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Hello everyone... Bulova ACCUTRON (carcass)

Well I finally did it. Dug out the old Hamilton with its demised 500 movement and modified it--just a bit! but not with a 667 Hamilton to make 'Pacermatic' oh no, much more fun with a tuning-fork movement, still 'electric' and still a revolutionary movement, with that graceful seconds hand flow motion. Go Quartz?--You Must be joking! The original 500 movement had broken trip/contact wires, and try as I did, cant find any anywhere. Looks like they went unobtainium sometime last century! I recently got hold of a mens Accutron, I had thought was a 2180, but turned out to be the smaller 2301 so-called, ladies movement in the mens case with a substantial brass spacer-ring. This movement is just a fraction bigger than a British penny, runs at 480Hz with 240 tooth Index-wheel but unlike the other ladies Accutron this caliber has a seconds hand. I dismantled both watches. The coil was dead in the Accutron, so I sourced another complete working watch for £20--Bargain! I serviced the first movement then borrowed the coil from the worker fitted it, where it ran under a glass in its holder for a couple of weeks. I used the now coil-less worker movement as a template for my experiments. I examined the Hamilton movement ring. This part has two projections that serve to retain the battery overhanging the side of the 500 movement, so these would need to be removed. A small grinder took care of that. I now had a more or less round hole in the Hamilton spacer-ring, into which I hoped to fit the Accutron brass spacer. The Accutron spacer was just a little too big, so I reduced its external diameter a little until it fitted the Hamilton ring. I lined up the stem slots and roughly held in position with rodico. fitted the template movement in the middle then came the dial. Here I had a problem. The feet were exactly in line with the outer diameter of the Accutron movement and the inner diameter of Accutron spacer-ring--Bugger, they had to go, which is a shame as I had wanted to retain them, hoped to drill the spacer-ring to accept them, it was not to be! So,--Off they came and the dial feet stumps ground down flush. Again with Rodico (love that stuff!) held the dial to the combo spacer-ring then offered it all into the front case half. Snapped the back on and checked for position of stem hole in movement to case--Amazingly, it was a straight clear shot right into the movement, so I tried the Accutron stem, all good! Out it all came again, so cleaned everything and securely soldered both the spacer-rings together, making one solid part. I then fitted the running movement to the spacer combo after flux and excess solder removed, and reattached the dial with a small amount of double-sided tape, that strong very thin stuff. Only issue now was the hands. The original Hamilton ones are all too big for the Accutron movement, so until I find a solution, I took the original straight gold hands from the mens donor Accutron and cut them to size, fitted them and reassembled back to the case. If you didnt know what a Hamilton Ventura or Pacer is supposed to look like, I guess you wouldnt tell, Its not too bad. The stem proved a Lot easier than I first thought. I shortened the mens case stem and again surprisingly, the Hamilton crown fitted perfectly. Its running now and will take some pics when I strip it all out again to clean the case and crystal, but its nice to wear this frankenstein love-child of two arch rival American watch makers.... --It even has kept time more or less to the second too! Anyone any ideas how I can source or modify hands to fit the Accutron movement so to re gain its correct appearance?

Before I bought a couple of 344's, I had seen that they were the battery of choice for this watch. Even the website you provided says they are a replacement for the 1.35v #343 of yesteryear. However, the better voltage match of the Accutron-type would be nice. I might end up going for it and buying the the "Accucell" for it. If the watch was the later model that had the battery hatch it would all be so much easier. Every time I the battery is changed you have to "blow the hatch" and risk ruining the crystal with the vise during reassembly. Still, I like the watch enough to consider investing $11.00 per year. We'll see. BTW: It looks like in order to use the Accucell in the ESA9150, I have to do some sort of modification or something. This is noted on the website you posted, if one has a movement where the positive side faces up, i.e. the back of of the watch. They don't say what to do, just that they have a solution.

