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…you all find some lovely 404s. Here in the US it is a challenge to find this kind of potential. Perhaps our elders sported too many Timex and Accutron and other things with plastic movements. Bradley Mickeys with pin levers and maybe 1 jewel…but well above the 404 I’m afraid…

The classic problem of the center wheel assembly has rusted itself to the post. Then a minute and hour hand no longer turn the secondhand churns the friction part of the center wheel assembly is totally destroyed. Occasionally can flip the wheel over and buy yourself a little time but typically you'll have to replace the wheel. Then if you have really enthusiastic user you'll end up with a minute wheel stripped also. I would recommend not following the lubrication specification of whatever they say for the center wheel to avoid this ever happening again. I really wouldn't worry about the magnetized components unless you get rid of the magnets on the tuning fork. Basically magnets on the fork everything else is going to have a problem with magnetism typically is not going to bother anything at all unless of course you have steel tweezers. Oh and when you finally get the screws off and remove the fork be very careful because typically underneath our spacing washers. The color-coded to refer to their thickness. But I find it's usually best to just put the screws back in once you've lifted the fork out of the way that way you don't have to worry about which washer is where and basically is random whatever you going to find. The purpose is to tilt the fork so it agrees with the circuit. In watch repair yes you're supposed to pay attention but this is example of where you really have to pay attention otherwise well at least the fingers can be replaced. So they have to be at least one of them rotated out of the way to get the fork out. Then typically I rotated back and after the wheels are out I put the bridge back on to protect the finger when it's in the cleaning machine. Then when you're putting it all back together of course you remember to rotated out of the way and put it back etc. oh and remember to rotate it back before you put the screws in for the tuning fork because typically it sticks up too high and he can't get it past the screw head. So basically there's a lot of rotating that finger around to do things and it has to be in the right place or else, did I mention they can be replaced? Phasing on silver cells is interesting. Then yes you really should have a variable voltage power supply but there is something amusing about all of this. For instance is a technical specification for their watches and notice I marked something? As we know running on a silver cell has too much voltage out of the package brand-new without a load you can get almost 1.6 V and they are originally designed for Mercury batteries so obviously that is way out of specifications but if that is true why on the technical sheet is there the high-voltage run check? Which by the way is not mentioned in the service manual because normal service manual relies on using the normal meter and your source of power would've been the Mercury battery which cannot get to the voltages listed here One of the amusements and watch repair is service manual versus the factory? Or sometimes service manual versus other technical documentation that you typically don't have. In one of the other discussion groups is somebody who worked at the factory and she had pointed out that they use a variable voltage power supply and they did test the watch at a higher voltage. Then I'm attaching a PDF an interesting article about the problems of silver cells. 1996-08-web horological times Accutron silver cells phasing.pdf

Hi All, I thought I would share where I am up to with my latest project. While doom-scrolling Ebay I came across a soon-to-end auction for tidy looking Bulova Accutron 2181 and chanced a bid. The seller was upfront that the seconds hand turned but the minute and hour hands did not move. I had already read elsewhere that this was a common problem and figured I should be able repair or at least replace the seized parts. This is my first Accutron... The project is a simple stainless steel dress watch with a silver face and simple baton hour markers. Should look nice on a black leather strap. On first inspection after opening the case it is obvious there has been a battery leak. It looks mostly contained to one area and Im hoping it will clean up. I checked the "fingers" and while dirty, they look ok. So far so good! I started by disengaging the fingers from the index wheel - apparently any rough handling during hand removal can cause these to break. Once I had stripped the dial side down I came across the reason why the hands were not moving. Indeed the canon pinion had seized - and properly so! The minute wheel teeth had been striped! After wrestling the centre wheel away from the movement it was clear it had rusted solid and the previous owner had attempted to free it up using force applied to the crown. I used a bit of Rodico to clean up the rust and teeth before proceeding as the forks are magnetised and will attract any ferrous material. Also of note virtually all the components were magnetised to some degree or other so will need to deal with that. A couple of shots showing just how thin the coil wires actually are! I finally made it down to the tuning fork and got stuck trying to remove one of the two screws holing it to the plate. I was putting significantly more force in to turning that screw head than I was comfortable with so decided to place a drop of penetrating oil around the screw in the hopes it will have loosened up by the morning. Now I need to start looking for some replacement parts...... I will update this thread as I progress!

That is a very good question. It's not that easy to bend the post with tweezers, etc., as it has a lot of movement at the bottom where the hack spring is. Who knows? Good luck with your Accutron(s). Cheers.

Unfortunately, I found the tool I bought didn't actually work for the 218 series, so the particular tool might be for the 214 only. I wished in one hand...again. JohnR275 is correct about that tool for the phasing of 224 series Accuquartz movements. It looks like a movement holder with a couple of thin probes built in. If you have one of the Bulova series 300(?) movement holder with the removable probes and nylon sizing pegs, it may work even better. Good luck with your Accutron. Sorry about the late response. Cheers.

I bought the 16mp camera for my AmScope trinocular microscope, and I have to say, it's fantastic. While it is a luxury, I do post a lot of photos, and holding a loupe to my phone is less than ideal, and the ability to get close up video will be fun for the Accutron repairs I've been doing. Additionally, I bought the calibration slide to go with it, and the software lets me measure things to within a fraction of a mm. For example, trying to find the diameter and width of a flat case gasket when I don't have the original. It's just super cool and thought I'd share.

Hi All, I have just picked up a nice little Bulova Accutron 218. It is humming away but the minute and hour hands are not turning (apparently it could be corrosion on the cannon pinion) so it is likely in need of a service/repair. I have found a (grainy) copy of the service manual on line and a quick read through identifies the required lubricants as: Moebius OL219 - Synta Visco Lube Moebius OL207 - Special Lubricant with Molybdenum Disulphide Im struggling to find any information regarding these lubricants. Does any one have any specs they could point me to? Or alternatively, does anyone know if there are modern equivalent lubricants I can use for this movement? Cheers, Bob

New forum member @ChrisMcKeith saw my previous thread about fixing the electronics in my 219 movement and was foolish trusting kind enough to send me his to work on. It's been an interesting journey and I thought some folks might find it useful or interesting. The capacitor, resistor, and coils were all within spec, and a little pluck got the fork humming, so we were off to a good start. Full tear down, clean, oil, rebuild. Got to break out the Horia clone when the second wheel jewel surprisingly popped out of the main plate. After depthing the wheel, I inly had to tear it down twice more because I forgot to put the hacking lever under the train wheel bridge...then forgot to put the fork under the train...good practice, I keep telling myself. Then I started phasing it. Adjusted the tension on the index and pawl fingers by the manual, applied voltage from my power supply, and it ran...for a half revolution of the index wheel at a time, no matter how I adjusted it. After some more diagnosis and manually moving the fork, I had the hunch that the index wheel has some bad teeth. 45x is as high as my microscope goes, but it sure looks like those teeth are rounded/flattened: I compared it to the index wheel on the 219 I have that runs: Seems like a big difference in the sharpness of those teeth. Literally as I took this picture, I got a message from our friend @LittleWatchShop, who generously offered to try re-pivoting the 4th wheel on my 219. Since it didn't work, he's sending me a spare 219 movement! Hopefully we can use the 4th wheel for my 219, and the index wheel for Chris'. The kindness and generosity here does not cease to amaze and delight.

I love your updates Ross, you're making good progress. Do you have any immediate plans to learn some repair techniques involving staking and jewelling tools ? Many years ago now but It was my first time for having bacon eggs and honey pancakes on the same plate, i remember thinking # what the hell is this all about # You can do it Nessie, organise that space , set up the scope, lay out the tools, crack your knuckles stretch out them pinkies and off you go. Is this the single eyepiece accutron scope ?

I know how to measure and fit an acrylic crystal, but how does one choose the type if the watch came to me without one? Can you tell if it needs a gasket by looking at it? Since it has a gasket for the case back, should it the crystal have a tension ring for extra waterproofiness? Low-dome? High dome with step? Without step? With faceted edge? If I choose one with a calendar lens, is there any way to know if the lens is wide enough for the day/date, or are they really only designed for the date? Basically I'm trying to figure out what is an aesthetic choice and what is important. My instinct is to just get a plan ol' low-dome for $3, but I don't want to end up getting something that won't be water resistant if that's what I need.

Hmmm.... I wonder if they can machine Accutron index wheels?

I came across a replacement motor from Cas-Ker recently but it's a little pricey to just buy and try. https://www.jewelerssupplies.com/accutron-242-step-motor-20-510-900.005.11.html I wrote about my adventures with a Bulova 242 last year. I just bought an untested 242 movement off eBay and am praying hard that it works. You might find it useful. Apparently, this twitching problem is quite common with the 242 stepper motor. I haven't really looked into the cause.

