One of the hardest things to find when searching for the value of your watch is the actual year in which your watch was made. If you are interested in purchasing a vintage or pre-owned Bulova watch, make sure to check out our collection of Bulova watches, as we have some amazing models dating back to as far as the 1950s.
The Accutron was a watch that perfectly exemplifies Bulova’s forward-thinking and leading example in the watch world.Home 1 › Vintage Magazine 2 › Vintage & Antique Bulova Watch Value | Bulova Watch Serial Numbers 3 Own A Piece Of American HistoryĪlthough Bulova is now owned by Japanese brand, Citizen, Bulova was once a solid American watch company that Americans were proud to own. It really captures the brand perfectly, showing the Accutron as a ‘conversation piece’, giving the customer a reason to possess this watch, rather than just using it for its basic function to tell the time. The scene is a monologue by ad-man, Freddy Rumsen, who is running through a new Bulova pitch for Peggy Olson. It’s for this reason that it was a perfect fit to have the Bulova Accutron featured in season 7, episode 1 of Mad Men. I love their slogans, with this one probably being my favorite – ‘all the parts that make a watch fast or slow have been left out’. Not only did they produce America’s first national radio commercial in the 1920s with the slogan ‘It’s 8am, Bulova Time’, but they also had the first legal television commercial in 1941.Īs well as exploiting television and radio, Bulova also produced some of the most iconic print advertisements of the time. It’s fair to say that Bulova were true leaders when it came to advertising their watches. As you would expect, this was a deliberate decision by Bulova to show that the Accutron was so precise that it didn’t need to be set. This gave the watch a perfectly smooth shape, which I personally find very pleasing on the eye. What immediately made the Accutron 214s stand out anyway, regardless of dial preference, was the lack of the crown at the side of the watch. If possible, I would love to have two versions – one with a dial such as the Railroad Approved and the more futuristic looking Spaceview. I absolutely love the look of the early Bulova Accutron models. The Accutron’s second hand moved forward in 360 increments per second, giving it a lovely sweeping movement, rather than the ‘tick, tick’ movement that we are so used to seeing today in quartz powered watches. The vibration then moved a ratchet which pushed the watch hands forward. Two small electric coils, visible at the top of the Spaceview, were placed on either side, which in turn created an electric field that made the tuning fork vibrate. The undoubted star of the Accutron was the tiny tuning fork. In comparison, the Accutron had a frequency of 360Hz, which quite frankly, was astonishing technology. When the Accutron was released to much fanfare in 1960, the most accurate mechanical watches (watches that you wind-up), had a frequency of 2Hz (beats a second). Buy One on ebayīulova can claim a first though as the Accutron was the first electronic watch to be controlled by a transistor.Ī watch’s accuracy is determined by how fast it’s time base element moves. Dealers even resorted to removing the dials from the ordinary Accutrons that they had in stock as they struggled to keep up with demand from the public, keen to show it off to their friends.Įlvis wearing a 1957 Hamilton Ventura watch.
Soon, dealers everywhere were contacting Bulova asking for more Accutrons with no dials. Of course, salesmen being salesmen, they didn’t want to miss out on a chance for commission so willingly sold them off. The public were immediately drawn to these strange and unique timepieces in the shop window, so rather than wanting to buy one with a dial, they asked the salesman for the unusual watch on display. You see, keen to create excitement and explain how the new technology powered the Accutron, display models were sent to Bulova dealers with the tuning fork movement on display. Like a lot of things in life, it came about completely by accident and was never actually intended for sale. The most famous Accutron model was the Spaceview which had no dial, with the watches innards completely on show.
The Power Behind The Anti-Tick MovementĪccutron: Our Only Mistake Was To Make It Look Like A Watch.Accutron: Our Only Mistake Was To Make It Look Like A Watch.