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On the vintage high beat theme again......

3021 Views 13 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  w_g
6
I've just picked up a 1975 Citizen Cosmotron - described as 'junk' it aroused my curiosity since it had 5800 movement markings yet was clearly a medium sized men's watch. The 5800 movement was used in the 'IC-12' ladies' watch, an electro-mechaical wonder that ran at 12 beats per second (43,200bph). The seller described the watch as non-working, even with a new battery fitted, but I thought it would be worth getting at the 1000JPY asking price (just under 12USD) just to check out whether it did indeed have a 5800 movement (I can find no reference to this being fitted to a men's watch).

Here's the seller's picture, showing a very dirty and/or corroded piece:



On the positive side, the dial hands looked good, and I liked the 'deco' style numerals. A possible project watch then if I could get a working movement.

The watch arrived this morning, clearly not running - first thing to do was get rid of the nasty (i.e. very dirty) expanding bracelet and clean up the case. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the case was also dirty rather than corroded, so next I cleaned it up. Dial and hands are nice, glass has some scratching but not really noticeable on the wrist:



The dial was marked correctly for a 5800 movement, and this was confirmed on the back which was also in decent condition:



So, to the movement.....and yes it's a 5800, looking a little lost in the men's case, but very clean, no corrosion and a healthy looking hairspring. I thought I may as well try a new battery, and guess what? It fired up immediately and has now been running smoothly for the past 4 or 5 hours ;)



The movement has 17 jewels and a fine adjuster as you'd expect in a high beat caliber:



Needless to say I'm very happy to have a working watch of this quality for about 12USD. I guess this is also quite rare since I've not seen another like it as yet....



Sweephand
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JohnN said:
Terrific score for $12. [img][img]
[/quote]

+1
You know what - x5 is also a good score. Very nice!
Great watch. Do you see any difference in the smoothness of the second hand sweep compared to a 36K movement ?

/ martin
martback said:
Great watch. Do you see any difference in the smoothness of the second hand sweep compared to a 36K movement ?

/ martin
Hi Martin, it does look slightly smoother than my 36k bph Cosmotron

Sweephand
Sweephand said:
Hi Martin, it does look slightly smoother than my 36k bph Cosmotron

Sweephand
....but interestingly, my 36k Leopard (fully mechanical of course) looks, to me anyway, to be the smoothest moving of these high beats.

Sweephand
Another interesting catch Stephen 8)

I love these electromechanical movements.
Too bad quartz displaced them or I'm willing to bet the technoogy would have advance enough to maybe rival what the Spring Drive can do at it's worst end of the specs :)
With today's materials and manufacturing capabilities, there might even have been much higher beat movements of this type...alas, we'll never know :(

Your new watch cleaned up really nicely.
If you want to hear the difference between 36k bph and 43,200 bph.....

36k Cosmotron:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.netherwood/Cosmotron 7806 36k.wav

43.2k Cosmotron:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.netherwood/Cosmotron 5800 43k.wav

:)

Sweephand
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Sweephand said:
If you want to hear the difference between 36k bph and 43,200 bph.....

36k Cosmotron:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.netherwood/Cosmotron%207806%2036k.wav

43.2k Cosmotron:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stephen.netherwood/Cosmotron%205800%2043k.wav

:)

Sweephand
Love this post. Not enough sounds on this forum.

- martin
That's a very good catch for $12~! Damn I wish I had the luck.
^-^ Early Quartz from Timex. second hand moves like an auto. Bob.
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I find these Cosmotrons so interesting. Innovation is such an amazing thing. What a wonderful time it must have been to be close to this business.
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