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there is a guy who sells accutron crystals in the US (one of the guys who bought parts when the accutron repair shops closed down) . i have a round space view and refused to pay $ 200 for an original crystol. good luck with square glass ! i suggest " professional polishing. vinn

Well I really appreciate the answers given. TBH, my normal profession isnt in watch-repairs (Electronics) and buffing/polishing I'm sure I could learn, but the cost to set up and the time to gain the knowledge for this single one-off watch-case. The case is two-finish, One is a brushed finish, the other a polished finish It appears this particular square Accutron is rather rare, I can only find 2 pics of its type on the web and one reference to its case-number. (7387) Its not featured in the case-number catalogue either 7386 jumps to 7390. 7386 appearing to be the gold/gold plate version... Another bungle I made was after checking the movement and locating its fault (Cured, mis-adjusted hack-spring but its desparate for a service) I cleaned the Inside of the glass flat crystal--and the 'Bulova Accutron' paint markings on the inside of the glass came off. I only used a light artists brush as there was, and still is a heavy bloom on the inside, but that was enough, name gone.... As the case is two-finish I think it really would need someone who knows what they are doing to do it rather than a bungler like me! The Movement I'm well aquainted with, the case--And now the crystal--I'm not so sure on!

The jewels of the index finger are only sort of dirty. If what you are seeing was on the active surface the watch wouldn't run at all. The system tends to be self-cleaning anything on the surface of the index wheel is usually pushed to the edge of the jewels. But I don't recall ever seeing this quantity of whatever it is on the end of the fingers. I suspect if you look carefully you'll find zero lubrication in any of the jewels an indication that the watch hasn't been serviced in a incredibly long time. Then I would really strongly suggest reading the service manual before servicing this watch. Parts aren't readily available and there's lots of places where bad things can happen No matter how careful you are. http://www.yeagley.net/Accutron/Accutron 218 service manual.pdf

Hello from L A again, well I have been to a flea market and there was a load of watches but mainly 2nd hand modern Quartz. The only guy selling vintage watches was a tad pricey and the watches were beaten up and I could do better on the bay. Speaking of which I have bought about 6 watches since being here some working some not but nothing very rare or high value all worked out at about $15 and I would have been put off in the uk by the postage cost but being here it was about $3.50 so at current Brexit rate that is about £15 a pop. There is a promising looking Waltham and Tissot amongst them and I managed to get an Accutron 214 movement that I need the tuning fork from. Luckily I noticed a tiny screw stuck to it near the coil so I am hoping that proves it retains its magnetism and will work for me. (Top tip - never demagnetise an Accutron hummer - it ain't the same as clockwork), also if the screw is what I think it is that is handy as well !. Cheers, Vic

My worst nightmare keyless works fix is on an Accutron 2182 day date. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Yowza. That's some pretty bad water damage. I'm happy that you're invested in the repair job though. There's nothing quite like a hand-me-down, especially in this line of work. My father gave me his Accutron 218 when he discovered I was interested in watch repair. It was a wedding gift from his parents. It does run but the hour and minute hands are frozen in place. I've worked on more expensive and complicated movements but I'm waiting until until I've reached a certain level of experience before tackling the Accutron project because it means so much to me; it's the one I really don't want to screw up. I really cannot wait to see how this turns out.

As a new member, and just getting into the 'tinkering' side of things, I thought I better show the collection as it stands today. I've been a member of RLT (The Watch Forum) for many years and lots of watches have come and gone, but this is what I have today. There are a few Seikos! First up is a Rolex GMT Master 2. This is a 16710 'Y' series with the lug holes. It dates from 2003. Next is an Omega SMP Cal.2231.80 in Titanium. This is on a 'Bond' bracelet, and has the rarer electric blue dial. This is from 1999-2000. Then come the Seikos. First up is the 6139-6002 Pepsi/Pogue. This is the one that I did a cosmetic refurb on...you may have seen the post. The famous SRPO43K1 or 'Spork'... The SKZ 251 'Frankenmonster'... My latest acquistion, the blue Sea Urchin SNZF13 J1. I had one of these but sold it ages ago and immediately regretted it....it's taken me 4 years to find another one! A quartz this time...the 7T32 7F70... A Lorus 'Mickey Mouse' watch from 1990. This has a Seiko Y621-6050 A1 Singapore made 17 jewel automatic movement with quick set date. Another 'Mickey', this one is the wife's. It's a Bulova Accutron 2193 hummer from 1977. There are a few Casio beaters that are used for work (landscaper), most are pretty beaten up, but this is the current one... There's been plenty more over the years...Seiko Orange monster, Seiko 009, Blue and red Majesyks, Bulova Accutron Deep Sea...etc , etc. Anyway, I hope this SOTC meets with your approval...

