Citizen age determination by case back code
One of the advantages of collecting vintage Citizen watches is the ease of dating them. This is important for any collector. It's always nice to find a watch that was made in the same year you were born.
And you know what? Citizen watches go even further! You can even date them by the month!
How does that work? Well… it's a combination of different clues:
First, we turn the watch over and look at the case back. There we usually find a lot of information about the case model, the watch model, the material and – very important for dating – the serial number.
This serial number usually consists of eight digits. These eight digits indicate the year and month.
The first digit indicates the year. The next two digits represent the month.
In the example below, the first digit is a 6. Therefore, it can only be a year ending in 6, such as 1956, 1966, 1976, or 1986.
Dating a Citizen watch 2. The "waterproof" marking indicates that the watch was manufactured after 1972/73, as the designation before that was "Parawater". Therefore, we can narrow down the date to 1976 or 1986. You can find more information about "Parawater" here: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2013/12/26/citizen-parawater-citizen-parashock/
Having determined the serial number and the possible year, we delve deeper into the matter. We examine the model and the movement.
Certain models and clockworks have a specific time period, making it easy to determine the exact year.
We know that this model was only manufactured in 1986, so it dates back to 1976.
The next two digits are 07, so the month is the seventh – July. 5. By combining all the information, a vintage Citizen watch can be dated in this way. The watch shown here was manufactured in July 1976.
How to correctly read Citizen serial numbers
The serial number is usually located at:
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on the case bottom
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sometimes also on the warranty card
Structure (classic):
XYZZZZZ
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1st character (number) = year in the decade
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2nd character (letter or number) = month
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Remainder = Production/Batch Number
Monthly code at Citizen
| Sign | Month |
|---|---|
| 1–9 | Jan–Sep |
| O | October |
| N | November |
| D | December |
Understanding the year code (important!)
The first letter/number only indicates the year within the decade.
Examples:
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3 → could be 1993 / 2003 / 2013 / 2023
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9 → 1989 / 1999 / 2009 / 2019
You determine the correct decade via:
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Model
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Movement (caliber)
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design
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Eco-Drive generation
3. Concrete examples
✔ Example 1:
Serial number: 3D123456
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3 → Year …3
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D → December
December 2003 or 2013 (depending on the model)
✔ Example 2:
Serial number: 9O654321
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9 → Year …9
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O → October
October 1999 / 2009 / 2019
Source: vintagecitizenwatch.com
