Buying a citizen chronometer.......

[richardjames73]

Is this a safe place to buy from, and does the price look ok?....

Citizen CTQ57-0934 Chronomaster - Shopping In Japan .NET

[artec]

I have no knowledge of Japan.net but you can get a better price from Higuchi if that interests you? You certainly can't do any better than a Chronomaster.... I'm addicted to them!

If you care to send me a pm I can give you more details. I have no connection to him except as a very satisfied and confident customer. I've bought about 8 watches from him. As it happens I had an e-mail from him yesterday saying he would be away for a couple of days, so you couldn't expect a response even if you approached him immediately.

[richardjames73]

Thank you for the detailed PM. I have sent an email to see what they can offer. Any reason these watches are not available outside of Japan? I am in the United Kingdom.

[artec]

According to both Citizen and Seiko their production capacity of the high quality, high accuracy, movements is limited by the number of very skilled watch-makers needed to do the necessary handwork involved in assembling and testing these movements. I think there is probably a good deal of truth to this but it may not be the whole story. For example, it seems that there are, relatively speaking, more people in Japan who are interested in extreme accuracy than it is believed by Citizen and Seiko to exist elsewhere.

Seiko are now selling a limited number of Grand Seiko models, of all three types, quartz, mechanical and springdrive, here in the US and, I believe in Europe and Australia. It is my understanding, and I may be wrong in this, that Seiko are not offering the most expensive of the quartz GS models, maybe of the SD and mechanicals, too, outside Japan. So far, Citizen have shown no interest, and maybe no ability, in marketing The Citizen models anywhere except in the Japanese domestic market. In addition to the quartz The Citizen, there is also an automatic The Citizen, but I know almost nothing about it.

Another possible reason for Citizen's reluctance to market The Citizen in markets other than the JDM may be their 10 year warranty. They don't want to offer less than ten years but trying to offer that kind of service in wider markets would be a nightmare. I think there's no doubt that both Citizen and Seiko know full well that some of their retailers sell the top-of-the-line models overseas, but they rely on their dealers to cope with any warranty problems and to provide conduits through which warranty repairs can be funneled, so that warranties are only serviced for apparently Japanese owners. I have a Chronomaster being adjusted by Citizen under warranty having been sent back to them via my dealer.

I would be interested in learning how you get on in your quest for a Chronomaster for yourself and hope you are able to find what you want at a price with which you are comfortable.

[richardjames73]

They are out of stock until mid August, although have been offered to have one reserved, which I have accepted

[artec]

Not too long to wait, then! At least they aren't discontinued, as a good many models of Chronomasters have been.

[richardjames73]

Even less time to wait.. email received this morning, now available, and can ship August 4th

[richardjames73]

Looking at the online tracking, my watch has spent longer clearing UK customs, than it took to fly from Japan to the UK !!!

[artec]

Although I am English, I live in the US and know much more about US Customs than UK and it usually takes longer to bounce about the US, including Customs, than it does to get here. Very seldom longer than 4 days from Oita to my door, though. I hope the UK Customs don't sit on yours for too long....or bite you too hard.

Let us know how you feel about it when it arrives!

[richardjames73]

The watch has now spent a week in customs, the wait is so frustrating !!!