Reloj Bulova Accutron 214: Movimiento Diapasón

Descripción

A bit of history
“It doesn’t tick. It hums.” That was the advertising line in the 1960s. When the Accutron was first released, the Spaceview was simply a marketing display design to give customers a glimpse into the working concept of a tuning fork movement. But it garnered so much interest that Bulova quickly decided to turn that design into a production piece, and named it the Spaceview.

The name could perhaps be traced back to its earlier applications on Spacecrafts. Even before the first consumer wrist watch was introduced, Bulova has been serving NASA programs since 1958, providing the same Accutron movement as a timer aboard communication satellites. The most notable was the use of 3 Accutron devices on the Gemini II mission; and the Accutron timer on the seismometer on Apollo 11 which marked man’s first landing on the moon. The timer marked man’s first step on the moon as 2:56:19am GMT, July 21, 1969. While clearly a choice as an astronaut’s wrist watches, it surprisingly did not pass all the tests to outdo the Omega Speedmaster which eventually became the Moon Watch that we know today. However, there have been evidence that a Bulova chronograph (not Accutron) wrist watch did make a landing on the moon during Apollo 15 and on subsequent missions, an interesting story that you can read more from here.

Tuning fork movement started development as early as 1940s, focusing on adapting it for space use, before introducing the movement as a consumer wrist watch. It was marketed as Accutron by Bulova, meaning Accurate Electronic. As its name would suggest, it was indeed the most accurate watch of its time, boasting a guaranteed accuracy of 1 minute per month and usually achieving accuracies less than 5 seconds a month. This was of course overtaken by the quartz when Seiko unveiled the Astron in 1969.