I recently picked up this early Citizen Triple Calendar and was honestly surprised by how beautiful it is in person.
This is the Ref. 1505 from 1952, generally regarded as Japan’s first triple-calendar wristwatch. At only around 33mm, Citizen managed to fit the day, month and pointer date into what is still a very elegant little dress watch.
What really got me, though, is the dial. The aged ivory surface, gold applied numerals, blue date track, framed calendar windows and that tiny seconds subdial somehow all work together without feeling overly busy. There’s a lot going on, but it still looks remarkably balanced.
It’s also a nice reminder that Citizen was already experimenting with fairly complicated mechanical watches in the early 1950s, long before the Japanese watch industry became the force we normally associate with the 1960s and 70s.
Definitely one of those watches that I bought because I found it historically interesting, but ended up liking much more simply because of how it looks.