very careful way (i don´t want to damage the tooths of the inner bezel) but failed... As i have three of these cases, in two others that crowns stem is shorther, i.e. there´s no backlash at all between cogwheel and bezel ring.

There is one more part with this NOS case:

The latter photo is for dimension... What is it? As i have not yet take apart either of my 8110a movements, i just guess that this can be found under the dial...?

At this point i have to say, that i have read 31J´s threads about 8110s and i have had time to read only few of them, so there´s a lot of work to do before i dare to touch my other two project-elements, The Second and The Third :-d.
I would like to express my many thanks to Brian for his outstanding threads about 8110a!!! Amazing work!
And many thanks to Stephen for his help and his brilliant Citizen-blog !!!

"Stay tuned" :-d. I´ll post more for a little later...

Satyricon

 

[jaliya48]

Wow, nice case! It may as well be a salesman example, but this is the first time I'm seeing one! Shame about the cog wheel though.
\

 

[Morris Minor]

Nice case Satyricon - the lack of a serial number and the '411' after the case type code is a mystery. I did wonder if it has been stamped incorrectly so was not used, although I'd have thought it would simply have been binned if that were the ....ahem...case! Puzzling as well that there is a problem with the cog wheel / stem on what otherwise seems to be NOS. Looks like it's simply the wrong one for this model. I wonder if this is an assembly of replacement parts and this has been added in error or to make it appear complete when offered for sale. Maybe this also explains the unusual case back? i.e. it's a spare so doesn't have a production year in the conventional way? I have no idea but it's fun to speculate ;-)

Stephen

 

[Pawl_Buster]

I'm pretty sure the white plastic ring is the dial spacer that goes between the dial and the movement. The notches around the inside ot it are cut outs to accommodate the dial feet. This ring may be a common part for several different watches.

 

[Satyricon73]

Hello everyone!

Thanks for comments! I have had hard times lately and no time for watches at all, but now it´s time to go ahead! Here are The Second One:

View attachment 1315959

I have took the case apart and cleaned those parts.

View attachment 1315963

View attachment 1315965

The bezel insert. I would say that this one is in very good condition.
View attachment 1315966

And this one is the bezel, condition is not so good... But should be reparable...? Well, it depends if i´ll find right paint for it.

View attachment 1315975

Crystal is in horror-condition... If i got it right, these Citizens glass crystals are near the same as Seikos Hardlex crystals, meaning they are almost as hard as saphire crystals...? If it´s so, then i could not handle this out by myself... Have to find new one. I learned from Stephens blog, that there are individual crystal for all of these 67-XXXX´s, meaning for example, that Bullheads crystal do not fit to 67-9119, is it really so?

To be continued...