Gartman: Here's Why I'm Now Bullish on Gold

Calling it a "watershed" shift on gold, Dennis Gartman, the founder of The Gartman Letter, told CNBC his sentiment on the precious metal has changed from bearish to bullish.

(Read More: Gartman's 'Watershed' Shift on Gold)

"Having been bearish of gold for a long period of time, given the level of skepticism that has incurred, given the changes in the open interest in the futures markets, and perhaps I'm wrong—golly, it wouldn't be the first time that I have been wrong and it certainly won't be the last—but having been bearish of gold for a long period of time, I thought perhaps it was wise to step up and be a buyer," Gartman said on "Squawk Box."

Gartman said he's not a "gold bug," though. He views the yellow metal as just another currency, affected by cross rates, meaning the currency exchange rate between two currencies.

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Gold Coins and Credit Suisse gold bar

As the Bank of Japan continues its aggressive monetary policy, debasing the yen in an attempt to end years of deflation, Gartman has become bearish on the currency. In turn, he's long gold in terms of the yen.

The metal has come under pressure lately, nearly falling to a three-year low of $1,180.71 an ounce on June 28. A better-than-expected June jobs report released Friday gave way to even further declines, with the metal shedding 3 percent to $1,213 an ounce and poised for a third consecutive week of losses.

(Read More: Gold Pummeled by Jobs Data, Sheds 3%)

What matters to Gartman, though, is how gold performs against the yen.

"Gold may go down in dollar terms. I'm bullish of gold in yen terms and that has to be differentiated," Gartman said, adding there is a possibility gold could fall to $1,000 an ounce.

Tom Vitiello of Aurum Options Strategies said he understands Gartman's trade, but wouldn't endorse it.

"I think if you're trading the yen, you should trade the yen versus the dollar," Vitiello said later on "Squawk Box." "If you follow what the yen started to do in November, gold has followed it. We're down since November and it was really all probably that was the initial catalyst that created the decline in the gold."

Looking ahead, Vitiello thinks the price of gold will continue to fall as nervous investors dump out of their positions. After all, as the old market dictum goes, selling begets more selling.

—By CNBC's Drew Sandholm. Follow him on Twitter @DrewSandholm.

—Reuters contributed to this report.