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Hi , I picked up this Bulova Accutron 2182 Deep Sea 666 ft. at the swap meet today . It was not running and I discovered it did not have a battery . That's the good news . Both stems and crowns were frozen in position . The 2 hr stem has a gear that rotates the inner bezel and there is some rust preventing rotation . The 4 hr position stem was stuck in the setting lever and freed up for removal on loosening the setting lever screw . I want to take the crystal out but am not sure how to approach this . I don't know if it is acrylic or glass , and if I should press or knock it out using my nylon press dies , or if I should use a crystal lift for this . Any help is appreciated . This watch is the same as the models that say "Snorkel" on the dial . Mine says "Deep Sea ". The picture I'm attaching is from the internet , but mine is similar . Thanks , Louis

looks like this is one of the Microloupes that were used to reset Pawl fingers on Accutron Index wheels, always wondered what they looked like. Quite a compact unit: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221785557875?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Looks like it may be useful on any watch really if you have not got a scope already. Just thought it may be of interest. Cheers, Vic

There are loads of tips in the book, it was his instruction about removing the crown part of a two part stem on a roamer that made me man up and pull harder than I would have done normally and guess what, it worked. He even has some pages on the Bulova Accutron. The book may be old but so are most of the watches we work on so it is still valid. Cheers, Vic

Hi Douglas, Welcome to the forum! That's a nice -- and interesting -- Accutron! I'm sure you'll find a wealth of knowledge here and hope you'll enjoy the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the forum. I, too, have been "self taught" if online classes can be counted: which leads me to one question: Are the AWCC classes you refer to, available on line? In any case, enjoy our forum and share your experiences. We definitely are looking forward to that...and please, don't hesitate to ask questions, we always have someone that "has been there and done that", ready to help! Cheers, Bob

I'm really thankful to have come across this site and Mark Lovick's great videos. For someone trying to learn the craft here in a log cabin in West Virginny, they've been a godsend. Aren't too many watchmakers in my neck of the woods. I've been studying watchmaking at home for about a year now. I've also been taking classes at NAWCC's School of Horology in Columbia, PA but the school no longer has a degree program; so, I have to take them as they are available. They are a great experience and I've learned a lot but it's slow going. I've set up the beginnings of a shop in my basement using my great-grandmother's vanity, mounted on blocks, as a workbench. I'm still "tooling up"; looking for things I can afford on a limited budget. I've attached a picture of the watch I'm wearing now. It's an Accutron automatic. Didn't know Accutron made mechanical watches (I got an original Accutron tuning fork watch when I graduated from high school in the 1960's) but one day I chanced by it at a jewelry store near my office. I liked square case and the dial and since it was a clearance item I got it for a very good price, so I bought it. I can't afford really high-end watches unless I can get a good deal on one that needs restoration which I can do myself. So that's my goal: to develop the ability to someday take a good watch that's not working and make it work. I particularly love Omega watches. In the meantime I have had a few successes with cheaper watches but I'm still breaking more than I fix! Given that I'm "old" my greatest difficulty is steadying my hands but I've improved at that by putting in a lot of "tweezer time".

I've been looking at Russian watches on e-bay and the vast majority have this case back design you mention, Previously i had only seen it on bulova accutron tuning fork watches. I agree it's a great design, I wonder if watch manufacturers tested this at length and found it to be worse for water resistance despite the obvious theoretical advantages, or if it was an intellectual property issue, or if it just didn't 'catch on' If anyone knows the term for these case backs let me know.

:P to you too Geo :D Actually I have absolutely nothing against these or any other of the transitional technologies between mechanical and quartz (nothing against quartz either), it's just that I have very little experience of them; and that is a very nice watch Yogi. I do have a non-working Accutron sat in my projects box waiting for me to pluck up the courage to have a go but I need to source a replacement component coil first, I got as far as testing that with a meter. I also need to work out how I can test the functionality of the rest of the electronics without having to fork out a mint on new tools that will only get used once in a blue moon. I do have an old oscilloscope (CRO) and was wondering if that could be of any use in diagnosing problems in watch electronics so if anyone can shed any light I am all ears.