Moving right along. There's no way that I could have done the job without having the technical manual. There are sequences that must be followed, or else. A couple of things to note though: 1.) When you're ready to fit the date-setting spring, don't install the bridge that is over it first, as specified in the manual. You need a little bit of room to compress the spring so that it fits into its recess, which is partially under the minute-wheel bridge. You can put in one screw first, and swing the bridge over and away from the spring boss, fit the spring in carefully, then swing the bridge back over its rear end, replace other screw and tighten both screws. 2.) There's a point where you need to move the thin spring arms that are installed on the lower side of the train bridge once it's installed. I filed the end of a brass tapered-pin down very thin, and used that, held in a pin-vise, to get in to manipulate those little suckers into their friction wheels. Those will be the plastic wheels that are on the center-wheel arbor, as well as the third-wheel(?). At any rate, they are the two plastic pulley-like wheels that sit parallel to the wheel itself. The little spring just add a touch of tension to the wheels. Interesting setup. 3.) There's a stop-works like setup for the date mechanism. Once you install it, be ready to check it for freedom. The first time I did it, it was only free to a point, but then locked up between the finger under the minute wheel and the maltese-cross piece below it. There's a channel in the top of the maltese that it seems you want the finger lined up with. After I redid it, it seemed to work fine. 4.) It does seem that the #344 battery, at 1.55v, packs a bit to much power for the watch, which was designed for a 1.35v battery. With that battery no longer being available, there's an expensive Accutron-dedicated battery that works well, but is expensive. With the 344, the watch does run fast. I'm going to try to regulate it by slowing it down at the balance. Trial and error is tough though, as it's a monocoque case that's a pain to open and close. The watch runs approximately +45 seconds per day with this battery. Would it be possible to slow it down enough at the balance? If so, how much should I move the regulator? I don't have a timing machine, so it's all trial-and-error, unless someone can help with some good info. Thanks ahead of time. Cheers. MAH00269.MP4

Personally I always oil both ends of the centre seconds pinion/wheel.... This part is most/more prone to corrosion if for some reason moisture gets in the case. This pinion/shaft is holding the seconds hand--which acts as a heatsink, therefore that shaft will be fractionally cooler than the rest of the bulk of the movement, the result is condensation usually at the pivots, it then rusts/seizes solid--Or in the case of Accutron 214 gets twisted right off on the chaton jewel side, but strangely the watch keeps on running quite often......

I only work on Tuning-Fork types, mainly Accutron.... The differences of the date mech of the 218 series relate to the day/date 2182 and the date only 2181/218D versions. they are fairly different too... Day-Date 2182 has the trip-spring with the hook that fits into pillar-plate, and abuts against a nipple, then onto date trip-arm, the date detent-spring is fitted After the date bridge is in place by threading it through the hole in the date-bridge, short end to middle of movement. 2181/218D has the date-trip spring thats threaded into/under the date bridge after the bridge is fitted.--Yup, Weird! If you strip the train on any 218x, during reassembly, leave the fourth wheel bridge off the bottom till the main bridge is fitted on top with all 4 wheels. This means there's only two wheels to locate the jewels, not three, (third locates anyway as its held by hack-lever.) Makes life so much easier and no need to poke around to locate the wheels, you dont want ever to touch the Index wheel with anything metal...

Hi, I really like the accutrons. I currently have two, a cushion case spaceview and a 14kt tv case 214. As to what to do if they run too fast there's a few things to try which you may already know. Before phasing check to see how many teeth the index finger will hit before pulling away from the index wheel. If I remember correctly it shouldn't be more than 4 or 5. More than that means watch will have to run fast. I also remember reading somewhere that there are some that can't be phased for a modern battery and I have ran across a couple of those and had to resort to using the accucell. It seems like there are a lot of accutron collectors where I live. A guy just brought in four for me to work on last week. One was a spaceview with the second hand dragging on the crystal, one was a 218 with a bad coil and the other two just needed batteries. He also had an elgin electronic that someone had put a 387 battery in upside down. Even if battery had been right side up watch wouldn't work because it needed a 357 which is much thicker. The 387 wouldn't make contact with the hatch cover spring.

