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The Bulova Accutron 142

Posted by michael from the takes-a-licking-keeps-on-humming dept.
warewolfsmith writes "The Bulova Accutron. Introduced in 1961, it was the first successful transistorized watch, far more accurate than any other watch then on the market and a major advance in timekeeping technology. Prior to reading this article I had never heard of it. Interesting history." There are a number of websites devoted to it.
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The Bulova Accutron More

The Bulova Accutron

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  • 1961 is a whole millenium ago.
  • Transistors have been around since the days of Henry Ford, so I find it hard to believe that 1961 was the year of the first transistor-filled watch.
    • Possibly the first commercial transistorized watch. Also I doubt the transistors around the time of Henry Ford were small enough to fit in a wrist watch.

    • Re:Transistor history (Score:3, Informative)

      by sallen ( 143567 )
      Transistors have been around since the days of Henry Ford, so I find it hard to believe that 1961 was the year of the first transistor-filled watch.

      Maybe around since Henry Ford II, not the original. In the 50's the early computers still had tubes and I don't believe even a transistor radio was out until late 50's at the earliest.
      There may have been electric watches prior to the accurton (Hamilton, I recall had early ones), but not transistor filled. It wasn't much before that time that they were able to draw wire fine enough, for one thing, even for coils.

    • Transistors have been around since the days of Henry Ford

      Hmmm, the first trasistors were made in 1945... I guess what you say is true, though, since Henry Ford did live until 1947....

    • I'm not sure which makes me feel older, the ignorance of the past displayed by this post, the ignorance of the past diplayed by whoever moderated it as informative, or the fact that I remember when the Accutron first came out.

  • All the clichéd posts into one. (Score:4, Funny)

    by wackybrit ( 321117 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:02PM (#4005656) Homepage Journal
    Okay, let's get them out of the way so other people can start some real discussions. Here are all the clichéd posts in one easy-to-read post!

    (+1 Funny) -- "The Bulova Accutron replaces the old Bulova Helluvaweight, a valve operated watch which the wearer pulled along behind them in a shopping cart."

    (-1 Flamebait) -- "Who cares about this old crap? It's just old technology that we don't use now anyway."

    (-1 Troll) -- "This sucks. Using transistors in a watch? Nowadays we use pure silicon, which they actually had in the 60's but they were unable to see the benefits."

    (-1 Overrated) -- "Hi, I'm John Romero/Alan Cox/Linus Torvalds, and I thought I'd drop in and just say 'Hi'"
    • It is stories like this that re-emphasises my desire to see the discarded submissions. I bet there is something in the queue that I would find a bit more interesting than a watch advert.
      • Plus it would be interesting to see the backlog of the queue. It must be HUGE, I mean, this article was submitted over 30 years ago and they only just approved it.

        No wonder they haven't approved my sumbmission on the new Apple Lisa....
      • Well, you know what? I thought it was interesting. If you did not, I think your time would be much better spent doing something productive instead of whining about not getting to see ALL stories and ONLY stories you want to see.

        Christ, it's not like Taco's sitting behind you with a gun to your head. It's the worst kind of sheeple that consume anything that's offered to them. Activate that meat pie in your skull and exhibit some discretion.

        Or don't. I'll flame you next time, too.
    • You forgot to obligatory reference to the chronological powers of a Beowulf cluster of Bulova Accutrons and why Microsoft is evil because... Well... Just because!
    • Now that slashdot has over 500000 UIDs and everyone has "Excellent" karma and posts useless crap like this at +2, slashdot can't help from sucking.

  • I thought paying Slashdot users weren't supposed to be subjected to advertising on the site.
  • Don't forget to check out the Seiko Kinetic Watch - it doesn't require a battery. Here's how they work: http://www.seiko-kinetic-watches.com/seiko_kinetic _watches_wk.htm
  • One of the most accurate watches ever made was made in the 1700's by a man named John Harrison, in order to fix longitude.
    • Do you even know what that word means?
      • The claim of an "advance" in watch technology struck me as ironic, when watches have been getting less accurate than they were 300 years ago, and only now getting to the point where they could be used to sail a ship.

        • Why are watches less accurate today? (Score:4, Informative)

          by mangu ( 126918 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:34PM (#4005791)
          Watches used to sail ships have been getting more and more accurate since the 1700's. And watches people carry with them have been getting more and more accurate since the 1700's, to the point that, for the last forty years, a person has been able to carry a watch precise enough for navigation. There is nothing ironic with that, one should not compare apples with oranges.
      • > Do you even know what that word means?
        Of course he does. He's heard the song... :-)
    • One of the most accurate watches ever made was made in the 1700's by a man named John Harrison, in order to fix longitude.

