Citizen has long designed wonderfully simple dress watches, with uncomplicated dials, often featuring Arabic-numbered dials – like this 1977 Citizen Fully Ref. 5901-TA women's mechanical watch, with its uniquely beautiful patina'd case.
Citizen's impressive watch design hasn't escaped notice - noted Fratello Seiko and Citizen guru Michael Stockton notes, speaking on the Citizen Homer Second Setting, "If I were to tell you that there exists a prevalent vintage 36mm stainless steel watch with an in-house manual winding movement...a wonderfully simple dial sans date, you’d probably point me towards any number of Swiss brands ranging from Patek Philippe, Longines, and even Omega."
"But if I told you it was an officially issued watch, I’d bet that number would drop considerably...you’d probably tell me to lay off the hard stuff. I’ll keep drinking my beer and bourbon – thank you very much..."
Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. (シチズン時計株式会社, Shichizun tokei Kabushiki-gaisha) was founded in 1930 by Japanese and Swiss investors, and as part of its business plan, took over Shokosha Watch Research Institute (founded in 1918) to open a Yokohama-based assembly plant in 1912.
Citizen, despite largely operating in the shadow of the more prominant Seiko, has since gone from strength to strength, and is in modern times the core company of a Japanese global corporate group based in Nishitokyo, Tokyo. In addition to Citizen brand watches, the company is also the parent of American watch company Bulova.
This Citizen Fully comes with two nylon straps, rugged travel case, and springbar tool.
1977 Citizen Fully Ref. 5901-TA Women's Mechanical Watch
DIAL: Ceramic-like dial, with printed black Arabic numbers and delightful cursive script - all writing is crisp and fully legible. Unsurprisingly, simplicity reigns in the design of this watch.
CASE: Stainless-steel case measures 24.5mm (26.5mm w/crown) x 31mm, with matching caseback; case has developed an atypically unique and beautiful patina. Serial number dates this watch's manufacture to April 1977.
CRYSTAL: Domed acrylic crystal, with no blemishes or scratches.
BAND: This Citizen comes with two 12mm nylon straps.
MOVEMENT: Citizen 21 jewel manual-winding mechanical movement.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel crown.