Camera books? I have a few, and on old watches, and electronic (like accutron) BUT, " I hate electronics". cheers, vin

Aloha Timothy , I'll offer my opinion . First off , make sure all of the battery contacts are clean . Make sure the battery is in positive side up , and not negative like the Accutrons . Examine the parts well and clean them with an eraser , or I have used contact cleaner sprayed on a small brush and used it on the battery contact points . I would very carefully remove the balance and see where the contact points are on that . I know that the Timex electrics have a very small finger that the tip of ends near a pallet fork type of part under the balance . At this point I would not rush into making adjustments , but making observations . I see gears on the pic posted by gryf , so I would first see if gently using a pegwood stick and tickling the gears if the watch tries to go . If so I would remove the train , clean the gears , re-lube and assemble . The jewels on the Accutron gears are capped so they can't be lubed without taking off the bridge . If you service the gears , one or two will probably try to stick to the bridge and if not careful , when you remove it the gears will come out and not give you a chance to see the stacking order of the gears and leave you guessing how they re-assemble . That happened to me on an Accutron . Take pics on all of your steps . I have failed to do that in the past and have had a brain fart on trying to remember the order of re-assembly . Take small steps as you go because it probably is something simple , like old sticky oil or a bit of oxidation on a battery part . I know there are videos on Youtube on using a voltmeter to test your circuits on quartz watches and they may be useful to watch . Also getting info on the Timex forum dealing with electric watches . Install the battery and using a voltmeter , test parts of the circuit on the watch and see if you can see a pattern of how the balance coil or field get the positive and negative applied .

...I think calling it a collection would be a bit much... Here are some of the watches I am currently calling my "collection" (if you insist)... My fathers Bulova Accutron Railroad Approved...unlike a lot of these floating around, this one actually lived a hard life on a real, live railroad (he retired after 36 years on first the Southern Railway, then Norfolk-Southern Railway...He retired in 1993, IIRC). The crystal is missing...where would be a good place to get a replacement? As I related in my intro post, my dad's original railroad watch was a Hamilton 992B that was stolen from his lunchbox by a short-lived employee...he always said he had intended to leave that watch to me one day, and he would occasionally curse the fellow's name...I think after the Accutron gave it up, he wore a couple of Seiko Railroad Approved watches, and by then, the railroad quit caring watch you wore and he just ran assorted quartz junk until he retired. My dad passed last November, age 81. I had a Seiko Railroad Approved that I purchased myself for awhile...it may or may not have survived the trip it took through the washing machine...we will never know...because the subsequent trip through the clothes dryer, it most certainly did NOT survive..I was picking watch bits out of my underwear for a week... The watch that I have personally had possession of the longest...my uncle Lloyd's Bulova A-11 that he was issued in World War 2...he flew B-17s out of southern England, and fortunately, arrived on the scene late enough (around February of '45) that he didn't have to deal with the Luftwaffe too much. Aside from one harrowing day over Schweinfurt, he had a fairly easy time of it, and spent much of the middle of 1945 dropping food on starving civilians rather than high explosives on German factories. The only casualty on his tour was the base fire truck, which he (the story goes) stole while intoxicated on V-E Day and crashed it into a fountain in town...the deal struck: while everybody else got to go home, he had to stay flying VIPs and food around occupied Europe until December. As plan B was a court martial, he eagerly accepted... And this was the same uncle's Longines, as seen in the intro post, Im guessing 1940s-50s vintage...it is of rather small calibere, about the same as the Bulova he was issued during the war. Lovely watch, only loses about five seconds a day...I was told it was worth something on the order of $275-300, owing to its small calibere, and was quoted about the same to have it CLAed...it sits until I either gather up the money or the expertise to have it done. Some quartz cheapies from my dad and my wife's Pulsar, all in need of batteries... Another pair of what I believe to be cheapies, an Accro and an Orvis, probably from my grandfather, circa 1920s-30s... And now, some Russian Vostoks...this one was apparently imported in the '90s badged as a Cardi Vostok... A Kommanderske and a man's dress watch, which may become one my everyday wearers...I just like the looks of it... And now, a few more Vostoks that I was too lazy to take my own pics of, so these came from eBay... A "rare" Cornavin Olympic commemorative, with Vostok movement, for the princely sum of $.99 delivered from Ukraine... Just another Kommanderske... And, I have more of these things on order than I care to admit, either as complete watches or as stripped movements...I mean, I went a bit nuts there last month, and while most of the stuff out of Ukraine has arrived, the stuff from Russia is just now starting to show up... :-/ Anyway, I hope this has provided some amusement... >>>BULLET>>> AKA -Tom