Well, thanks to some help from a forum member, the Accutron is back in business. That ETA movement was indeed the correct one. The sweep second hand didn't fit, so the hand that came with the new movement was painted to match. Everything works perfectly! I definitely didn't baby this watch and it's had its share of abuse, I decided that the case needed a polish, and I'll be sure to treat it a bit more carefully moving forward. Thanks for the help!

Hi Hendo, All good so welcome and carry on. I am a retired electronic engineer. Almost a self taught watch repairer. I still use de Carles Bible. Some watches find their way to me after their owners have been quoted a lot of money to fix them. I fix quartz as well but not Accutron and F300. There are some highly skilled people on this forum but I am not one of them. Regards, Mike.

I've owned this "Accutron" branded chronograph for quite a few years. It's had numerous battery replacements. Last years, I the 1/100 hand stopped resetting (the other hands reset fine). Last month, it stopped completely and I thought that the battery was dead. I put in a new battery and it is still dead in the water. This blog entry about the watch says is uses the ETA 251-282 movement https://robswatches.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/bulova-chronograph-2006/#comment-648 From what I find, that movement does not have a date. Some pictures of my movement, which appears to read 251-292 I've found two similar movements: http://www.startimesupply.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ETA251292-4S&Category_Code=09-Movements And http://www.startimesupply.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ETA251294-4A&Category_Code=09-Movements Will either work? Star Time Supply won't sell to a hobbyist, is there another retailer that sells this movement? I found this one on Ebay, sold by a Greece seller. It does have the date at 4 O'clock: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ETA-251-292-Genuine-Movement-251-292-Quartz-251292-Date-at-4-white-dial-NEW/263427762010?hash=item3d5584a75a:g:NtYAAOSwHm5ZtpAJ I know the watch doesn't have great monetary value, but it was gift from my wife, so it has sentimental value Any advice is appreciated!

I’m a time freak, being a Quartemaster at sea “doing” celestial navigation. I’ve restored many old clock movements and a had a couple of Accutrons for my dad. Even resurrected an awesome grandfather clock. My DTD watch is a Bulova Sea King. Love the accuracy of the Precisionist/Accutron II complication. I bought the single time but it only came with a rubber strap. So I ordered a chrono Sea King and swapped to the metal signed (Sea King) bracelet. At first I liked the steel bezel, but now really want a Rolex style submariner ceramic bezel. I am paranoid to do the “butter knife”bezel removal, and even wondering if the hex head screws on it are just decorative or are they some kind of proprietary locking mechanism. Not a whole lot of info on this watch and zero mods. I really think with a black classic bezel this watch will really pop and stand up to any Submariner Homage and having the Accutron II just makes it even cooler. I want to make this swap, and if successful buy several more and outfit them with the signed bracelet and black ceramic bezel and sell them to fellow Coast Guard Chiefs as our “Chiefs Watch”. So, I request help for the following:1. How do I safely remove the current bezel? If I have to purchase a tool what do I get?2. How do I measure and then order a replace bezel? Will generic submariner bezels of the same pop on mine?3. Who’s a good reliable bezel watch parts supplier to order the bezel and ceramic insert?

Hi Max, Your precision engineering will stand you in good stead. Good luck with the project. I could not do that but an old friend who was a Swiss trained watchmaker and now gone taught me quite a lot of practical and theory. I just service and repair standard watches. Not big complications . I re-battery and fix quartz as well and the electronic`s are easy for me as I was an electronic engineer. All good wishes for your success in watchmaking, a very skilled business. There is a lot of expert knowledge on this site and use a copy of Practical Watch Repairing. de Carle. I consider it a bible on mechanical watches. The Accutron is detailed as well. Good wishes, ?Mike.

Hi all, It's been a while since I posted anything here but tonight I was working on a watch and I thought there might be some interest in looking at it. The customer said the second hand would move but the hour and minute hands wouldn't. Usually that means the minute wheel assembly has became worn however today that part had became seized onto the center tube. Anyway I took a picture of what is under the dial of a 218 in case there was any interest. Notice the three springs that are laying about. The first time I tried working on one of these I lost every one of those things and maybe some of the other parts as well. I told my wife it was like trying to bait a mouse trap after you had already cocked it. Anyway I have this watch going now and here's what it looked like before. Charles K

Hi RJK, Your Bulova Accutron was the best tuning fork watch. I had an Omega F300 (not as good as the Bulova) I smashed it many years ago when a car pulled out and knocked me of my motorcycle. I escaped with hardly a scratch. Watch and bike were wrecked !!. Speak later.