Bulova Accutron tuning fork?

Hi Geo, thanks for that, I think that you have hit the problem on the head there. I was hoping to be able to salvage the Bulova crown as it has the distinctive Accutron logo. The best course of action will be to get it done professionally. I don't mind having a go at anything but its early days for me and this watch is a definite keeper.

Great find Vic. The Accutron is super and yes, the lighter reminds me of my Dad too! Hope everything come out OK at the hospital and praying for a quick recovery! Cheers, Bob

Hello Chaps, Hello Chaps, Its a bit like the boy that cried wolf as I am always joking about it but I go to hospital for the op at 1.30. Unfortunately they dont recharge or replace batteries, the whole unit has to come out (except for the wires hopefully) and it gets replaced with a new one. It should be in and out the same day - I may not be doing much until it heals and the stitches come out. Unfortunately I did not manage to make time to put the carriage clock together but that will be manageable. I will get more info on the compact Will and advise you, as I did actually win the whole lot for £60.00. Not that keen on Rotary watches after seeing inside a few of the more modern ones, however, it does not look like quartz at least its not shown on the face and it may be ok, the advert says Circa 2002. I will have the backs off and see what they are like when I get them. I am quite excited about the Accutron. Cheers, Vic

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

60! Then I don't feel so bad when I look at my collection and think to myself "Joe, how in the world can you justify having THIS many watches!" I have about 27 wearable, and another 5 or 6 that are in pieces. I'd like to see the tech sheet on the F300hz. The service for these is kinda expensive. I had mine done at a place near Chinatown here in NYC and the guy (Ernie) was wearing a spaceview accutron from the 60's and I knew he was experienced with these type movements. Omega-Bulova coil-driven works are considered the high end of the tuning forks. Put the tech sheet on the F300hz up when you get a chance. J

I want to get a Precisionist or maybe an accutron II--I do like this watch. And what a write up--Oh My! JC

Dear Al, I have a microset unit and have spoken to Bryan many times. This unit is okay and may work very well for clocks. I used it for many years maybe 6-7 but found it lacking for watches. I currently use a Watch Timing Machine Multifunction Timegrapher 1000 and an very happy with it, but again I work on watches not clocks I did buy the same expensive clamp you did and just had it upgraded 8 months ago. I still prefer the timegrapher when doing watch work. At this point the microset sits on the shelf. That being said I think the microset unit can be used for hairspring work which may be helpful in the future if and when I ever start making my own hairsprings. One other point Bryan makes an accutron adaptor that is very nice. I don’t work on accutrons anymore but when I did it was very useful. Hope this summery helps. Sincerely, Jim

A while ago I posted that I had trouble with my Accutron bought in May, the "electroplated" gold on the sides of the watch had worn off leaving it in a poor state and the crown was similarly affected. With no real expectations I contacted the seller who expressed surprise and asked to see the watch. In my message to him I advised that I did not think the case had ever been electroplated properly and I thought it was poorly brush plated. Now, I got the best surprise as he mailed me back and said he could not disagree with me. He had not realised originally and had been taken in by its original fine appearance, as was I.He then sourced a new properly plated Bulova case and crown and sent photos to me asking if it was acceptable and it certainly was. I have it back now looking good and humming away nicely. Just thought I would post a true and positive story about an ebay seller. Cheers, Vic

Hello Lee, the oils are a much discussed subject on the forum and if you trace through you will find a wealth of info. However, you will also find differing opinions and suggestions for alternatives. I have bemoaned the fact that it costs more than gold for Moebius oil. I think that Mark the forum leader and a pro as you will know if you have watched his Vids, would recommend the exact three oils you mention and he may suggest that you could use Molycote DX as a grease. He may also advise that if it is a quality watch you should as far as possible find out the recommended oils for the movement. For instance I downloaded the PDF for an Accutron 2181 and it told me exactly what oils to use. The PDF's are often obtainable from Cousins UK and other suppliers as well and from traces on the internet. After that I was given a Chinese Rolex that had ceased working I had avoided looking at full mechanicals up to then and I used that as my first complete dissassembly, clean, and re-assembly and to my amazement I got it working. However, if you are going to start off with a teardown, try a really cheap movement, perhaps one from ebay without a day and date display for instance, then clean all the parts and put them back together, in my opinion it would a waste of Moebius oil and I would start off experiments using one the cheap watch oils available for a few quid being very carefull not to drown anything - you will get the idea from Marks Vids. One of the great things on this forum is that if you get stuck, lots of folk will rally round to help. I am by no sense of the word an expert and I would call myself a hobbyist that is willing to have a go, but I would be rather scared of pulling my Glycine Airman apart in fact it will never happen. I am sure some of the other lads will kick in and offer some advice on oils etc. as well. For the record the Moebius I have are :- D5,8300 grease, 8030, Quartz oil, 941, 9020, 9010, most of which are connected with my Accutrons but useful elsewhere as well but I will also admit to having D&L Watch oil 9551 and some silicone grease that I use when playing with scrap movements. I use the Cheap Bergeon Oilers. As for your question about the drivers, I bought Bergeon ones but not a full set, I found that I get away with just four and I bought the ones that come with replacement blades. The AF ones may be as good, I don't honestly know. Really its a matter of choice but I started out with really cheap ones but found I was continually having to get the oilstone out. Cheers, Vic

Just a few observations and please pardon me if its stuff you already know. I have a few Accucell-1 batteries and when I started messing around with Accutrons the main thing I had my attention drawn to was the battery choices and Voltage which is 1.35 as opposed to the Renata 387 which is 1.55. There is a handy table on another site: Model Mercury type Silver Oxide type 214 387 387S, 394**, SR936SW** Accucell 1 218 343 344, 350. SR1136SW Accucell 1 219 343 344, 350, SR1136SW Accucell 1 2210 388 329, SR731SW*** Accucell 2 230 343 344, 350. SR1136SW Accucell 1 224 343 344, SR1136SW Accucell 1 ESA 9162/4 343 344, 350, SR1136SW ESA 9210 343 344, 350, SR1136SW Omega 1220 343 344, SR1136SW Omega 1300 313 357, SR44 Omega 1301, 1302 343 344, 350, SR1136SW ***Not a perfect fit, but there is no direct equivalent to the 388. ** These are not supplied with the little plastic spacer. Re-use the spacer from your old 387 mercury cell. You note that for the 218 they advocate use of Accucell and also the 344/SR1136S but the main difference between the batteries is the Voltage ie 1.35 as opposed to 1.55. The use of either battery on a 218 is possible (if not recommended) but if the watch is normally phased for 1.35 and if you then use a 1.55 then it can lead to double indexing on the index wheel. Some repairers re-phase the 218 to use standard Renata 1.55 cells. I suppose what I am saying is replace like for like as if it has been re phased and you put an accucell in then it could lead to a problem. I have a few movements that are humming nicely but even though they are only movements without cases I always check them out with an accucell. The 214 has a similar sort of choice, if you buy a Renata, the 387 is shown on the package and it has the black plastic spacer disk on it but the positive side of the battery shows the number 394 and it is 1.55v. I have just returned my Accutron (bought in May) to the dealer I bought it off because gold on the case and crown was literally rubbing off. It looked great when I got it but it had obviously been brush plated to give it a thin gold coat. Give the guy his due and the benefit of the doubt he appeared quite surprised when he wrote back to me after inspecting it and agreed that it was not acceptable. He offered to source a replacement case which he sent pictures of and I have accepted. It makes a nice change to get customer service - I had expected a bit of a struggle. Anyway its nice to see the hummers getting a bit of attention. Lee put me on to the Stereo Microscope which has made a great difference for examination of the index wheels. They are not easy watches but definitely have less bits inside that the Mechanical ones :D Cheers, Vic