(sunny it is, even in February, though its a bit chilly this AM, just under 0 centigrade...) Hi, I am Tom, and I live in South Carolina, USA, and after years of dabbling about with watches, the bug has finally bit in earnest. By background, I have been many things...I worked in the printing industry to start with, then went back and got degrees in business education, then I taught US History at the high school level for a few years, and have worked mostly as an IT person since then. Now, I run my own little IT consulting business and do work mostly for private non-profit organizations here in the state capitol, Columbia. Interspersed with all of that, I also worked as a licensed gunsmith specializing in centerfire long range target rifles and was a competitive shooter, and became a pretty fair machinist, doing a lot of custom barrel and chambering work. I will probably be cranking that operation back up fairly soon... The watch thing started with two watches I inherited from my uncle via my father...the first was his Bulova A-11 that was issued to him back in World War 2, when he flew B-17s out of England. I got this one perhaps 25 years ago and had it professionally serviced at the time. I will probably go into it for another service sometimes soon when I get better at this stuff. Then, just this year, from my fathers estate I received my uncles 1940s vintage Longens, a simply beautiful old watch. I also have my father's Bulova Accutron Railroad Approved (he was a railroad man for 36 years) that is due for a major overhaul...alas, his Hamilton 992B was stolen by a disreputable coworker on the job, which lead to his buying the Accutron in the early '70s... So, now I want to learn to work on these things, and being fairly methodical about this sort of operation, decided to standardise on just a few movements at first, ones that I can get plenty of cheap parts and donors to go with. Owning and liking several of the Vostok Amphibias and Kommanderskes, and spying that I can get a seemingly limitless supply of parts and scrap movements out of Russia and the Ukraine on eBay, I bought up a basic set of tools, some fifty 2409, 2416, 2209 and 2214 movements out of Kiev for about $1.50 each, and started buying up Vostok watches in various states of disrepair to match. I am not much of a watchmaker at this point, but I am having fun! Thanks; -Tom

Thanks Timothy , About 3 weeks ago this same swap meet vender pulled a baggie out of a bag he had and showed me 3 watches and 1 pocket-watch he had . He quoted $120 for all four . The pocket-watch was beat-up and I don't collect them any way , one watch looked OK , but it was a quartz and I wasn't interested . I asked how much for the other 2 . One was an accutron 218 not running and one was a Vintage Seiko Sportsman . Running , but dirty , the case and crystal were scratched , the stem and crown came out and the crown was so worn you couldn't use it to wind the watch anyway . I picked up the 2 watches for $40 . The accutron will need some work so I put it away for later . I took the Seiko apart and cleaned and serviced it . The yoke had come off of the clutch so you couldn't get the stem in properly . I polished the crystal and lightly polished the case and case back . I have an assortment of vintage crowns so I got one that fit the stem and had to file down a tube on the case and a bit of the bottom of the crown to make it fit and work . I installed a nice NOS Lizard Leather watchband I got a few weeks ago . I went back to the swap meet a week later and showed the vender the watch . He couldn't believe it was the same watch . especially the new crown . He said he was glad that someone could bring it back to life again and make it look good .

What about this one. http://www.watchalyzer.com/bulova-accutron-watches/gemini/bulova-accutron-gemini-gmt-watch/

Hello Stuart, A lot of the Accutron PDFs refer to two major oils, OL207 which is now Moebius 8201 and OL219 which is now Moebius 9020. Which model Accutron are you going to repair. Cheers, Vic

No idea about the 10 1/2 F either unless it's the size in ligne that the dial fits. Something on the order of 23.68 mm. Sadly, you're probably correct about the need to hide the Jewish identity of the recipient. Bulova was at one time a US manufacturer that utilized Swiss movements. Currently the brand is owned by Citizen Watch of Japan and split into two lines. Bulova which utilizes Japanese movements and Bulova Accu-Swiss which was formerly known as Bulova Accutron. The Accu-Swiss line is supposedly Swiss made.

