Not only does this timepiece reflect the space-set goals of the time, but its design ultimately became a well-loved figure during that era. How it was an accident remains to be quite a story to tell. This was, of course, the selling point of all Accutron watches. And a point, Bulova surely made. The public grew to recognise such a curious timepiece displayed on shop windows. Salesmen willingly sold the model watches on display despite them not being official models of the Accutron.
The buzz around the watch grew massive and later, Bulova was flocked with requests to create a timepiece without a dial. Soon after, Bulova launched the Spaceview we know to this day. The original Spaceview was launched with the Calibre movement and later improved to the Calibre movement. A re-distribution of the model launched in was limited to only 1, editions.
The timepiece possessed the same look and tuning fork movement as the s model. The Bulova Accutron Astronaut is a timepiece with a rotating bezel for a second timezone. Specifically made for the jet setters, Bulova later strapped the wrist of pilots who fly fast planes such as the A and X hypersonic rocket planes. However, the Astronaut shares almost the same fate as the Spaceview. This timepiece was never meant to be used for high-speed planes in high temperatures. But the CIA was running out of options of what timepiece to use while flying the A The particular plane flew so fast that the pressure change inside the aircraft greatly affected whatever timepiece the pilots were using.
However, during a test run, the Bulova Accutron Astronaut withstood that very pressure. CIA then equipped each A pilot with this stellar timepiece. The Astronaut proved unique with a hour hand instead of a hour hand as well as a hour bezel.
Instead, it possessed a recessed on the caseback. This vintage revival took great inspiration from the original design. To this day, people can still buy a Bulova Accutron. To possess an Accutron in this time and age can and should be considered a gift.
Its rich history completely changed horology at its core. Its success also proves that uniqueness does work not only as a selling point but also as a technical advantage. Bulova may have discontinued the tuning fork movement, but it surely left a mark recognized by enthusiasts and collectors up to this day. It goes without saying that the Bulova Accutron effectively reinvented time and how it works. Bulova surely knows how to make a controversial piece.
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Emerging Designers. Professional Development. Smithsonian Learning Lab. Design Camp at Home. National Design Month. You Create an account Sign in. OK Cancel. Born in October of , the revolutionary turning fork timepiece, hailed at the time as the most accurate wristwatch ever made or for that matter, the most accurate timekeeping device of any kind , it held the spotlight in the watch world for about ten years and was the major stepping stone between mechanical watches and quartz, until it was surpassed by the very watch it paved the way for.
Hoping to cash in on the tremendous brand value it had created as a higher-end Bulova watch, it made the transition to quartz but as this technology went from being very expensive to very cheap in a very short timespan, it found itself awash in a sea of very inexpensive, unremarkable watches that could all lay claim to the same level of accuracy. As the industry made the switch and prices fell, there was very little to differentiate the Accutron brand from even a standard Bulova, much less watches from Timex, the low price leader of the time.
By the time the 21st century rolled around, the Swiss watch industry had pushed back and mechanical watches returned stronger than ever.
Bulova chose to straddle this market by moving the Accutron brand even higher into mechanical watches, while the Bulova and Caravelle line would defend their market share in the quartz arena. While this had the effect of giving Accutron a reputation as a higher-end Bulova of quality construction and with a Swiss pedigree, it was an anathema for many watch purists who hated to see the Accutron name applied to any kind of mechanical watch. Still, Accutron enjoyed some level of success with these watches and it allowed many consumers to enter the realm of Swiss, mechanical watches at a favorable price point.
By the time, rolled around, Bulova had been bought and was owned by the Citizen Watch Company for a few years already, with the intent to be an independent company functioning within the Citizen stable. It was during that year that Bulova launched an entirely new line of wristwatches, the Precisionist, which featured a unique kind of movement that was a kind of super accurate quartz and which used unique, proprietary engineering to produce accuracy to within seconds a year.
The one-beat-per-second, hacking second hand has always been a telltale sign of a quartz watch, and to be honest, many watch snobs whose eye might be drawn to a strikingly designed watch will immediately lose interest when they see that hacking seconds hand.
What was once remarkable in a wristwatch, and a sign of status, was now a badge of shame for most watches. Precisionist helped to change that, although Bulova wasted a tremendous opportunity here. Instead of investing in an entirely new line, many thought that this would have been the perfect vehicle to launch an entirely new Accutron, and as it turned out, this would be tried later but by then the opportunity had been squandered. Precisionist launched to much fanfare but once the novelty had worn off, the problems of design were easily apparent.
The watches were huge, even by the oversize standard of the time and most of the designs were oddly different rather than uniquely distinctive. Over the next four years, Bulova would only introduce a handful of new designs to the line and as of , one line is still being produced virtually unchanged from the one introduced in Thumm had enjoyed a successful career in the watch industry, having worked for companies like the mammoth Fossil Watch among others.
He was also unique in that he happened to be a certified watchmaker and could speak with full knowledge to those that actually design and craft wristwatches. Many observers thought he would be perfect to lead the company with his background and possibly help it to recapture some of its mojo. During the three years he headed the company, a number of changes were made, both within Bulova and Accutron.
First, the Accutron line more or less vanished from sight and the Bulova Accutron website was taken down. Having cleared this path, Bulova then introduced a completely new watch called the Accutron II, a complete collection of watches that featured designs directly interpreted from models in the original tuning fork Accutron line.
These watches featured a second generation, smaller Precisionist class movement, which gave the timepieces a reduced overall footprint than the larger, clunky Precisionist line and they featured the unique gliding second hand as well. Within the collection were several sub collections including the Alpha Spaceview, Moonview, Surveyor, Snorkel and Telluride, in a variety of metal colors and dial selections. You may have noticed that we recently updated our logo, refreshing our graphics and changing our use of the tuning fork symbol to emphasize its proper place in our history.
Our new Bulova Accutron II brand, like the original Accutron, is powered by a highly accurate electronic breakthrough, the Precisionist-class quartz movement, and features a continuously sweeping floating second hand. As the logical successor to the Accutron tradition, only Bulova Accutron II will include a tuning fork on its dial, emphasizing the meaning of the symbol itself. Soon all Bulova branded watches, as well as Precisionist watches, began to appear with the tuning fork emblem gone from view.
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