A Citizens’ assembly
So these three all left the Citizen factory in August/September 1975 but, aesthetic similarities and all being battery powered aside, they are fairly different under the bonnet/hood. The motion of the second hands is a big giveaway - smooth sweep, 36000 beat and 1 tick per second (and I know one is still on summertime!).
From the left:
Cosmotron GX - 3701B 11 jewel tuning fork movement derived from Bulova’s Accutron
Cosmotron - 7806A 8 jewel transistor and magnet movement
Crystron - 8600A 7 jewel quartz movement
So far as I can tell, the first two were pretty much dead ends for Citizen but the last was the basis for their 4 Mega high accuracy quartz (HAQ) watches and also their first photovoltaic quartz watch (effectively the forerunner of their Eco-Drive); so very much a platform for things to come.
Amazing to think that they developed and manufactured all these variants overlapping them in such a relatively short span of time.
I can’t find a 1975 Citizen catalogue to check the “new” prices; if anyone has one or a link to one do please share.
Driven to watches (researching and collecting affordably) by the boredom of COVID lockdowns. My - possibly attainable - grail watch would be a 6245 (Seiko or Grand Seiko) in nice condition … someday.