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I'm unable to answer your question, but I'm wondering if these movements are the same as or similar to the original Bulova Accutron movements?

I went to the clock & watch fair at the Motorcycle Museum in Solihull on 12/7 and enjoyed an extended walk around. My impressions are that some of the stall holders had lost touch with reality on their pricing. I would have thought that they would of at least matched the prices on the Bay but I found only two watch stalls where the pricing was what could be described,in my opinion, as fair. One guy was trying to sell 3 accutron 218x movements for £25.00 each but could not say whether the coils were working or not and on one the battery strap and screw with insulator were gone. He confessed he did not know much about them but thought the price was fair for parts. I passed on that one, the coils were a big question for me and I would have needed to test them plus whether the fork was still magnetic and again the index wheel and pawl fingers would need inspection with a scope - too many ifs and buts and not enough guarantee for a £75.00 shot to nothing, if he had wanted £35 for the three I may have had a punt. Another had a spaceview conversion (poorly defined chapter markings on glass) for which he wanted £300 and guess what, it was not working ! I did see a nice Favre Leuba (twin barrel) and 9ct gold Marvin but resisted. It looked like I was just going to leave empty handed but saw one stall with two big piles of watches and asked the guy how he came by them and they were apparently from an auction. They appeared to be so called designer watches mainly quartz but he said there were wind up watches in the lot. The price being £10.00 a watch. I scoured around looking for old leather straps first then screw on backs and older styled crowns but was finding nothing of great interest. Finally I found a watch that ticked the boxes, old smelly leather strap, dirty case, dome head crown and screw back. The case is filthy but no dings or deep scratches. The glass is a mess and cracked but the dial appears ok so I asked for his best price and he said £8.00 so I got it. Really I just wanted to get something I suppose. Not an astounding watch but really clean inside though the movement looks a bit mass produced. The pic makes the screw heads look a bit chewed but that is just the shading / lighting as they are all untouched and I doubt whether the back has been off. It is working and the date moves over without problem. I had hoped it would be a Bulova Caravelle but now have doubts though the Accutron Back remover (L) fits perfectly. The gasket is still sound and I like the Crown. It will go in the queue for total clean and service. If anyone recognises the actual movement it would be nice to know. The glass may be a problem but as I am taking it off anyway I should be able to size it, quite a high dome with a magnifyer looking like it is stuck on the underside. Cheers, Vic

Whew!!....I got the humming accutron going again by following the advice I found on an accutron blog ..."Give it a gentle rap on the side at the 3 or 9 O'clock position to help the capacitor get the movement going "...That's it ,I'm not going to mess around with that watch again . One thing I've found to be true with 3 accutrons I worked on this last 2 weeks is to follow the tech manuals advice [ or admonition ] , to remove the stem and crown in the pulled out setting position . And VERY carefully replace the stem in that position....DO NOT push the stem in past that point to reinstall it . I disengaged the yoke from the clutch groove 3 times and had to dissemble the calendar works each time to fix that problem . These use a screw type setting lever . The hacking affects some very tiny index and pawl jewels . I just ordered an electronic microscope [ from China ] to see them so I can adjust them .....I hope .

Aloha All , Well the good news is that I finally got my swap-meet Bulova Accutron 2182 Deep Sea watch working and keeping good time . The other good news is that Man , did I learn a lot about Accutron movements using my original broken movement , 2 donor movements ,....1 working and 1 spare for another project to get it working , 2 pdf tech manuals...1 downloaded from some watch forum and 1 purchased on Ebay and downloaded , and Youtube videos . After getting the stem off and removing the movement I was able to press out the hefty acrylic crystal . The inner rotating brass bezel came out easily and cleaned up well . The crown and gear that turned the bezel was frozen in place with crud and a little rust . I kept it covered with penetrating oil for a few days with no results . Then I used some paste made of Alum and hot water for about 12 hours...I kept adding drops of hot water every few hours as the paste started to dry out . After putting the movement in my ultra sonic cleaner after the Alum , the gear and crown started to wiggle a bit . Next I soaked the gear in vinegar for about 12 hours and the gear and crown finally started to turn freely . I next installed the working donor movement , but either the crown and stem would not stay in , or the calendar would not work correctly . The coils on the tuning fork are magnetized and every tiny screw and spring would be drawn to the coils . If a part pinged off , especially the springs for the calendar indents ,....check the coils and 50% of the time they would be stuck there . I decided to put the project to rest for about a week and started to study the tech manuals I downloaded , I finally took the project watch out again and very meticulously lubed and installed the setting mechanism and calendar works using the tech manual as my guide . installed the movement into the case with the crystal and rotating bezel , and BINGO , it all came together....at last . I've attached a few pics showing various parts of the watch....

Very cool indeed! My only concern is that's it's electronic; and being such, there's the problem with the circuit and coils issues ... how on earth would you ever get replacements :huh: This is the sad truth of quartz, they are an item with a finite life span; and not heirloom items :( Possibility the only exception to this would be the Accutron movement, as they appear to be point-to-point component, instead of surface mount circuit boards. But since I have never owned a Accutron, nor seen one dismantled, I could be wrong.

