[Sweephand]

....I managed to get an original buckle for my Citizen Highness. I don't remember seeing one of these before, so when it popped up I just had to go for it.

Here's the watch, a high beat model near the top of the Leopard range:

And now it has this buckle:

Since I prefer leather straps to bracelets this was a nice find as far as I'm concerned

Stephen

 

[Sweephand]

Lovely watch and a particularly good find with that buckle. The Highness shares a lot of design cues with the GS watches of the same period, and this buckle definitely follows suit...
Here is the buckle from my 45KS:
Notice any similarities?

Come to think of it, the whole watch is pretty similar!

The one thing though that sets these Citizens apart is scarcity - I have never actually seen one for sale! Just like my hunt for a Superior Quartz, the hunt for a Highness requires some serious patience!

They are rather similar

As far as I know the Highness replaced the Leopard Chronometer for a short while in the early 1970s. It only had a short production run so is rather scarce. I got mine a while back whilst the buckle arrived yesterday.

Stephen

 

[Sweephand]

Nice find Stephen, I bet there aren't many of those knocking about! Similar to the GS's as has been said, and the KS's like my old one here (sellers pic)

This is the only CH buckle I've seen so far.

Stephen

 

[Sweephand]

Hi Anthony,

here's a pic of the back:

I think both the 'Highness' and the 'CH' models were made for the Japanese market. I have marketing material from October 1972 which only shows the 'Highness' version, whilst the 1973 catalog has both types in it at the same time.

Stephen

 

[Sweephand]

I don't know that the 'Highness' was first or not - the 'CH' model is shown by Citizen as being released in October 1971. Looks to me like the Highness replaced the Leopard Officially Certified Chronometer (the Highness is described as having an 'excellent chronometer' grade movement, same spec as the Leopard).

I don't have the '75 or '76 catalogs I'm afraid.

Stephen

 

[Sweephand]

Thanks for the info Stephen. I prefer the Highness text when compared to the CH, it is a classy font.

I agree

I'll let you know if I found any catalogs for those years,

Stephen