      Quite interesting story, actually. A quick search on Google turned up this page about how John Harrison solved the longitude problem [nmm.ac.uk]. A true engineer!
    • The Harrison H3 Watch was the most accurate timepiece of its day, but there are several hundred thousand mechanical chronometers made each year that are more accurate.

      When quartz watches first appeared they were more accurate than most mechanical watches. This forced the swiss watchmakers to improve their product and they introduced the 'chronometer' certification.

      For a hefty price you can now buy a mechanical watch that is significantly more accurate than most quartz watches.

    • WWJD == Who Wants Jack Daniels

  • To the moon, Alice... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by stuffman64 ( 208233 ) <stuffman@gmail.SLACKWAREcom minus distro> on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:10PM (#4005685)
    This watch also holds claim as the only watch ever to be used on the moon. Because of thier super-high precission, these watches became the official watch of NASA (which you should know, of course, because it was in the article). It is just too bad that it is so hard to find an original tuning fork model for a reasonable price (and to find parts to fix it when it breaks!). Oh well....
    • Search for "Omega Speedmaster" to see which watch was approved by NASA for use on the moon.

      The Accutron movement was used in some instrumentation, if I recall correctly. The watches weren't approved for use on the moon.
    • An Omega Seamaster modified with different strap holds that distinction. I happen to have the lunar dust collected out of one when it went into Omega for maintenance after Apollo 11. The Seamaster is a mechanical eg. non electronic timepiece.
      • They were Speedmasters. The Seamaster is a diver's watch, the Speedmaster is a chronograph.
        • The Seamaster is a diver's watch, but some of them are also chronographs. I bought a Seamaster chronograph in 1970 because it was about $180 and the Speedmaster was about $250. It still works fine but it is unpleasantly heavy on the wrist when you are using a keyboard.
          I wanted the speedmaster because it was the "moon watch" but they were hard to find then.
          The best thing about the Accutron was the cool sound they made. My grandfather had one, and I keep looking for one of the early ones.
          • I was a bit hasty, I am of course aware that Seamaster chronos were made back in the day as well as now.

            Incidentally, I have two Seamasters myself (one vintage and one new black/black). Great watches, even if I'm not a big fan of modern Omegas. (Especially their horrible advertising.)
          • >The best thing about the Accutron was the cool sound they made.

            I had one. It made a faint whine that sounded a lot like a mosquito. If you wore it while sleeping (which I did), and ended up with your wrist near your (or perhaps someone else's) ear, it could wake you (or other owner of ear) up.
    • Those of us who had hands on experiance with the Accutron found out pretty quickly that they had a serious FLAW. When subjected to loud sounds they either paused or speed up. I learned this in an old Hi-Fi shop while demoing smplifiers and speakers. If you pointed out the speaker currently in use by putting your hand up to it, the Accutron would stop! When out of the loud sound environment it would start again.
      • "Those of us who had hands on experiance with the Accutron found out pretty quickly that they had a serious FLAW...."

        They didn't take too well to strong magnetic fields either. I was at MIT in 1967, and a graduate student was showing me around.

        We found a huge permanent magnet from an old military magnetron mounted on a stand. I decided to stick my hand between the poles to see if I could feel anything.

        The graduate student spotted the accutron on my wrist and said "Don't do that!!"

        Too late. My watch went sproiing and quit. When I took it apart, I found the tuning fork poles had been pulled apart, ruining the mechanism.

        I immediately bought another one, and took much better care of it.

    • WRONG: FYI it was an Omeg Speedmaster Professional (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Of whichI proudly wear on my wrist today.

      Here is a picture of it with Buzz Aldrin wearing it proudly

      http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap11an n/ kippsphotos/5390.jpg

    • Other watches worn in space include models by Poljot, the Russian manufacturer. Their watches were the first to travel there.
      I have a classic Accutron (waterproof to 666 feet! how devilish) and need a new crystal.. parts are fairly common on Ebay if you take a look. Good luck.
  • somebozo [slashdot.org] writes "The facsimile machine, introduced in 1966, is an amazing device [ideafinder.com] that sends images through a phone line! It's far quicker than sending something in the mail and a real advancement in communications technology! Prior to learning about the fax machine, I had never learned about it before. Very interesting." Gee, we are really running short on stories today.