As much as I hate to admit it ,....I got the fever and picked up this working Accutron. As I was searching Accutrons lately . since my swap-meet find , I was surprised how these watches seem to hold there value ,...working or not . After saying all that , I'm through with Accutron purchases .....Honest .

I think this movement are very hard to work on . If you don't have very much experience in this tuning fork movements ? I don't have any Accutron watches but i have a few Omega F300 watches .Which are similar movements . They have some very small index wheels with very very small teeth on . With a diameter of 1 cm they have over 300 small teeth . If you brake one of this teeth the watch won't work . I send all my F300 and some Esa 9150 watches to http://electric-watches.co.uk/. You can read a lot about the different movements also . I would like to own a Bulova accutron some time in the future .

I was trawling the net and found this lot for sale:- A pre 1970 Bulova Accutron gentleman's battery operated wristwatch, circular champagne dial with date aperture, on an expandable bracelet, a Rotary gentleman's gold plated wristwatch, circa 2002, the rectangular dial bearing Roman numerals, both boxed with certification a Ronson lighter, and a compact. (4) Est £60 - 80. Now the question will be will the gamble pay off as the charges from the saleroom plus postage go on top. I decided to have a punt at the lower end and got the lot for £60, plus charges and post brings it to £88.80. However both watches come with boxes and certification. The Accutron easily covers the total charge ( if I can bear to part with it ) and the Rotary does not look too bad which is a bonus. I am banking on the fact that the owner kept the Boxes and certification as someone that does take that sort of care may have looked after their watches. I remember my father having one of those lighters which were really common in the day but heaven knows what I will do with a womans compact - hold back on the comments George. Off to hospital shortly today for my pacemaker replacement op, as a bit like the Accutrons my battery has died - hope i don't need rephasing :D , but on my return I will eagerly await my parcel. Cheers, Vic

Indeed the movement does not require a spacer. What is the problem with the tension ring and the crystal ? I had an Accutron once that came with a standard ACT tension ring acrylic crystal and I replaced it with a new one and everything was fine, you just have to do some tests. Usually they fit.

Hello, I have just joined and see that there are lots of new members here, many of whom seem to be novices like me. I confess that not only is my interest in watches very recently acquired but I am honest enough to admit that I don't know if it will last: my real love is photography. However, I have recently bought a very nice-looking watch at a thrift store: it cost me about $12 and I was so pleased with it that I spent $30 on a new leather strap for it. I have also bought some basic tools for changing straps and batteries. My interest is in watches as aesthetic items, and in watch-collecting, rather than in watch repair: I don't have a good natural aptitude for fixing things. But I do like to "have a go" and am quite careful and methodical. If I am going to buy watches cheap, online or in thrift stores, they may well need fixing up to a greater or lesser degree. If I want to start a basic watch collection my first instinct is to aim for a variety of styles and mechanisms. My two watches both have quartz movements. My thoughts right now are that the quartz movement is, by far, the most sensible technology for watches. It's the most accurate time-keeper and also very economical i.e. cheap! However, I am hankering after acquiring a watch with either a mechanical movement or possibly an Accutron, tuning fork movement. I would appreciate any advice on how to plan my next purchase. Really I think I am just going to use my aesthetic sense: some very expensive watches can, to my eyes, be quite vulgar in appearance while some cheaper watches can surprise me with their elegance.

Cheers chaps, Funny you should mention pacemakers George, every time someone mentions big magnets to find little bits I think its alright for some but I have to keep big magnets at arms length. My wife would not let me get an induction hob because she read somewhere that they could affect a pacemaker - must mean she likes me around. Makes your tag line quite prophetic except time could "stand still" permanently if I decide to cuddle a magnet so I'll stick with the Mrs. I have actually "fixed" a watch already Will, it had been in a drawer for ? years and new batteries did not work so at the time I just ditched it into a placcy bag with about 5 others. It was another of those infamous knock offs this time from Fuertoventura. There must of been something gumming up the train as I put it on the "Mechanic Line Free" pad and after an initial dance back and forth the pointers all started whizzing around - most peculiar. Anyway I put a battery in and to my surprise it is working ! There were several others in the drawer so I will play with them but I had to order some AG11's which seem to be flavour of the month for this stuff - 99p for 10, expiry 2016, Eunicell. Well I was not going to buy good ones for these watches so they can take their chances. Also came across this for $4.99:- Bulova ABC Interchangeable Parts Catalog for Bulova, Caravelle, & Accutron Parts Printed July 1971 Cover of book has some creases and wear. Inside pages are in good condition. I am sure it is in the public Domain but I could not find a free PDF as the sites that offered a free download wanted a bit too much info for my liking, in fact my software intercepted two vicious bits of malware. At that point I decided to buy the original and get it shipped to my son in LA - hell of a difference in postage price. I may make it into a searchable PDF and put it on the site once I confirm its status but that would really be a labour of love as there are quite a few pages. Anyway I found a problem with my Accutron test set (broken wires and wrong VR settings) so it is bits on the dining room table - not popular even with the table protector on. I think I might adopt this for my tag line "Whuy whea sed theres nowt te dee when yu retiar like, yer bugga ahm knackered." Cheers Vic

Hello everyone... Bulova ACCUTRON (carcass)

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...