Just noticed that my Accutron which is humming nicely still no longer looks as "golden as it used to". The sides are really worn now and look more like nickel or SS whilst the back which is separate is still in really good condition, this after only about 8 months, though I did wear it continuously for about a month in LA and was hot and sweaty most of the time. I have a couple of 10k Accurton cases and may swap it over. But I would not sell this case on to anyone. I think that the person I bought it from must have used an immersion kit to give it a good but quite temporary shine. I was wondering if anyone has dabbled in home plating. I have a bit of old gold in my drawer so the raw material is there. I believe the solution can be made up by dissolving gold in a Hydrochloric / Nitric acid mix and then you are looking at the transference via a current through the liquid. Has anyone tried this ? Cheers, Vic

Hello Al, It may not be really necessary for you but I recently purchased a long arm stereo microscope and it brought a new dimension into the hobby for me and many things just got easier. If you search through the forums all the posts are there to answer some if not all the questions. In general I was surprised at the field of Vision and workspace even at higher magnitudes. Just something you might consider it definitely takes the strain off working on the small stuff, I can even see the teeth on an Accutron index wheel ! Cheers, Vic

Hello lr1022, The cost of oil is one of the problems that hobbyists have all wrestled with and I spent hours searching the web for small amounts at reasonable prices but regrettably I found a remarkable similarity in pricing from all suppliers of Moebius oils for instance. If you are just practising, a cheap working watch is a worthwhile purchase, strip and clean it then use a cheap generic watch oil when putting it back together. It is hardly worth spending much on oil for a cheap Chinese movement for instance, however, you will still gain the learning experience. If you trawl old postings in the forum you will find good reasons to spend more on oil for treasured watches. I used to try to restrict my interest to just a couple of makes - Accutron and Tissot and only bought the oils for them but over time I weakened and started looking at other movements. You will find guidance on the forum for the subject. Mark has covered the topic for instance and we have an oil specialist who gave quite a detailed post on oil generally. Just put in a search. In conclusion, if the watch you work on is expensive or treasured you probably should use good oil and that I'm afraid comes at a premium. Cheers and welcome, Vich

I love working with stripboard and doing stripboard layouts. Somehow it's more fun that making PCB layouts. The one I'm most proud of is this one, which was part of this project: http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/paia_stringz_n_thingz.html I did two large stripboards for that one and managed to not need a single diagonal wire. Looking at the Accutron supply schematic, I think I would have dispensed with the LM317 and used a Zener diode and voltage divider to feed VR1, and then used an LM358 instead of LM324 for the voltage follower (same op-amps, but only 2 per chip, and only 8 pins, so a lot less unused stuff to work around).

Hello Svorkoetter, Read through the postings with interest. I have just finished the Accutron variable power supply from the drawings by Rich Helzer and Rob Berkavicius (http://members.iinet.net.au/~fotoplot/Modified%20Bulova%209920_6604%20Variable%20Power%20Supply-l.jpg) had to convert it over to stripboard and after a few schoolboy errors it worked, the LM324 was a swine to use on a stripboard - there were more cuts and solder bridges than I care to mention but it works really well and I feel the urge for a new project to keep the brain working. I tried Kello on my iPhone but it was hopeless trying to get the amplification needed, I note your concerns for the software as well. The Korg contact mike with your set up seems to be a good choice even though it is a tad more expensive than DIY. Still loads cheaper than buying a timing machine. Hope you give us the chance to fund your efforts, I don't mind paying for good work and your software looks soundly thought out and what is better it comes down to ease of usage. Not all watch tinkerers are maths experts or programmers but most can get their heads round the instructions for use of a timing machine even if they don't actually understand what is in the box. I look forward to following your progress - really interesting thread ! Cheers, Vic

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

At 35x I can just about see the teeth on the index wheel of the Bulova Accutron which is just what I needed.