  • On a program on watches, one of the excellent series The Secret Life Of Machines, shown on Channel 4.

    "Accurate to within a minute a month, guaranteed!"

    I'm just wondering how many people reading this have realised that watches are still filled with transistors, albeit smaller. Nowadays people probably dont think of digital technology at such a "low level".

    Ali

  • I forget about the average age on this forum until an artcle appears with cites predating 1980.

    • Re:perspective (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:38PM (#4005803) Homepage
      Right... I certainly remember the Accutron, and lusted after it. IIRC the original price was something like $300, which would be the equivalent of $3000 or so today, way way beyond my means (or even my parents' graduation-present means).

      Before the Accutron, watches, even quite expensive ones, could gain or lose a minute A DAY.

      After the Accutron, there was the Pulsar, the first quartz watch, which I also lusted after and also couldn't afford. I believe this was the first quartz watch, certainly the first well-known one. It had a red LED display, and the drain on the batteries was so high that it just displayed a black face until you pushed a button on the side, then the LED's lit up. John D. MacDonald wrote about one in one of the Travis McGee novels, favorably; he said that he liked the idea of a watch that only showed you the time when you WANTED it to, like the old pocket watches with flip-open cases.

      Sometimes technological dreams to come true. In the case of wristwatches, TWO of mine have. In the fifties, quartz-crystal timepieces were huge things--I imagine they were rackmounted but I don't know whether I've ever seen one--that were kept only in places like the Naval Observatory and the Bureau of Standards. Being able to pick up a CHEAP quartz WRISTWATCH at the drugstore is a dream come true.

      The second... well, I don't know if anyone remembers a movie from the sixties, "David and Lisa," starring Keir Dullea and Janet Margolin. Keir Dullea is better known for playing the role of astronaut David Bowman in "2001: A Space Odyssey." It was a heart-touching romance (really!) between a neurotic young man and a psychotic young woman. The young man is obsessed with time and has dreams of being trapped with his head in a huge clock whose rotating hands will eventually decapitate him slowly.

      He tells the psychiatrist that he has a dream of inventing a watch that would synchronize via radio waves from a central location so that everybody could always know the exact time.

      I thought this was a pretty neat idea, so I was a little alarmed when the psychiatrist identified it as a neurotic symptom.

      Anyway, neurotic or not, I have a quartz-crystal wristwatch on my left hand, and upstairs I have a $25 Oregon Scientific clock that synchronizes via radio (WWVB, I think) to an atomic clock in... well, in Colorado anyway. (It's very puzzling... some of the atomic clock companies say the atomic clock is in Fort Collins, some say Boulder. I suspect the truth is that they synchronize to WWVB in Fort Collins which, in turn, is controlled by an atomic clock in Boulder.)

      I've had the radio-controlled clock a year. The only time I actually need to set my watch is when the time changes. I just checked, and my watch and my "atomic" clock are reading within two seconds after each other.

      Dan is happy.

      • Re:perspective (Score:1, Redundant)

        by standards ( 461431 )
        To think that a 1960's tuning-fork watch can, given the right conditions, be more accurate than the clocks that service 100,000+ people!

        Alas, most clock services seem to be wrong. My VCR continually records programs at the wrong time. And it's a VCR with a "self setting" clock. It's about 2 minutes wrong.... thanks to a lame broadcaster who doesn't know how to synch a clock.

        This site [timebell.com] even tries to make a summary of inaccurate (public) clocks in some guy's world... crazy!

        (Yeah, I know that the Bulova wasn't that super accurate, but it's the principle of the thing! We should have better time 40 years later!)
      • I have a $25 Oregon Scientific clock that synchronizes via radio (WWVB, I think) to an atomic clock in... well, in Colorado anyway. (It's very puzzling... some of the atomic clock companies say the atomic clock is in Fort Collins, some say Boulder. I suspect the truth is that they synchronize to WWVB in Fort Collins which, in turn, is controlled by an atomic clock in Boulder.)

        You are correct, the clock is in Boulder and the signal is transmitted from outside Fort Collins. And now you can ditch that old quartz watch, as you can get WWVB-sync'd wrist watches now. I can't imagine the reception is very good, but I'd like to try one.
        • According to their website [nist.gov], the broadcasted time is from atomic clocks at Fort Collins, which are compared to the reference clock in Boulder. So while I guess the master time comes from Boulder, they do have multiple atomic clocks at the radio station.
      • The US government actually mandated the accuracy of the old mechanical watches, at least for railroad conductors. They had to be within plus or minus five minutes per week. Since a conductor would not be out on a run more than a week, and they ran the trains ten minutes apart, that was considered safe. But the old watches would not keep good time unless they were carried in a vest watchpocket. In a pants pocket gave way too much vibration, and they would be way off in a day or two. And their speed depended on the orientation. Stem down was the standard orientation when putting one in your vest pocket.

        Another part of the standard was that you had to unscrew the crystal to access the lever that allowed you to change the time. No accidental time changes were allowed. Put one of these modern digital watches in your pocket with a few other items, and the buttons get pushed accidentally every which way, and you have no idea whether what you've got when you take it out is the time or the futures price for unwrinkled prunes in Singapore.

  • He loved it. He worked at the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, and he used to hang his Accutron on the bedpost upside-down each night. If he hung it right-side up, it would lose or gain a half-second in the night, or so he said. But hung upside-down, and during the day, it kept perfect time.

    Thanks for the memory!

    -- S.T.

  • How to get girls to put their head on your arm! (Score:5, Funny)

    by embarcadero ( 568047 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:24PM (#4005750)
    I wore my Dad's accutron throughout junior high school. People used to ask me about it, and I'd tell them the story of the Astronaut watch.

    The coolest thing was, it hummed all the time, and the desks would amplify the sound. During a test, when all the room was quiet and scratching pencils, I would put it on my desk, next to Nadine, my hot 13-year-old desk mate, and she'd smile at the sound it made. That was great.

    Then she'd say, "Nerd," and stick out her tongue. That was soooooo great. But I would blush.

    Later on, on the foursquare court, people would ask about it, and if I wanted them to think I was cool, I'd let them put their ear to my arm and listen to it.

    I tried the same thing last week. The girl at the bar laughed at me, said, "Nerd," and took my buddy home for some reportedly mind-blowing sex.

    Sigh.
  • Few people know that cavemen had wristwatches too. They used vibrating rocks along with extremely small sabertoothed tiger nostril hairs to achieve a timing accuracy of +/- one second per second.
  • Well I knew it existed...

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    Funny out of towner [usatvads.com]

    E*Trade Monkey [usatvads.com]

    Where's the Beef? [usatvads.com]

    And a little nudity... [usatvads.com]

    Last one

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  • The Bulova Accutron. Introduced in 1961, it was the first successful transistorized watch, far more accurate than any other watch then on the market and a major advance in timekeeping technology. Prior to reading this article I had never heard of it. Interesting history.

    Woah! Oldtimers (pun intended) invented transistorized watches. They also invented things like ICs, CPUs, computers, and television. I don't know if I'm more frightened by the current accepted ignorance of recent history or the M$ Visual Studio .NET (R)(TM) ad that assaulted me when I clicked in.

  • Douglas Adams was so insightful.
    Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape- descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
    -Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  • I did a search on ebay and found ~140 items, the first page probably having the most relavant results. I for one wouldn't mind owning one.

    Check out the ebay results here [ebay.com]
    • There are a lot of fake Spaceview Accutrons out there. The Spaceview is the really neat clear faced model, and there are a lot of plain faced Accutrons that have been modified to look like the much more valuable Spaceviews. Of course, this is real common on eBay.
      • There is no physical difference between the mechanism of a "real" Spaceview and a "fake" Spaceview. The case is the same as well. More than likely the leather strap will have disintegrated by now, so that's not going to be original. The "fakeness" is simply from poping them open, pulling the face and putting on the appropirate crystal. Being that's exacly how they came out of the factory there's really no way of differentiating a real one and a fake one provided there's no blatent BS.

        You could look for one with a chapter ring, but realistically its still a real Accutron.

        Oh, and mine is one of the younger ones and still humming strongly, gaining about a minute a month, as in within engineering spec. Not bad for 31 years old. Really, its truly the ultimate gadget lovers watch. I've never seen anything like them.

  • Mine still runs (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LorenzoV ( 106795 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:53PM (#4005829)
    I recieved an Accutron, tuning fork type, as a present in 1967. I wore it for years, replacing a battery every few years, getting it cleaned every now and then. In the late 80's, while the Accutron was getting cleaned, I bought a cheap ($10) black plastic digital watch. When the Accutron came back, I put it in a drawer and forgot it.

    I reaquainted myself with the Accutron recently. The battery was shot and had coroded a bit, but it cleaned up nicely and runs like new with the new battery. I think I'll wear it again.

  • My grandpa had two (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tinguru ( 583210 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @04:56PM (#4005840)
    When he first heard of them, he ordered one in the mail. Before it was shipped, he found one in a store. My gandpa loved these watches. He said that they were the first rail-road approved wrist watch. Before the accutron, rail road conductors needed pocket watches to keep time well enough to run a rail way. He made a watch band that would let him wear both at once; so no matter what side of his arm he looked at he could see the time. He would set one to local time and the other to Pacific time when traveled to a different time zone. He was a real watch and radio nerd. He listened to WWV "at 10, 15, and 20 Mgz" (the exact time for navagation at sea) all the time so he would know how fast or slow all his watches and clocks were. He loved fixing and adjusting clocks. The accutron work by counting the number of times the tunning fork vibrates. He loved to put his ear to the watch and hear the little tunning fork keep time. He told me quartz clocks work the same way; only the frequency of quartz is way higher than the frequency of the tunning fork. Both are faster than the frequency of a pendulum.

  • Hella Noisy... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Geiger581 ( 471105 )
    I was given my grandfather's old Accutron (a trend, it seems), and have really enjoyed it. The only thing that ever gets to me is the constant humming. It's a nice novelty to show others, but can get obnoxious in a quiet enough place. With music playing and fans in my computer spinning, it's virtually unnoticeable, but I honestly can't sleep with it sitting on top of my dresser. It spends the night in my sock drawer.
    Also, if you ever get one, pray that it never breaks. I had to have the coils replaced, and there is pretty much one guy on the continent who could fix it. Oh yeah, it scarfs down batteries pretty fast, too. All in all, though, a great watch to have.
    • You're not wrong about the battery usage.

      I've got a 1969 Accutron that I got from my Dad. It eats a battery every 18-24 months. Most modern digital watches might manage to make a battery last 5-10 years...

      I've had it fixed up, but I don't wear the watch that much any more because the strap is a total mess, and getting a replacement that looks similar to the original is nigh on impossible.

      Bulova licensed the technology by the looks of things too - my folks have a nasty plastic 1970 wall clock which is still humming away - it has a huge version of the Bulova mechanism in a clear housing on the back of the clock.

      Omega also made their own version (rather than licence Bulova's technology) back in the 60's or 70's. I can't remember the model name right now.
      • . Most modern digital watches might manage to make a battery last 5-10 years...

        Maybe they do on your planet; in my experience, low/mid-priced watches (Casio, Timex, etc.) only get 18-24 months, even though I only use the backlight a couple of times per month.

  • More accurate than today even! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by standards ( 461431 ) on Saturday August 03, 2002 @05:48PM (#4005989)
    To think that a 1960's tuning-fork watch can, given the right conditions, be more accurate than the clocks that service 100,000+ people!

    Alas, most clock services seem to be wrong. My VCR continually records programs at the wrong time. And it's a VCR with a "self setting" clock. It's about 2 minutes wrong.... thanks to a lame broadcaster who doesn't know how to synch a clock.

    This site [timebell.com] even tries to make a summary of inaccurate (public) clocks in some guy's world... crazy!

    (Yeah, I know that the Bulova wasn't that super accurate, but it's the principle of the thing! We should have better time 40 years later!)
  • I have a related Bulova device, a resonant mirror galvanometer. This little gadget sweeps a mirror back and forth at a constant frequency. The mirror is about 8mm across, and the whole unit is about 20cm high. At one time I was considering using this in a laser rangefinder.

    I had occasion to call Bulova about this thing, and their switchboard in Brooklyn, NY answered the phone "It's 3:52 Bulova watch time." Very much an old-line company.

    The watch industry was hit hard by quartz watches. Originally, they were developed by the Swiss Institute of Horology to provide a new high-end product. But when they got cheap, it destroyed the mechanical watch business, and with it, most of hte industry in the canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland. The mechanical watch industry used to compete on accuracy, but once cheap watches became good, that was over. High-end watches today are strictly status symbols.

    "Rolex is not in the watch business. We are in the luxury business" - Andre Heiniger, Rolex CEO

    • The mechanical watch industry used to compete on accuracy, but once cheap watches became good, that was over. High-end watches today are strictly status symbols.

