Friday, April 26, 2013

Citizen Eagle 7: You have the five, I have the seven

Citizen Eagle Seven



Do not know what is with the Japanese Watch manufacturers and the odd numbers.... Orient three stars, the famous Seiko Five.... and here a Citizen Eagle Seven. All the above mentioned are Japanese arch rivals in the entry level mechanical watches market. All of them are true value for money. I bought this watch brand new from a local watch shop; just for the sake of having a Citizen Eagle Seven in my collection. Ererrrrr don't get me wrong. I do have other Citizen watches.


Citizen was originally founded as Shokosha Watch Research Institute in 1918. The trade name originated from a pocket watch it produced in 1924. The then Mayor of Tokyo, Mr Shimpei Goto, named the watch "CITIZEN" with the hope that the watch, a luxury item of those days, would become widely available to ordinary citizens and be sold throughout the world. It is now one of the world's largest producers of watches.



Here is a typical Eagle 7 with oyster like stainless steel case and fluted silver colour bezel. It has a clean silver tone dial with Arabic numeric hour markers. Apart from the Citizen wording, there is a Eagle 7 emblem above the 6 o'clock. The crown is a simple pull and adjust type and it is not signed. The watch is equipped with stainless steel jubilee bracelet with Citizen engraving at the clasp.  



The case back of the Citizen Eagle Seven is screw in type. Pretty much the same like the Seiko 5 here. The beauty of Citizen Eagle Seven is what hidden beneath the case. Citizen or Miyota 8200 is among the most successful automatic watch movements. 


The 21 jewel 8200 automatic movement (21,600 bph) was first produced around 1975, and by the end of the 1970's it had become Citizen’s standard automatic movement till the present day. This famed movement are used mainly in the Eagle Seven line and also Citizen automatic diver watch. Citizen also sells Miyota 8200 to other reputable watches manufacturers. Shishiii shiiiiiiiii you may also find 8200 in replica watches.....



Unlike Seiko 7S26, Citizen 8200 can be manually wound. It has a power reserve of approximately 40 hours. This movement also features quickset day-date function. The day disc contain both English and Kanji version. Below is the Kanji days of week:

曜 weekday; 日 Sunday; 月 Monday; 火 Tuesday; 水 Wednesday; 木 Thursday; 金 Friday; 土 Saturday


I would like to stress that this movement is very robust, stable and quite accurate. For the entry level automatic mechanism, this is one of the best available in the market if not the best. I can never understand why Citizen limited the sale of Citizen Eagle Seven in Asian markets only. I think Citizen and watch industries as a whole has fulfilled Mr Shimpei Goto's vision of watches for ordinary citizen.

17 comments:

  1. I have been reading your blog because I have owned several japanese and swiss mechanical watches. I would like to comment that I am very fond of the Citizen Eagle 7. I had my first one years ago when I was in highschool, it was a gift from my dad. In fact it had been his watch, so it was not new. I did not know it at the time but it was a very good watch.

    I used it all the time, even wore it when playing sports at school (which now I know I probably should not have done) until it literally broke.

    In the years since then I have found myself missing it, until some weeks ago I found one at discounted price in a local jewerly. It had never been used and was the last mechanical watch they had from Citizen (actually it was the only mechanical Citizen I found in the whole city).

    I also own an old Seiko 5 that belonged to my grandfather and I am quite emotionally attached to it because of this. I do not own particulalrly luxurios watches, however among all my Casio, Swatch and other watches, the Eagle 7 (which turned out to be the exact same model I had years ago, with gold face and hands) is the one I like to wear the most. It is very tool-like, yet looks good. Quite comfortable and dependable.

    Simply, a great watch and awesome value for the money.

    I just want to add that I live in Mexico and, around 1999, these Citizen watches were very common here.

    Thanks for taking the time to write about all these wonderful machines.

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  2. Hello!!my uncle gave me a citizen before he died!!i dont know if it is a oreginal one!!this is the number of the back!!8200-R02092 RC..85099..GN-4W-S!!please help me!!and how much the value!!

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    Replies
    1. Most likely it's genuine. Value? Under 100$.

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    2. How about keeping the $40 watch as a memory of your uncles love. Not a quick buck to smoke/drink/inject smh.....#youpeople

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  3. I have the same watch pictured in here. Can you tell me what year this was made?

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. I have citizen 21 jewels 8200 r02092 gn 4w s, can anyone know about buyer for this...?

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    Replies
    1. I would like to purchase citizen 21 jewels wrist watch.

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  6. My Eagle has these at the back
    4-R05024 RC 5000 GN-4W-S

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  7. My Eagle has these at the back
    4-R05024 RC 5000 GN-4W-S
    Can you pls tell me what year it was made. It was a gift from my father.

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  8. i have an eagle 7 gold plated my aunt give it to me but its color blue in the center of the eagle not red is it orginal help pls

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  9. Hello...replacement bands for a eagle 7? What brand and where could I for it

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  10. hi, could anyone identify this citizen watch number 4-039181 hse 962369 gn-4-s.
    it also says st.steel on the back and japan movt n-
    any help would be great.
    Thanks

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  11. How much for citizen automatic 21 jewels
    4-039785 HSB 200054 GN-4W-S

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  12. Hello.. ihave purchased a citizen watch square blue dial stainless steel citizen eagle 7 automatic in a store here in the philippines. I know nothing about this type of watch so i would like to know if i had purchased an authentic one since the box of the watch was just an ordinary blue box with no name at all. The no. In front watch( dial) is 6651-R008655-KA and at the back portion has a 4-R000951-RC
    300-353 GN-0-S. I would appreciate it if someone can enlighten me about this. Thank you so much

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  13. I have the same watch pictured in here.can you tell me the price of the watch current now. please say in Rs

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