This vintage watch is in very good working condition. Our vintage watches have been serviced by a professional watch expert. Due to the age of this watch, Watch Again Watches does not guarantee that this watch is waterproof or water resistant. We recommend that you do not place any vintage watch in water as it may damage the mechanism and/or bring condensation inside the watch.

 

Vintage watches also have to be well taken care of and serviced to maintain its proper functioning. We have done our best to offer you a Vintage watch in excellent condition that will be enjoyed by you for years to come. You are welcome to contact us for more information on any watch we sell.

• Accutron with tuning-fork movement
• The signed case back numbered '3-919275'
• Just serviced – works great

 

ACCUTRON stands for “ACCUracy through ElecTRONic”. The world's first electronic watch functions with a tuning fork; a small fork-shaped piece that until then had only been used in music. Engineer Max Hetzel developed its transistor movement, which was able to achieve an unprecedented precision of a minute per month.

 

Hetzel decided to replace the traditional balance wheel with a tuning fork. He used the first low voltage transistors, the Raytheon CK722, and the tuning fork as a frequency filter to construct his first simple tuning fork oscillator on a piece of wood. It produced a frequency of 200 Hz that ran on a 1.5 V dry cell. In 1953, Hetzel registered a patent under number 312290. It became operational in 1954. After that, Hetzel didn’t stop and produced seven other prototypes. By 1959, William O. Bennett helped develop the Calibre 214, the first tuning fork movement.

 

It resulted in an electronic watch with a guaranteed accuracy of 2 seconds per day or 1 minute a month — the Accutron. The Bulova Accutron heralded great accuracy by utilizing a tuning fork in between two transistors that beats at 360 times per second. Compared to the 2 Hz of mechanical watches, this feat proves fascinating. Because it oscillates a hundred times per second, the Accutron gave not only a more accurate reading but also a certain degree of shock resistance.