Hi Joe , glad to here that you put your studies first , and working on watches is a good way to relax your mind and body . I have the cousin to your Bulova Oceanographer 666 diver ,.....An Accutron Deep Sea 666 diver I had picked up at the swapmeet . It looked good when I got it but found out when I opened it up that the movement was incomplete and the winder for the inner rotating bezel was stuck ....looked like rust but was happy to find out that the winder gear was made of brass. So some ultra sonic cleaning and both baking soda and also vinegar treatments freed everything up . I bought some donor Accutron parts and that puppy is working good now. This watch was my introduction to Accutrons .

One of our problems for this discussion is the name Accutron. To us it has a very clear definition of mechanical tuning fork watches. The Bulova later on it was something nifty to put on the dials of quartz watches. They could use it on the grounds that the quartz crystal was in a tuning fork shape. So I've had people asked me about their tuning fork watch and have to explain that it's not a real tuning fork watch even if Bulova claimed it was. Then the website below the entire website is very interesting the page that I have below as something you probably haven't seen before. http://www.decadecounter.com/accutron/clones.htm

id like to find a cheep mvt. for my collection of emty accutron cases. vin

Hi All I've an 11 jewel 1879 Waltham pocket watch with very old and pitted jewels, particularly 4th and escape wheel. They've caused a bit of uneven wear on the pivots so I'm getting wavey traces on the timegrapher. I've polished the pivots and this has improved the situation a fair bit, but would really like to replace the old jewels. Now, as they are held in chatons, is there any way of purchasing replacement jewels complete in the chatons? I had assumed since Waltham made bajillions of watches that spares for the jewels in chatons would be simple to find, but I'm buggered if I can! Am just I going to have to try and put replacement jewels in the existing chatons? I'm just a hobbyist, but am a bit of a perfectionist so would like to get the watch running as well as I can. She's a lovely heavy size 18. Next watch I'm on to is an accutron space view... A bit of a different beast! Cheers in advance guys.

Parts on sale on the Bay and I have posted the PDF covering the repair Vintage ORIGINAL Bulova Accutron 2185 Part 648 Hour Setting Stem Pair w/ Info Bulova-Accutron-2185- Pages 58 to 71 Supplement for Hour and Date Settings Manual.pdf though you will still need to get a button. Good luck, Cheers, Vic

Hi , ..Nice Hamilton . Looks like my X-Wind . As far as the Accutron running fast , you are talking about phasing the watch to run on higher voltage batteries . At 1.5 instead of 1.3 volts . You may want to try an accu-cell made for this . You can try one ,...as they are more expensive , to see the outcome .

I just got one of those Accutron astronauts as well and I love it. It runs a little fast, but I understand that it just means it needs to be adjusted for the higher voltage off modern batteries. Maybe I'll find someone to do that this spring. This is my current daily though: Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

could i be just a sales pitch? much like the railroad watches, designated RR on the case,BUT not certified.? accutron soled a wrist watch with it on the dial. vin

Aloha Vic , lowcountry and All . I have started studying the Accutron tech manual for the 218 movements...there's a lot of ground to cover . I have a movement that I just received and the fork hums ,but the gears do not continuously spin when I push in the crown to the run position . The index wheel does start but stops every time I pull the crown out and back in . I checked the troubleshooting section and it states that the index wheel may be dirty . But , I played very sightly with positioning the crown and there's a place where the gears all turn as normal . that position is neither in or out of the setting or run positions . I also read that there is a hack adjustment on page 20 . SO , I think that I need to either adjust the hack , or [God I hope not ,...not yet anyway ] , replace the hack . I am also thinking that the pilot part of the stem that engages the hack may be worn ...or too long . I do have a couple of new accutron stems coming my way and hope that they are for the 218's . What comes after step #2 ? My pdf jumps from page to page.... Can anyone please give me your thoughts and input on the hack adjustment ? ......... Thanks , Louis

Given at least some similarity to the Accutron, I wonder if someone who works primarily on those would be willing to take this one? Oldfathertime.com and accutrons.com are the two places I know of. Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk