W
hen the first Accutron tuning fork watch was unveiled in 1960 by Bulova, it quickly became one of the most popular watches in the world. Now, with 60 years under its proverbial belt, Accutron launches anew, and rest assured, this is not your grandparents’ Accutron.
The history of Accutron is inextricably linked with the great America-born brand Bulova, which has been a leader and pioneer in the watchmaking world since its founding in 1875 by Bohemian immigrant Joseph Bulova. Decade after decade, the brand released creative timepieces that were always on the cutting edge of mechanical watchmaking.
With quartz watches still several decades in the future, the company started exploring the idea of an electrical watch movement.
Legendary Origins
As such, it should come as no surprise that, back in the early 1950s, Bulova was looking for the next great leap in precision timepieces. With quartz watches still several decades in the future, the company started exploring the idea of an electrical watch movement. Thus began: the Accutron project – a portmanteau, of sorts, of “accuracy through electronics.”
Over the ensuing years, engineer Max Hetzel worked tirelessly on developing the world’s first electronic watch with a transistor movement. It took some time, but in October 1960, Bulova unveiled the revolutionary Accutron watch powered by the Caliber 214 movement. It worked via a tiny electronically activated tuning fork that would be accurate to within two seconds per day – a precision unheard of at that time.
It was so accurate President Johnson declared it the White House’s Official Gift of State. It also became the first wristwatch certified for use by railroad personnel in America in 1962, and five years later, in 1967, Bulova supplied Air Force One with an Accutron clock. The Bulova Accutron – sometimes called the Accutron 214, the Accutron Spaceview, or some combination of all three names – became one of the most talked-about timepieces of the decade. And its now-legendary tuning fork logo became forever synonymous with precision and excellence.
Accutron: The Brand
In 2020, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Accutron’s unveiling, Bulova relaunched Accutron as its own brand (rather than as a division of Bulova). Dedicated to the same drive for technological advancement that made it famous, the first watches Accutron released were powered by electrostatic energy.
The new movement, which spent years in the research and development stages, is housed in an updated Accutron Spaceview case based on the original Spaceview 214 from 1960. Plus, it boasts an open-worked dial that enables viewing of the two turbines that rotate between the electrodes. Those turbines are powered by wrist movement, much like the oscillating weight of an automatic movement, and the watch provides incredible accuracy of +/- 5 seconds a month.
Moreover, the new Spaceview boasts the same green color as the original. And that color is present on all Accutron products, including its partnerships like the Accutron branded double-diamond cigar cutter done in collaboration with La Palina Cigars, the ACCUTRON 60th Anniversary Rye with Hudson Whiskey, and the Accutron by Esterbrook special edition pen series.
New Releases
This year, Accutron releases a host of new watches inspired by best sellers of the past in the new Legacy collection. Featuring classic watch models from the 1960s and 1970s reimagined for the 21st century, the Legacy collection includes the “505” used in the late 1960s by nurses and doctors to check pulses and the Accutron 261, a.k.a. the “TV Watch,” whose cushion-shaped cases were all the rage in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Unsurprisingly, these retro-inspired looks with modern twists are taking watch lovers by storm. Again.
Photography by Watchonista Creative Studios.
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