I am a little late on the scene, the year being 2016 and its already April that I suddenly developed a love for Japanese dive watches. So having browsed a couple of reviews and blog sites, the Citizen Autozilla came up often enough to warrant my attention.
I do remember having come across this watch in the past. Its size had somewhat intrigued me but it never caught on with me until of late. So my hunger for owning this watch suddenly came with a vengeance and I was all over online looking for it. It was a little disappointing though because most sites list the watch as "Sold out" or "Out of stock". Prices did seem reasonable back a couple of years but it is 2016 now.
The Autozilla, good as it is is no longer made by Citizen, it may have been stopped some years earlier.
Earlier this year, I had first held a Citizen Autozilla in a watch shop in Lucky Plaza of Orchard Road, Singapore. 'Auto" for being a mechanical automatic, 'Zilla' for being big like Godzilla, yes, that oversized lizard! Autozilla versus Ecozilla, there being two Eco-drive versions made of either stainless steel or titanium, albeit rated to 300m and a lot cheaper. I went for the Duratect (one of several Citizen developed surface hardening technology) enhanced Titanium Autozilla. It is after all the supremo being rated to 1000m and outfitted with a HRV(Helium Release Valve)!
Having held this wonder, a no longer available from Citizen new wonder at best, it means to dig deeper in one's pocket as watch sellers today in 2016 are all online geeks and they know better than most that the Autozilla is now a 'collectible'.
I finally found a brand new unit, to my surprise with the model no. NH6934-08FB in my hometown. The earlier releases were usually NH6930-09F or NH6931-06E. To be pedantic, an extra letter B or T is appended to the end of the model no. to designate region. Mine with the B had Japanese lettering option for the day of the week. Sorry, I do not have enough info to say further.
Watch is getting more and more handsome the longer I own it! Comes with the age old Rolex inspired submarine screw-down crown cap. That little black color latch or bezel clamp on top is released by pulling down a small springed stainless steel pin at the bottom as per picture above. The latch fulcrums away on the opposite side to allow one to unscrew the rotating bezel ring clamp that holds down the rotating bezel sitting on a circular detent spring ring that only allows rotation counter-clockwise as seen from the top looking down.
Very handsome case back, IMO, beautiful! The Duratect lettering done nicely and so too the picture of the diving helmet.
As to the technology behind Duratect I read with confusion and insufficient data and was unable to decipher neither year nor the several forms developed over the years by Citizen in the pre-millennium for the Autozilla.
Watch was released in 2000(from online data). Suffice to say, it's a toughening treatment(of several types) to the surface of the titanium to make it more scratch resistant. The base underneath remains softer.
This being the larger than life HRV(helium release valve). A one-way valve for helium gas within the case to exit when the ambient pressure is less than that within the case. I say larger than life for the awe (through ignorance?) that it had caused since Rolex and Dosa S.A. developed it in the sixties for their divers watches.
As a school boy I use to daydream of that Rolex Sea Dweller with the HRV(not really knowing what it did helped in my imagination...) as the diver descended deeper after having seen those mesmerising advertisements in Reader's Digest. My fantasy equated the watch and its HRV to Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus and its hatches, after having drifted long enough.
Helium? How does it get in the watch?
The following is my very own interpretation, so...
The HRV is only of use when deep sea divers spend a long enough time in their dry and highly pressurised helium enriched living chambers such that pressure inside the watch case begin to equalise somewhat with the high chamber pressure as helium(smaller atoms than other gases) seeps through the gaskets into the watch or they released the crown to make some adjustments to their watch thereby equalising the pressure within! On their slow(to prevent decompression sickness) ascent to the surface, the ambient pressure begins to lessen. However, the entire process gives too little time for the helium to seep back out resulting in the watch crystals popping out unless of course a HRV is fitted or the crown screw cap is left open (who remembers to do that anyway?)!
Actually an extra hole in the case is an extra possible failure point(of the HRV) of allowing water entry, and why Seiko (with their famous Tuna range) rather went with a monobloc case(without a case back) and sealing the crystal side screw down cap so well/tight that it denies helium entry a hundred times better!
Now, IMO and from the engineering point of view and aesthetically I rather prefer the HRV! Why? Just imagine if the Seiko had at any point whilst being at the deepest end living chamber been adjusted through the crown cap and then screw cap tightened! It would be primed for crystal popping on the ascent!
Quite possibly the later production batches...this NH6934-xxxx, as opposed NH6930, NH6931...maybe, I don't know.
Other blog sites tells me this rather hard to manipulate black silicone rubber strap has Duratect (Citizen's very own) titanium buckle and loop.
Good! I'm already thinking of taking them off and having them stored away in that big black Citizen box together with the divers length extension piece to be replaced for day to day use with a bracelet! Having read watch modding 101 and been introduced to this big wide world of adapters, NATO straps, Bracelets, etc at:
www.suppaparts.com
www.yourbandstand.com.
Go check 'em out!
Lastly for this article, a piece of spare part for that portion of the watch I haven't bothered to look at yet! The removable Bezel has a detent spring underneath, this being the spare piece.
More to follow...