Just thought I would add my thoughts. I have to say the combination of electronic and mechanical in the Accutron 214 and 218 elevates them to a different category whereby the skill needed to phase them due to an index wheel 2.4 mm wide with 320 teeth 0.01mm high, is quite testing. With the Spaceview you throw out the dial so the works can be visible. So as usual I seem to be straddling the fence again. I went into a jewellers in LA where I was advised that if an Accutron came in with a solid gold case it was most likely it would be scrapped for the gold. My Ancestors were making silver watches in the Georgian period and before but sad to say even the silver in the watch cases is now regarded to some Philistines as worth more than the skilful hand produced parts making up the movements so I appreciate where Lawson is coming from. In conclusion I suppose I am saying that I am happy to be in the company of people with varying opinions but all of whom have an appreciation for the tastes of others and who honour the skill and hard work of past and current watchmakers no matter what type of watch. My son wants me to sort out a mechanical Bulova self winder for him, got a working movement a while ago to play with, he does not wear a watch at present and tends to use his phone. Hopefully a convert. Back to the Uk in 2 days. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hello from La, Made it here but a bit zombiefied have not even sorted through my Accutron goodies purchased on eBay.com and sent to my son. Weirdly woke up at 6.00 am CA time but starting to flag a bit now. Off to San Francisco tomorrow. Will keep an eye open for second Hand stuff while here hoping to pick up more Accutron stuff. Also looking out for the odd micro brewery to try out their produce. Cheers to all

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.

In the last month my treasured Tissot gave up the ghost, as it was a present from my mother I took it for repair where I found that the prices of repair locally (North East) were in the region of £120.00 and the jeweler/watch repair person advised that they would just replace the insides (ETA 955.112). I thought that was high and decided to research. To cut a long story short I purchased a new movement from Greece for £16.75 and then realised I could not replace it without removing the stem and crown. Thanks to the videos on You Tube I became aware of Mark Lovick and so with advice gained as you can see in the photo it is up and running. The Glycine was found by me as a teenager, broken and battered and discarded on the sea shore in Scotland and I picked it up and was about to send it skipping across the water but at a whim put it in my fishing tackle box. When sorting out my mothers estate and clearing the house 35 years later it resurfaced dried out but battered and I noticed the serial number on the back. To cut a long story short it was eventually sent to Glycine where it was serviced and was supposed to have a new crystal fitted but when returned I noticed that the crystal had just been polished ! I complained and it was sent back and they fitted a new crystal and returned it along with a complimentary Glycine leather watch strap - result. I have been looking for a practical hobby (other than DIY) since retiring and in my family history research I found that my 3 generations of my family were watchmakers originating Derbyshire - maybe it was a sign. I have been looking for a pocket watch by Benjamin Harlow (Lane End, Staffs) for a while and have had a casual interest in watches generally. After messing on with my Tissot I ended up watching more and more of Mark's videos and decided to have a shot at repairing for fun only. I decided to set a limit on the funds and started to think about what to do and somehow picked up an interest in Accutrons. In the end I eventually decided that I would only look at Tissot and Bulova. With my working background being in IT right back to the days when we used soldering irons I quite liked the idea of the "humming" Accutrons. Which finally brings me to the third watch, a recent acquisition because if I was going to mess round with them I should of course have a reasonable working example (at least that was my argument when I told my lovely Wife). I am building up a stock of Accutron stuff which is being sent to my son in LA and I will pick it up on holiday. I bougnt an accutron 218 movement on e bay for £23.00 and to my delight when i inserted the Accucell it started humming (even if the rest does not work - project 2) and it sounds identical to my watch so with that and the other stuff to pick up in LA, non working Accutrons 214 and 218, I will have loads to play with. I am reaching the end of the budget limit now with the purchase of all the tools etc it is quite expensive but judging by the posts and thanks to the interest engendered by watching Mark's videos it looks like fun. So basically I know nothing about watches, have no experience but I can research competently and follow quite complicated instructions - I have not joined a forum before and hope you bear with me and advise whether I inadvertently transgress protocols in some way. regards, Vich

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.

Thanks gentlemen! As to expense, well, I won this fully serviced on owner watch for the princely sum of $300! When I look at whats new out there for that it makes this one seem somewhat of a bargain I think. I got a better movement than in my Accutron for Accutron money! The deals are out there if you keep searching and don't just jump on the first thing you see. The week before I saw a similar one though in not as good condition and with no fresh service and I nearly went for it until I did some research and realized it had the movement replaced for a standard ESA one. Nothing wrong with that in terms of functionality as apart from the copper plates they are identical movements to the Omega but it was not an Omega movement and it went for pretty much the same as this one!

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.