Citizen Homer Railroad Watch - The official issued watch to employee of Japanese Railroad Company
Japan's Railroad System
If you have been to Japan, you will know or heard of the accuracy of the Japanese Railway system, they count their delay in seconds, not mins or hours. And it's regarded as the most accurate railway network in the world.
Background of the Citizen Homer Railroad
The ultimate accuracy of train arrival is made available with precision timing. The timing instrument used by both Train driver and railway workers have to be accurate to ensure the railroad network work in beautiful harmony. Many of us know that Japanese Railway Company issue Seiko pocket watches to their train drivers, almost all trains that I ever took in Japan is equipped with the Seiko Pocket to watch in the train driver dashboard. But during our research on Japan Railway Watches, we found a very interesting watch that we decided to add to our regular offering. We have found that Japan Railway company also issue wristwatches to most of its staff back in the 60s and 70s. Being the national railway company in Japan, we should expect it to issue Seiko watches to its employees, however the answer is surprising. The Japanese Railway Company issues Citizen wristwatches to its employees.
So let's flip open the history book and look at the featured watch of this article - Citizen Homer Railroad Watch.
Being an issued watch, we would expect the watch to be a tool watch with almost no design, however Citizen surprised us with a detailed Design in the Citizen Homer Railroad Watch that will easily make you think that it's a minimal dress watch.
Minimal Bauhaus Design
In the 1960s to 1970s, Japanese Railway Company worked with Citizen to issue this special design Citizen Homer Railroad watch to their employees. While I am researching the Citizen Homer Railway Watch, I was immediately attracted by the clean and minimal look of the watch. Similar to IWC and Nomos, the dial design of the Citizen Homer was following a Bauhaus style. The black numerals hour marker gives a contrasting and easy to read design to the watch, the small lume pip outside of each numeral working with the beautifully lumed dagger hands enable the user to check the time even in the dark. The watch is giving a strong German minimal Bauhaus design to the watch.
Case Design with Small Details
Being an issued watch doesn't mean it has to be boring in design, there are small details from the watch case of Citizen Homer Railroad Watch that we know Citizen wanted to make a watch for the workers to wear even when they are off their duty, not simply just building a tool.
The case was added triangular chamfers on the lugs, making the watch more elegant and wear comfortably on the wrist. The watch is extremely thin as an issued watch, the thickness is credit to the thin design of the case and the Citizen Caliber 911 movement for keeping the thickness of the Citizen Homer at around 9.75mm only! This makes the watch stay comfortably on the wrist even after a long day.
Caliber 911 Movement
The movement used in the Citizen Homer Railroad is 21-jewel Caliber 911, a hacking movement that railway workers can adjust and match their watch time easily. The Caliber 911 movement is a high-end movement with the same backbone movement used in the Citizen Chrono Master series watches. Chrono Meter is Citizen's answer to Seiko's Grand and King Seiko, with this background we can sure that Citizen Homer receive a good bone.
Unique Caseback Engraving
Last but not least, the part of the watch that draws most of my attention. The engraving on the snap case back of the Citizen Homer Railroad Watch is the main highlight of the watch.
The information on it can tell us the issue year, individual number and the department in the Japanese Railway Company that issuing the watch. This specific Citizen Homer was issued in Showa 48 (1973), this is likely the 715th watch issued to the staff that year and was for an employee of the Japanese Railway Company.
This is unique and it's the best way for us to tell the identity of the individual who owns the watch before.
Best Value to Money Vintage Watch
In my opinion, the Citizen Homer Railroad is one of the best value vintage watches in the market. If you are looking for a 3 handed wristwatch with minimal Bauhaus design or looking for a watch with a story you can happily tell your friends during a gathering, the Citizen Homer Railway Watch will not let you down! With the clean design and history, I think it is fair to say the Homer Railway Watch is one of the most attractive vintage watches at this price point!
We have set up the Citizen Homer Railroad watch as our regular item and it's now available in our watch shop!
Get it before it's too late.
Citizen Homer Railroad Avaliable in Our Shop!
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