Remember the time
This is possible the missing link in the evolution of time pieces. This was the transition period from the mechanical watches to the Quartz revolution. The evolution of time pieces is somewhat different from the laws of Nature.... Electronic watches like Citizen Cosmotron and Seiko Elnix had well extincted in the production line whereas their older ancestor like mechanic and automatic watches still flourished today. These watches laid the foundation for greater modern movements like Quartz, Kinetic, Auto-Quartz, Solar powered and Spring drive.
The Cosmotron X8 is the first transistorized electric by Citizen and also the first in Japan introduced as early as 1966/67. Cosmotron works like a mechanical watch except for one fundamental part... Instead of using the traditional mainspring; Citizen employed a moving-magnet type balance motor, driven by transistors as the regulating device. These watches are extremely accurate and reliable. Cosmotron has smooth sweeping second hand and sounded like a mechanical watch.
What I have here is a simple Cosmotron with 3 hands.... nothing more; no date, no day; plain and simple. The stainless steel turtle case is measuring 38mm. This was the second generation of the Cosmotron, it is running at 21,600bph (0840) and with 12 jewels. The 0840 was launched in 1969, I believed this watch to be dated around 1970.
It is very easy to fall in love with this watch.... The dial is so appealing.... Its simplicity, making time telling effortless. The Citizen and the red transistor symbol of Cosmotron emblems give good contrasting effect to the plain white dial.
The crown is signed CTZ and is situated at 4 o'clock position.
The stainless steel bracelet for this watch is a piece of art. The solid links bracelet is meant to last......
The clasp is signed Citizen and really reflected the quality of Japanese watches back in the 1970's.
The stainless steel back case is screw down type and it is labelled as Parawater or in other words water resist.
Below is a photo of the 4840 movement taken from http://sweep-hand.org. This movement has 12 Jewels and powered by a 1.55v silver oxide battery. This movement is extremely robust and after 45 years or so it is still running strong.......
For further reading on Cosmotron X8 please visit http://sweep-hand.org/the-x8-cosmotron/ . It is a very comprehensive write up on Cosmotron.
The Cosmotron X8 production was short run. With the rise of the quartz, the electronic watch technology was quickly rendered obsolete and production ceased....
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