Accutron

The Bulova Accutron wasn't the first electric watch. That honor goes to Hamilton. However, the Accutron is the first electronic watch, utilizing the brand new technology of transistors. It is also the first reliable battery powered watch, with many examples still running perfectly from the 1960s. These electric watches use a tuning fork to regulate the time. They make a delightful humming sound and have a mesmerizing constant sweep to their seconds hands. The Accutron was a significant achievement of American watchmaking. It solidified Bulova as a high quality and popular brand, giving the company financial strength that has allowed it to exist to this day, despite a decimation in most other areas of American manufacturing.

History In 1952, Harry Henshel of Bulova was looking for a way to increase the accuracy of his watches. He hired Swiss electrical engineer Max Hetzel. Hetzel developed the Accutron movement, with the first prototypes being constructed in 1955 and the first watches released in 1960.

Movement The Accutron 214 movement was truly a breakthrough in time keeping. Rather than using a conventional balance wheel and mainspring, power is transferred by a battery to the coils of a tuning fork. Attached to the tuning fork are two ultra-thin jeweled pawl fingers that rotate an index wheel with 360 impossibly tiny teeth. The index wheel is connected to a gear train that runs the watch. While all of this was very high tech, the Accutron movement is no plastic throwaway, It does use some glass-filled diallyl phthalate as an insulating material, but the plates are constructed the old-fashioned way, with beautifully machined brass and jeweled pivots. This gem-like quality gives the movement durability and reliability that was lacking in the competition.

Models

214

218

219

224

2210