The Buttons and the Chronograph Function
(cont.)
No jewels but plenty of test points marked on the back of the watch, one can
really play with the diagnostics tools here. As far as the accuracy concerns,
the watch did not lose a second in 5 days while being on my wrist constantly.
Under the bridge you could see that this movement uses metallic wheels, plastic
wheels are actually quite common in Citizen movements. Of course also in Swatch
movements and remember, also the famous Lemania 5100 chronograph movement uses
plastic parts.
Let me add a little paragraph about plastic parts in watches. Plastic can a
better alternative then steel if it is used in places with little forces
applying. Plastic wheels will then be virtually maintenance and wear free and if
the engineers picked the location for plastic parts correctly (calendars
mechanism are often containing plastic parts, e.g. the SEIKO 7S26 uses them
there), plastic can fulfill the function even better then steel. It is all a
question of proper engineering and one should not just condemn plastic as such.
At the bottom you can see the copper coil of the quartz module and on the upper
side please note those tubular inserts which hold the buttons.
Without removing the top shield one could not say much more about the movement
at this stage and of course since this is a brand new watch, I did not feel to
go any further here.