Bulova Accutron Spaceview - the Tuning Fork Watch!

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I just recently acquired a 1963 Bulova Accutron "206" with the 214 movement. Learning the history behind this watch and its functionality has been so fascinating and I am grateful to finally own one. Such an important timepiece.

slothanon
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You’re absolutely right to call this the real space watch. I have on my wrist just now, the gold version of the watch you have there. And it came to me from my grandfather, Chief of Aeronautics for NASA for the first 40 years of NASA. A few years ago he asked me what I’d like to have if his when he passed. He raised me, so there should have been many things... but at the time all I could think of was his Spaceview. He’d recieved it from my grandmother as an anniversary present, and wore it every day of his life thereafter. So I just managed to point at it, and he got the picture. I left the family to fight over all his considerable assets, and am very proud indeed with having received his watch.

johnbobbitt
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I’m the proud owner of an early 60’s Spaceview. I bought it as a self reward for completing my Masters degree. I wore (with numerous battery changes) until it stopped running do other issues. It’s currently being repaired by a top watchmaker who is a recognized authority on Spaceview watches. I’m looking forward to it’s return and will wear it once again with great pride.

basskat
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You can date an Accutron by the date code in the back. The letter signify the decade M for the '60s and N for the '70s. The digit signify the year. hence, your watch M5 is from 1965. Great video, thanks!

ApeZero
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I graduated from Bulova in 1970 and have been repairing & restoring Accutrons for both the trade (jewelry stores) as well as private clients. I also worked at Bulova for a short period of time. Your video is excellent. However, nothing was hand painted on the chapter ring. The chapter ring actually has a decal on it which over time gets worn from as you said moisture and age turns the color and minute track disappears. Also when you were showing the circuit, the silver 'can' was a capacitor, not a resistor which is also in the circuit...As i said, your video is very good..Kudos to you!

starfindings
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Thanks for that little bit of info on the conversion kits and fakes. I had no idea! Mine came from my grandfather, who was a division chief at NASA through the glory years. Was the only thing I asked him for before he passed- didn’t care about anything else, just his watch.

scarletink.
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Thanks for the wonderful video, and a huge thanks for not ruining it with crappy background music.
I don't know why some people are compelled to add annoying background music throughout their videos.

savagebolt
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At 3:39, that’s a transistor, not a resistor. Transistors have three leads (some have four) and all three are from the same source...the bottom; resistors have two leads- one on each end.

Edit: I don’t know much about this specific watch but I do know electronics and parts and so I’m just saying what it appears to be.

Wolf_K
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I bought my 1967 Spaceview 214 in the summer of 1968 and it does have the standard resistors. It is also marked "Waterproof" on the back, so Bulova was still using that nomenclature as late as 67.

smokingstone
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As other people have already mentioned, your caseback has a date code where you can decode the year it was produced, 1965 in your case. Other things to note is that being an early to mid-60's model, it should either have radium lume (which would have deteriorated the phosporescent material by now), or tritium lume (mid to late 60s) which would have itself degraded so far by now that it should not be glowing much if at all, that your lume still glows so much, looks so fresh, and the fact that you call out it's "hand painted" suggests that it's a relume. Most watch dials were hand painted lume to begin with anyway, that's how the radium girls were poisoned after all. Also, regarding space, the Accutron was used in the space vehicles even if they weren't on the wrists of the astronauts, so it still did go to space. Side note, the first Omega Speedmaster in space was a personal watch before NASA conducted the trials to determine the official wristwatch on the missions.

waltherc
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Great video about the same watch I bought in 1962 when I was in college. Took it with me to Vietnam where I was a helicopter pilot and during the year lost it. The green band on your watch appears terribly cheap! LOL Mine came with a stainless band. Best of luck!

PacoOtis
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Nice overview of the specs of this piece of history👍thx for posting

TonKuipers
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where did you get that band from?? looks great on the watch!

austinbarber
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Riddle me this - if the original originals were made using kits sent out by Bulova so dealers could adjust normal Accutrons into Spaceviews surely e-bay sellers modifying Accutrons into Spaceviews now is the same thing just happening later in life to the same watches that would have been adapted back then? Am I right or I am confused? Anyone?

richieoakley
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Fascinating video as I did not know they had "conversion" kits to make the watch a Spaceview and some being sold on eBay or other places are NOT original Spaceviews. I am fortunate to have an ORIGINAL Spaceview from 1968 - my Junior High School graduation gift. I have always loved this watch and the history of it is fun to uncover. I recently found an article that an Accutron was issued to pilots of the A-12 spy planes. They also have this watch in the Smithsonian as the first watch to deviate from using just gears to track time - this watch was the predecssor to Quartz watches.

pz
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I believe that the component between 4 and 5 is the transistor which forms part of the self regulating oscillator on Accutron tuning fork watches, not a resistor.

dreamvisionary
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At 4:37: what happened the quick-release pins in this strap? You seem to have removed them, damaging the strap in the process. Were they in some way incompatible with the watch?

cpcallen
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Nice video and well informed. I love the space view but cannot afford one. Just bought an accutron 2181 for the collection and I love it.

martincalleja
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I just got an Accutron 214 at a very affordable price ($90)! It's not a Spaceview, but it has a golden number dial and is still so incredibly beautiful—out of this world!

LonglivetheBee
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There's some discussion saying that the Accutron is the second electronic watch, the first being the Hamilton Electric. With the Accutron, it's clear that the tuning fork indexes the 300 tooth wheel, driving the gear train. This is a fundamental horological difference because up to now, every watch/clock depended upon a power source that needs to be alternately locked and released by a regulated escapement. The escapement did not drive the gear train. There is no escapement whatsoever with the Accutron. I'm not so sure about the Hamilton. The balance wheel is impulsed electronically, but I think it still functions as an escapement. Obviously the gear train is not driven by a spring that you wind up, but there may be a spring involved pulled by a solenoid. I have seen a mechanism like this on VDO car clocks. In any case, the Accutron was ground breaking because it totally abandoned the stored mechanical power and escapement method.

halnwheels
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