The "Citizen Jet Rookie" that arrived today is a rare model with a particularly unique and interesting airplane-shaped second hand, even among Japanese domestic watches.
This is a true vintage watch.
Citizen is a renowned Japanese watch brand, alongside Seiko.
While Seiko produces classic, orthodox watches,
Citizen pursues a unique and innovative path.
To draw an analogy with cars, Seiko is like Toyota, and Citizen is like Nissan, wouldn't you say?
The phrase "Technical Citizen," echoing "Technical Nissan," fits perfectly, and
its high technical prowess is still globally recognized today, with
many "world-first" watches, such as the world's first quartz grand complication watch and analog solar-powered watch.
The Jet Rookie is one of Citizen's masterpieces from the 1960s,
an automatic watch with a unique bearing-driven rotating mechanism.
While many automatic rotors have a semicircular pendulum-like structure,
Citizen's interpretation resulted in a unique disk-rotating mechanism,
and the rotor's rotation sound is very dynamic.
It's even likened to the "engine sound of a jet plane," which is why
it's named as such, a structure with such distinctive characteristics.
It also brilliantly achieved the cost reduction seen in many Japanese domestic watches of the time,
featuring a fully automatic movement that eliminated the manual winding function.
The mechanism for winding the mainspring by shaking the watch is similar to that of the Seiko 5.
Also, the second hand of this particular piece must have puzzled everyone.
It looks like an airplane is flying across the dial,
but in fact, a circular acrylic plate acts as the second hand,
with the jet logo printed on the plate.
While this distinctive design was also featured in some of Orient's lineup at the time, including Citizen,
this design is truly the charm of the Citizen Jet.
Although regular second hand types were also in the lineup, the airplane second hand type is very rare,
and opportunities to see it recently are very few.
As an aside, Citizen also has experience manufacturing watches for apparel brands as a subcontractor,
and was responsible for the watches of the Japanese apparel brand "TRANS CONTINENTS", which was very popular in the 1990s.
They manufactured quartz models of TRANS CONTINENTS watches, which had an airplane logo as their brand icon, based on this Jet model.
I remember it being quite a smash hit.
The dial design mimics a globe,
evoking the image of jet planes flying around the Earth.
Furthermore, the case design, which embeds the crown into the case, as seen in Japanese domestic watches of the time, emphasizes the watch's roundness,
making one realize how strongly the watch's model name and image are emphasized.
Personally, among the many watches, I want vintage watches to exude an exciting uniqueness.
I feel that many such watches are Japanese-made.
In that context, I get excited about watches with innovative ideas that modern watches lack, ideas that no one else would think of,
or, to put it positively, watches where "anything goes!"
I understand the desire for asset value and brand recognition in watches,
but I believe watches should be an item that everyone can enjoy and be happy to wear.
If you're choosing a vintage watch, you want it to deliver a surprising and moving experience.
That's why I can say,
this Citizen Jet Rookie is truly "the vintage watch!"
Is there any reason not to buy such an interesting watch?
