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Wrist Check

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Accutron Deep Sea Diver 666ft. [1970] Case Ref# 702-1 2181 mvmnt. [date window]
The Bulova Accutron was in the 60s the most popular $100+ timepiece in America, President Johnson declares it the White House’s official Gift of State. Accutron is the first watch to keep time through electronics, it was a revolutionary timekeeping concept of a watch without springs or escapement operated by an electronically activated tuning fork. The movement was so accurate that the US Government asked Bulova to delay the release of the revolutionary movement for fear the technology may fall into the hands of the Russians, at the time US would be launching new satellites timed by the Accutron and they simply did not want the Russians to benefit from the same precision. In 1960 NASA incorporate the Accutron into its computers for the space program which become an integral part of 46 missions of the U.S. Space Program.
In 1965, Bulova released the 218, a slimmer movement than the 214 (4.4mm vs 5.5mm), with a more traditional side-exiting setting stem. The 218 was released in a range of complications not seen in the 214, including calendar functions and a jump-hour secondary timezone variant. While the 218 was a reliable, widely adopted caliber, it was never offered in a true Spaceview variant, and never achieved the enduring popularity of the 214.
Bulova is the most successful American watch manufacturer. Established in 1875 in New York by an immigrant named Joseph Bulova, it was acquired by the Loews Corporation in 1979 and then again by Citizen in 2008, but continues to operate independently from the same New York location.


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PetrosD
3702
Mar 14, 2018
Great pictures and a great write-up.
Asheikm
2537
Mar 14, 2018
Thanks for sharing the inside of the watch! It's pretty crazy to think of point-to-point wiring inside a wristwatch. With printed circuit boards and surface mount components, that circuit would be considerably smaller.
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