Citizen as we know it today was birthed in
1918. They are currently one of the very few manufacturers who possess
the ability to make every watch component in house, the machines used to
make them (Our Citizen R04), as well as electronic components and
lubricants. However it was only formally named as such some six years
after in 1924 when they produced their first timepiece. The mayor of
Tokyo, Mr Shimpei Goto, wanted a watch available to the general citizen
and loved by citizens of the world, so he named this first time piece as
such. ‘Citizen’ was then taken on as the company’s namesake - whether
they liked the name or it was taken on out of respect, I was unable to
divine.
Of course, Seiko was already making watches and pocket watches for the
everyday wear of its Japanese and even international customers having
been in business for about forty years at this point. However that did
not stop Citizen from making rapid growth in the manufacturing and
development of horological technologies. The two would battle it out for
horological glory for the century to come.
Fast forward to the quartz era beginning in the late 60s. Seiko, leading
the charge, had just released the Astron; the very first production
quartz watch, in 1969. As they were already the official timekeeper for
Japanese railways, it was soon after that the quartz movement was
adopted and issued over its longstanding mechanical predecessor due to
its higher accuracy in timekeeping standard. However this did not happen
immediately as the Astron release price was about the price of a mid
size car. From this point on for competitor horological companies across
the globe, it was quite literally adapt or die. Enter citizen.
The first quartz rail pocket watches were plagued with not having a
large enough amount of torque to turn those classic thick and heavy
‘Seiko style’ hands that were a requirement by the Japanese government
to have on an issued pocket watch. Stepper motor technology was very
much in its infancy. So the hands generally were made as thin as they
were allowed. Citizen however, ever developing their pieces, had already
produced in 1967 the first ever transistorised quartz clock - the
Crystron. This movement had a larger amount of torque produced and
supplied to the gear train than the currently produced quartz movements
of Seiko. The technology was later miniaturised so that in 1973, the
Crystron Pocket watch was born. Competitor to the Astron and a
powerhouse movement in its own right, Citizen took the Cold War-esq arms
race to the next level. In 1976 there were three world firsts. Seiko
produced the first rail issued quartz pocket watch with an accuracy of
within 10 seconds per month with their 38RW based on the 3870a movement.
Citizen produced a Crystron movement with an accuracy of within 3
seconds...per year, and they also released the first solar powered
quartz analogue watch. Since then citizen has been at the forefront of
extremely high accuracy Quartz movements, and it all started with the
Crystron.
What we can see from the comparison photo of the Crystron and Seiko
pocket watch of the same decade can only be described as either an
homage to a Japanese design so ingrained in the country's industry and
persona they simply had to use it, or a plain and simple dial grab to
bump sales. I’d like to think the former. What is interesting to note
however is the hands on the Crystron. A little thinner, and inversely
skeletonised to remove as much weight as possible to assist that power
consumption. Irrespective of the size of their massive coil!
The Crystron is certainly a timepiece with a rich history not only in
the tit for tat race between two Japanese giants, but horological
development on a global scale. Your average modern Swiss quartz watch, a
Seamaster or Cartier, even with an additional fifty years of
multi-industrial development, is accurate to about 3 seconds per month.
Andrew
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