The Citizen Vintage Homer Second Setting watch: an under-the-radar treasure!

A confidential watch

Reserved for employees of Japanese railway companies, the Citizen Homer Second Setting was never exported or even marketed. Here are all these secrets:

Japan and its railway excellence

If you have had the chance to travel to Japan, perhaps you have been struck by the precision of the trains. The average delay in 2017 is only 30 seconds. T he Japanese Transport Ministry requires railway companies to notify delays of more than 3 minutes, and to submit precise reports for so-called “large-scale” time overruns. Enough to leave the rest of the world and particularly the French dreaming.

The extreme punctuality of Japanese subways and trains is cultural. They consider being late for an appointment to be an unforgivable lack of good manners. Train times are scheduled to the nearest 15 seconds. Recently a company even published a statement apologizing because one of its trains had left 20 seconds early.

All railway staff, disciplined, conscientious, who never strike, make a point of achieving near-perfection. And for that they need the right tools... Do you see where I'm going with this?

It is well known that Japanese railway companies provided train conductors with Seiko pocket watches but also wristwatches for their staff. What watches? Welcome to the heart of the subject, we are in the 60s and 70s and I present to you the Citizen Homer Second Setting !

The story of Citizen

To gain access to this market, it must be said that the brand is particularly challenged.

Citizen was founded in 1918 as the "Shokosha Watch Research Institute" by Kamekichi Yamazaki, a Japanese jeweler with a passion for watches, who wanted to produce pocket watches and clocks on Japanese soil instead of importing them from Japan. Europe.

It was in 1930 that the name Citizen was chosen by Goto Shinpei, a friend of Yamazaki and mayor of Tokyo, who wanted watches to become accessible to all citizens. Emperor Taisho was one of the first to own a Citizen watch.

During World War II, production was slowed and the company name was changed to Dai-Nippon Tokei Company, to avoid any English sound. Citizen produced military watches during this period.

Citizen quickly established itself as one of the leading Japanese watch brands and in 1956 launched the first automatic watch in Japan called the "Citizen Autodater". This was an important step that helped Citizen become one of the leaders in the watch industry.

Bauhaus, minimalist design

The guideline of this design is simplicity and clarity, a 100% functional and readable worker's watch. The typography is just magnificent!

As we can see, the hands receive a good dose of lume and stand out perfectly from this limpid white dial which is also luminescent for perfect time reading which is very close to that of military watches. It's a sort of civilian's military watch! We are at the heart of the Bauhaus style which is an artistic movement where design is reduced to the essential, where function dictates form. Currently at the top of this watchmaking discipline we find the Nomos manufacture. The main thing is to offer a functional object that displays the time!

An elegant and mysterious case

Let's talk numbers: Topped with reinforced acrylic glass, this stainless steel case is ideally proportioned. A diameter of 36 mm excluding crown, 43 mm from lug to lug and a thickness of only 9.75 mm. It is therefore a relatively thin watch that sits perfectly on the wrist.

I really appreciate the triangular chamfers on the horns which give a more formal style to this vintage Citizen. The objective is there, it is not just a simple worker's tool because it remains comfortable on the wrist of its owner when he finishes his work day, goes out to the izakaya (Japanese bar ) the closest.

Let's get to the bottom of the box, the heart of the story.

A large clipped background with kanji engravings that we can read like this:

• The year of manufacture in the Showa calendar, here is a conversion table ( https://photojpn.org/PPC/gui/year.html )
• The serial number of the watch
• The department of the Japanese Railway Company for which this watch was produced

The Citizen 911 movement

We continue with a manufacture movement, the Citizen 911 mechanical hand-wound equipped with 21 jewels as well as the stop seconds function which allows perfect adjustment when setting the time, the famous “Second Setting” inscribed on the dial. Very common on the majority of contemporary watches, this complication was a real asset at that time.

A simple construction, an industrial look that exudes robustness, all that was needed to liven up this tool is the movement from the “Homer” range from Citizen with a few more jewels and the stop seconds function. “Homer” has its origins in ancient Greek, it is taken from the word Hómêros which means “ one who is obliged to follow ”. Words are strong!

This is the same base as the movements found in vintage Citizen Chronomasters, Le Grand Seiko de Citizen.

(The stop lever is between the middle wheel and the crown wheel. Did you find it?)

The art of playing with dolls

Even after extensive research I was unable to find which bracelet this Citizen was fitted to when it left the factory. Despite everything, I can tell you that with its 18 mm lug everything suits it! Nato, leather, steel, Tropic, she's a real doll!

I admit to having a slight preference for the GOAT goatskin leather bracelet in its Olive color.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a versatile, relatively inexpensive watch that is steeped in history and can accompany you every day, the Citizen Homer Second Setting is for you. Personally, I fell in love with it so I won't hesitate to keep one in my collection!

Is there a better history/quality/price ratio on the vintage watch market today? If you have any ideas, I'm interested!

You can find the other blog articles here: Blog  

You can also find a selection of vintage watches here: Vintage Watches

Joshua Grillet

Founder of LumeVille and watchmaker

Resources :

https://thesamuraivintage.com/products/vintage-watch-citizen-homer-railway-watch-second-setting

https://musingsofawatchaddict.wordpress.com/2019/01/05/citizen-homer-second-setting-railway-watch/

https://www.fratellowatches.com/citizen-homer-second-setting-affordable-vintage-watch/#gref

https://sweep-hand.org/2012/03/26/this-weeks-featured-watch-28-the-homer-railroad-watch/