As someone who takes the view that if it's been assembled, it can be dissembled and therefore fixed, I make occasional forays into clocks and watches and have a reasonable set of tools. I've practised on a few Chinese movements for the skill building and entertainment, but I confess I wouldn't take any of my 'real' watches apart - off to the professional for those. I'm more likely to tackle a clock due to the scale. Strong preference for mechanical, although - putting chronometer definition aside - possibly my most 'accurate' watch is a Bulova Accutron, which I have rated down to around half a second a day over two months. Built an interesting rating circuit based on the usual piezo element, but not sure i'm willing to open a very good watch to do the adjusting! I do get a string of more modest value watches for inevitable battery and/or gasket replacement, case polishing and other minor fettling and maintenance. So, an enthusiastic amateur.

Hi, I'm a newby, so please be gentle! I have an early Accutron into which I need to fit a new crystal. I have a NOS crystal. I understand the principle of fitting a tension ring crystal with a press, but need to make a die to fit the crystal. Does anyone know (or can estimate) the optimum internal angle of the top die please? Secondly, on a slightly different subject, I have seen on this site discussions about recessed crystals and non-recessed crystal, but from what has been said I still don't really understand the difference. Could someone enlighten me further please? Thanks in anticipation. pcuk

I'd like to share a couple of watches I recently acquired ...... The first is a 1961 Hamilton T-403 Automatic . I had been on the lookout for this one for quite a while as they don't come up for sale very often . This one may be only the 1st or 2nd I've seen offered . It was offered by a professional watchmaker with 25 years at the bench , so the movement has been serviced by him . The case is a Gold filled Asymmetric design and I have seen this model referred to as the Shark owing to the fins of the case design . According to the seller , the watch came to him missing the crown so it has a generic replacement . The hour and minute hands are original . but the second hand was gold and "all - over wrong " in his words , so he replaced it with a second hand as close as possible to the original . The acrylic crystal is new . The movement is the same as used in Hamilton's Thin-O-Matic models , using a micro rotor for reduced Thickness . The dial is a gorgeous original finish with , un-noticeable really , a few tiny dots here and there . The Watch : Next is a beautiful 1965 14K and Stainless Steel Bulova Accutron 214 model watch . As soon as I saw it offered I knew I wanted to claim it , so I upped my Max Bid 3 times . It is a 100% original , fully serviced watch that the seller offered as a Solid Yellow 14K and Stainless 2-tone watch . I asked the seller why he offered it as 14K solid gold . His response was that the gold on the bezel is 14K solid Gold ,....So I dunno ?? Anyway ,....I had to have this beauty , and luckily for me , the bidding was not heavy . So here it is....

Hi all, Since I haven't found an Accutron yet, I jumped on this vintage Timex Electric. It's far from a tuning fork movement but it's satisfying me for the interim. It had a neat calendar band with 7 changeable cards for the appropriate month. Runs great and looks sharp. I thought it was kind of unique; can't make out the serial number but I think is a '67 model/style 84. Not too familiar with thier Taxonomy. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I finally latched onto a nice Accutron "Woody " after making several attempts in the past . I can honestly say that I really like this 218 Accutron , probably as much as my 214 Astronaut .

the watch forum has a master accutron servise master. " silver hawk " ( Paul ). vin

The original Accutron batteries were 1.35v mercury cells which have long been off the market. With a 218 movement you can usually substitute a standard 1.5v battery without issues but I believe the 214 models struggle with this. Interestingly, it looks like some suppliers have come up with a workaround for this. I've done two Accutron repairs and in both cases I just plopped in a new battery without thinking about it beforehand. You can adjust the Index finger and pawl so that they are not contacting the index wheel before dropping in the battery but if you do that you'll have have to move them back to get the watch to keep time and getting them just right is the hardest part of the service. Testing the movement of the gear train is a bit difficult too since the wheels are well hidden under the bridge and manipulating the index wheel (driving wheel) is not a good idea. It's an interesting conundrum for sure; hopefully someone more knowledgeable will pipe in with some good advice. There is a woman names Samantha on the NAWCC forum who is quite knowledgeable about Accutron service procedures. I perused all the related threads there and also downloaded the service manual before getting my hands dirty. In the unlikely event we all draw blanks here, I would suggest posting the question over there to see what they may know.

