Citizen 36,000bph Movments Leopard and SuperBeat 10s

SeanCody · May 29, 2016

Citizen was the last of the major watch makers to introduce a 36,000 bph movement and they did so in 1970? with the Cal. 7230.

This was a high frequency movements of Citizen's own design.

Higher frequency movements are more accurate than a lower frequency movements for a simple reason. The higher frequency movement divides time into finer increments. This translates into higher resolution. Therefore, a 36,000 bph movement is capable of 1/10th of a second timing. Compare this to a 28,800 bph movement that is only capable of 1/8th of a second timing. High frequency watch movements should also be more accurate from a statistical standpoint because the higher number of beats per time interval creates higher time keeping stability in these movements The average accuracy should be higher than a lower beat movement because the average is established over a greater number of beats.

The Citizen Leopard line has both 28,800 and 36,000bph movements.

I have a few Citizen 36,000bph Leopards:

The 28 jewel 67-2050
The 28 jewel 67-2211 Citizen 7230. October 1972 Case#: 4-722531TA. Serial #: 21000408. Model#: 67-2211 Case & Bezel ref.: GN-5-S

Sweephands' Leopard:
The Blog: https://sweep-hand.org/2012/01/29/this-weeks-featured-watch-21-leopard-36000/

And old Thread: http://www.network54.com/Forum/78440/message/1254653396/My+small+collection+of+big+cats!

Seikoholics list of models: http://seikoholics.yuku.com/sreply/162/CITIZEN-Mechanical-Automatic#.V0p_K4-cFJU

Some 40 years ago, as the 1960's drew to a close, the development of Citizen's automatic wrist watches was reaching its peak, in terms of both range and quality. Around the middle of that decade the company switched from it's geared 'jet' rotor design to the more reliable and widely used oscillating weight type, and the late '60's saw the launch of the Chrono Master high grade automatic alongside a range of other new models. In 1969 Citizen launched the evocatively named Leopard line, based on the 7200 calibre. Although this movement was used in other models, the Leopards were distinguished by one key characteristic not to be found in the others – they were all high-beat, running at either 28,800 beats per hour (bph) or 36,000bph. These were Citizen's first watches to run at these speeds, reflecting the quality and reliability they could achieve by that time. These fine movements also all feature a micro adjuster on the balance to assist with accurate regulation.

In a relatively short space of time the Leopard line offered an extensive range of watches, with different jeweling, styles and price points, and can perhaps be best described as 'upper mid' to 'high' grade pieces.

Besides the high-beat common denominator, the Leopards are also characterized by their jewel counts, which are always even numbers – i.e. 28, 26, 24, and later in the production run, 22. Other models using the same base movement usually carry odd number jewel counts, for example the Custom V2 and Seven Star V2, with jewel counts of 25, 23, and 21 (the only exception to this I can identify is calibre 7790, running at 21,600bph with 22, 24 and 26 jewels).

The production run of the Leopards was short-lived – just as the development of mechanical watches was reaching new heights, the introduction of the much more accurate and soon the much cheaper quartz module in the early to mid-1970's brought that development to a halt. The latest Leopard movements entered the market in 1971, just two years after the first model was introduced.

The Movement Families:

Despite the short production run, there was a degree of complexity to the movements used in the Leopards which fall into two groups – the 7200 as per the first model, and the 7700 family used for the first time in 1971. Here is the family tree for the 7200 series, showing the branches for the 74xx and 76xx variants and the variations in the depths of the different movements, all of which are 28.00mm wide. The Leopard models are highlighted, although the bph rating also clearly identifies them:
Click to expand...

SCWF thread: http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/80393-citizen-leopard-36-000-bph.html

Citizen 36,000bph Pocket Watch: https://vintagecitizenwatches.com/2014/02/10/citizen-leopard-36000-pocket-watch-67-2192/

SeanCody · May 29, 2016

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaOCxrUfgQE[/youtube]

SeanCody · May 29, 2016

http://watchopenia.blogspot.com/2013/08/citizen-leopard-superbeat.html

SeanCody · Jun 7, 2016

https://youtu.be/gaOCxrUfgQE

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SeanCody · Jun 7, 2016

the part number for the crystal is 54-61072

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SeanCody · Jun 7, 2016

http://seikoholics.yuku.com/sreply/344/Citizen-Leopard

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SeanCody · Jun 7, 2016

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SeanCody · Jun 8, 2016

The above images are from Stephen Netherwood and Sweephand's Vintage Citizen Watch Blog, 2016

aka Sweephands blog. https://sweep-hand.org/

SeanCody · Jun 9, 2016

Citizen Leopard 36,000 bph. It was manufactured in August of 1970. 4-720865.

Original bracelet?

Original Crown?

Can the crystal be saved?

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SeanCody · Jun 9, 2016

So, the question of a replacement crystal for the oval has come up.

So, then the question turned to to two ovals. The vertical oval v. The horizontal oval and whether the crystals were interchangeable.

So, I measures the two crystals.

Check these photos out.

Gray. 26.79mm
White. 26.55mm

Gray. 30.62mm
White 30.71mm

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SeanCody · Jul 28, 2016

Citizen Leopard 4-720025TA 00301411

SeanCody · Jul 28, 2016

Vintage 1969 CITIZEN Automatic watch [LEOPARD 36000] 28J 36000bph

SeanCody · Jul 28, 2016

Citizen Leopard Super Beat 10 4-720864TA

SeanCody · Jul 29, 2016

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Brian Leiser · Aug 9, 2016

The camera your using takes awesome macro pictures.

SC-Texas · Apr 8, 2017

Back from Brian Leiser

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SC-Texas · Apr 9, 2017

Citizen Leopard superbeat 10 36k

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#automaticwatch #menswatch #mechanicalwatch

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