      What is so bad about that? All modern watches are very accurate, even the ones you get for $5.00 at Wal-Mart, so that is not a challenge anymore. After all, a watch is one of the few pieces of jewelry a man can wear, so they should look nice. My watch is a Bulova, but not the Accutron, the 97F17 [watch-universe.com], which is (in my opinion) a very nice watch, and was a Christmas present from my Grandmother. Personally, I don't think I would buy a watch that "hummed", I would get annoyed at it rather quickly, although this Accutron with 99 diamonds [watch-universe.com] looks quite nice. Unfortunately, that is out of my price range.

      • All modern watches are very accurate...

        True, although few quartz watches are actually certified to chronometer standards. There's a temperature-insensitivity requirement for certification, and most quartz watches aren't temperature-compensated. (Neither are most computer clock crystals, which is the cause of much computer clock inaccuracy.) Swatch has made some models that go through through chronometer certification, but the testing process costs more than the watch.

        PC clocks really ought to be better than they are. Many PCs have errors of minutes per month, which is way too big.

  • the Bolivia Approxmatron. Offered to me down in Miami by a guy with a rather heavily loaded coat.

  • I used to own an Accutron, later an HP watch with LED display, then a Seiko digital ... but it's been years since I wore a watch, at least to tell time.

    There's time on: the cell phone & PDA in my pocket. There's a PC, VCR, TV, or microwave in every room of the house. Radios in the cars. PC or workstation in every office & lab at work. Just why would I bother with a watch?

    The only one I now own is an ornately engraved pocket watch, but carried as jewelry, not for the time.

  • and was the distributor of Bulova watches in South Africa. I remember him showing me one of the Accutron Astronaut watches when Bulova started the campaign with posters of the the guys on the Moon along with a Bulova Accutron. Bulova made a special edition for that campaign with a quartz crystal transparent bottom piece. These watches were the holy grail of my fathers company for me and I really revered them. Sadly all these watches were killed by the digital watches with the funny pulsing red LEDs that turned up in the early 70's.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • The Accutrons Bulova sells now have nothing in common with the old tuning-fork watches-- they're modern (cheap) quartz movements.
  • I bought an "Acurton Astronaut" when I was a student at the Air Force school for Navigators. The "issued" watches were only good enough for navigation for about 6 hours. After that, you had to reset them to "Coordinated Universal Time" by radio (WWV).

    My Acutron was good for several days! By "good" I mean within 5 seconds of WWV!

    Well worth the money I spent!

    Fuzzy
    Former Celestial Navigator
    www.aviationsextant.org

  • Acutron remembered (Score:2, Interesting)

    by owlmeat ( 197799 )
    A truly great watch. My dad was a trainman for 33 years and he bought an Acutron in the mid 60's. At the time, it was the only wristwatch that was approved for railroad use. It was one of his most prized possessions. I now have it and it still runs perfectly.
  • I have one, I should have batteries put in, and USE it.

    I got it as a Jr High grad present, of so many years ago. A few years later I actually worked for Bulovia for the summer
  • I read this and couldn't believe that I'd forgotten such an important part of my upbringing until now. My grandpa had a Bulova Accutron, that my uncle had purchased for him in Japan on his way back from his 2nd tour in Vietnam. The uncle (his son) had subsequently died, and it was something that he had to remember him, every day, attached to his arm.

    I'd sleep with my grandfather when staying at his house during the summer, and could hear the watch humming away on the dresser beside me at night. Grandpa would tell anyone who'd want to know about how advanced the watch was, and let them listen to the hum.

    Grandpa has since gone to be with the great watchmaker several years ago, and I hadn't thought about the watch and all of the emotions attached to it until just now, reading that article. Slashdot may post some off the wall stuff, but I can forgive it just this once, just to allow me to go back to a time when I didn't have to worry about anything but mosquito bites, and spend weeks at a time with grandpa.

  • This watch was not only the first transistorized watch, but actually the first consumer device period that used a transistor. It was the result of years of innovation at Bulova, and it's ironic that its success led to Bulova's resistance to quartz movements in the 1970's. Bulova had too much invested in Accutron technology to acknowledge the superior quartz movement, and missed the boat by years. Their market share has never recovered from that, and their brand prestige now (to people my age, for instance, since i'm 23) is practically nonexistant.

    I own an Accutron that my great-grandfather bought in 1962, and they are difficult to get repaired now. In addition, the mercury coin-cell batteries used in them are now verboten due to strict environmental regulations; many of the watches require special adapters/adjustments to use modern silver oxide batteries.

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