Hi gang, it's been way too long since my last post. Been a busy Summer! I have mt grandfathers Accutron and it looks like the original or maybe second battery is as long as he wore it (circa 1970). The movement looks very clean and free. I'm a little hesitant to just plop a battery in without cleaning as Im reading that any abnormal resistance in the gear train could damage the ratchet wheel or even knock the tiny pawl and pusher jewel into oblivion when the fork starts. I have not serviced one of these but I did watch some factory videos. Interesting movements, but that ratchet mechanism makes me nervous, yikes! Chad Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

Hi all, It's been a while since I posted anything, I retired a year ago and have been busy working on our house and keeping busy with watches but haven't really had anything worth sharing until this week. Anyway I put an ad in the local paper looking to drum up a little business or maybe even buy some interesting watches. Yesterday I bought a box of assorted watches. Got two 18s Elgin pocket watches, one accutron, a handful of other watches and this Wakmann. As soon as I saw it I knew I was going to have it. I offered the guy who owned them $300 for the lot and he said $350 and I said Ok. The Wakmann doesn't run yet because the hairspring looks like a birds nest. I know Mark has a video about how to straighten out hairsprings and I have done a few but this is beyond me so I have ordered a balance complete from Jules Borel at what I thought was a very reasonable price. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I did take a close up of the movement ring because it looks as if someone used tar as a seal. I have put the movement back in the case just to show what the watch should look like when it's finished. Also see the tangled hairspring. I'm not sure what happened but the regulator arm was pushed into the center wheel so I'm guessing the wheel caught it.

Beautiful watch. I have always enjoyed BULOVA watches, collecting and repairing them. I have probably 50 in my collection and hundreds of parts movements and thousands of individual parts. A BULOVA accutron was the first watch I ever purchased myself at 10 years old, and I also have both my grandfathers watches that are BULOVAs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A nice watch with a long name . Automatic , 19 jewels , day / date with the day in Kanji at 6 o'clock , 38mm w/out crown , the standard Orient date change push button , and a scuba dude emblem on the caseback . A friend and acquaintance from the Seiko Citizen Watch Forum and regular seller of hard to get Seikos and Citizens on Ebay , that goes by the username of Seikocitizencollector , emailed me and asked If i could look at his NOS CitizenHi-Sonic for a few repairs . On a normal mechanical watch the repairs are minor , but the Hi-Sonic has the same movement as the Bulova Accutron tuning fork 218 model . The stem would not stay in the watch so he took it to a watchmaker for the repair and when he got it back the stem was still out and now the watch would still hum but not run . He sent the watch to me and I discovered that the setting lever screw was broken . To replace the screw you have to remove the train wheel bridge ,which on a regular mechanical watch isn't a big deal , but on an Accutron you start sweating bullets because you have to deal with the tiny index and pawl jewel fingers , and the VERY delicate 320 tooth index wheel . To make a long story short I asked for a watch in payment . He was awaiting a lot from Japan and he gave me several good choices , and I chose the Orient . When I got it I found the tightest case back in the history of the world . It was tight , had dirt and was rusted to the case . It took me a couple of weeks to finally loosen it . I found a very clean movement inside . It came with an expansion watch band which I changed out with one I had in my stash as well as install a new crystal ........... The Gentleman was also kind enough to include a bonus watch . A Seiko 5 , with a 5126 - 7040 movement and case . The 5126 movement is a little more complicated then the standard Seiko movements in it's autowind mechanism . Gears instead of the normal "Magic Fingers "