Restoring a 1976 Citizen 50-5053

[elceedee]

Hello all,

I haven't been visiting the forum very often the past two months, but the lcd fever is still pumping through my veins

The Citizen 50-5053 has been on my whish list. Recently I found one in a very bad condition.

I love restoring (mainly) Seiko, Casio and Citizen LCD watches and movements. I usually forget to take pictures. But here is a restoration report, I am very enthusiastic about the watch

I bought it in a very worn condition with a dead module. I have some spare modules so I start with the case. Starting with the crystal ;








The crystal 'before' ;






The scratches removed, before polishing ;




The first pictures were taking in daylight this weekend, the polishing process took me some hours, the final two pictures of the end result of the crystal were taken in fluorescent light, sorry for that ;



That's it for now, I will keep you guys updated

[digibloke]

Nice watch - looking forward to the next installment already. Just wondering: What did you use to polish the crystal?

[elceedee]

@digibloke; I used waterproof grid (1000, 2000, 2500), then diamond polishing paste (1 / 0,5)

I finished the Citizen yesterday. As I wasn't able to re-brush with waterproof grid due to the fixed crystal, I mildly re-brushed it with a kind of scourer I use for bracelets usually. The polished sides were just re-polished.

I was able to revive the movement. It was in good order (no leakage of batteries), and needed some mild cleaning of the contacts on the porcelain circuit. These early Citizen movements are beautiful and very accurate.

The original bracelet has two welded spots on both sides of which 3 of them were loose. Instead I use another bracelet which makes a better match anyway (in my opinion)


Another early 1976 Space Age Citizen back on the streets

[simone]

Fantastic job! I really love these early Citizen's watches
Wear it with care buddy....

[elceedee]

Thanks Simone!

When I was looking for a spare module I came across this Citizen I obviously undervalued in the past as it was sitting in a Citizen-spares-box,

I restored it the same way as the other one, starting with the crystal,

The movement had its quartz crystal replaced (with a similar crystal of another 9025 movement with corroded contacts) and I had to replace the lcd panel,

Of the same line as the 50-3053, this 50-3134:

[simone]

Great!Another stunning citizen first generation...if i don't wrong the last one was released in 1976.
I have a similar one (same module) with different case also chunky and heavy!

[elceedee]

Thanks Simone, happy to see your share my taste in this :)
Both are very early Citizen lcd's, both module 9025A and both of 1976. For some reason the first one doesn't have the thin digits although im almost sure the lcd panel is original..

[Kasper]

great restoration especially the glass...this take time..congrats..job well done

[peachykeen]

I finished the Citizen yesterday.

I think I still have a case and crystal like that in almost like new condition somewhere.
Ping me if you want me to dig around a bit. It was a leftover from one of my own restoration projects. I ended up with another case because I didn't have the original strap to this one.

[elceedee]

Fantastic Peachykeen, I sent you a PM !