Yes they figured out things easier with time for instance the ESA 9162 Phasing is interesting. They give you a little test plug you put it in and you just the fingers to be in the proper place for the plug you remove the plug you put the watch together and if you're lucky it might just run otherwise you barely tweak the phasing screw. Plus the electronic part is separate from mechanical part Oh thinking about phasing I've attached a couple of things. The article on basically where the factory way back when was servicing the watch to run at a much higher voltage so silver cells for the most part shouldn't be a problem. Even the specifications sheet shows that the high-voltage phasing voltages much higher than it says in the service manual itself. 1996-08-web horological times Accutron silver cells phasing.pdf Accutron_Specifications.pdf

Always best to do a search in the computer before looking for something physical to scan. Then I see the number two at the very end of your number which technically the manual does not have? Accutron 224 ServiceManual.pdf

For unknown reasons the 219 service manual is incredibly hard to find. But I was sure that I had a PDF in the computer doing a search revealed A two-part PDF and the quality sucked. So I was thinking what would be the chance that I could figure out where my physical copy is and find it without searching the entire section. Fortunately I guessed correctly. That's now been scanned and attached as a PDF and much more readable condition than the previous thing I downloaded. I think it will answer the questions you have testing the various components etc. Accutron 219 ServiceManual.PDF

I've got a 219 that I'm playing with. When I hook it up to the 700 test set, it pegs the ammeter, so I'm trying to determine if I need a new coil. I first determined that the previous owner had screwed the battery strap to the main plate, causing a dead short. After I fixed that, it still doesn't run, regardless of how much tapping I do on the side. The ammeter needle stays all the way to the right. My understanding is the 219 uses most of the same bits from the 218, with the obvious omission of one coil. And this is what my 219 looks like: Testing resistance across the two brass prongs of the coil only gives me 900 ohms, where I'd expect 5-10k. But because there's only one coil here, I can't be sure I'm testing the right bits. Is the feedback coil included here? Where are the contacts for it? Are there any diagrams for the 219 out there? I do see that Cas-ker has coils and circuit boards available for $50 each, but I'd love to know if this is bad first. Plus I love learning this stuff. So assuming they just removed the cell coil and left the rest of the circuit the same, this is how I matched my 219 to the schematic: I was measuring between E and G, so across F1. 900 ohms makes a little more sense. I'll try tomorrow between F and E. To tired and too much Scotch to do more tonight

Looks like it's to adjust if you have drift in the seconds hand. From the Accutron 242 service manual found over at Watchguy:

Accutron 214 service . Do you know anyone in the not to far from Sweden that does that . I thought electric watches did accutron . But not any more.

The index wheels all seem to have a strangely large amount of runout. As long as the teeth are intact they just seem to work though. When phasing, I do as in the quote above, but I don't want to see any hesitation- smooth running only. That's a shame they skip the actual phasing part in the vid! Henry was actually a guest instructor when I was in school to teach us Accutron work- interesting guy and he really did know his stuff. You could check with AWCI, the American Watchmakers and Clockmakers Institute, who made the video; if you are a member you can check out books and videos from their library.

Sorry for the multiple threads. I'll be honest--I just noticed there was a separate forum for tuning fork watches So I'll keep my posts here. I don't have the 344 silver oxide cells yet, so I'm adjusting with the 1.35v Accucell and the model 700 test set, per the service manual, to get a feel for how things work and to have a good starting point. This is really a learning experience. The index pawl is even more sensitive to tension than I expected. So the first question is regarding the last few steps in the process: I'm a little confused on the momentary hesitation part. Are they saying it's permissible while rotating the cam after it stops the first time, but before it continues to run consistently? The other thing I'm wondering about is trueness of the index wheel. I noticed that the one on this movement is noticeably out of true at the rim. Is that normal? I did my best to take a close-up video, and you can see the index and pawl jewels moving back and forth. Edit: I was also using Henny Frystack's excellent video on the 214 here as reference, but it looks like the actual phasing part is cut out of it. He talks about the theory of it, but the practice seems to be cut off at 43:00. Anyone know if the rest of it is out there on the internets?

Accutron train bridges are very easy to assemble because the jewel holes have something like a funnel to guide the pivots in. Just put the the bottom pivots into the bottom holes, gently drop the top plate on and tap the holder. The plate will just drop in. It's really satisfying. I suspect it's because your bottom holes have pegwood in them that you can't get the plate on.

There used to be somebody out there that didn't do this but I think he got overloaded and work and doesn't do it anymore. Then when you're making a machine for winding coils about a machine to make index wheel's. Then I figured out where I put the information on phasing for silver cells. I'm attaching a PDF on that. 1996-08-web horological times Accutron silver cells phasing.pdf

So first of all: yes, I'm a dummy. Yes, I learned my lesson. While cleaning my Accutron I pegged out the jewel holes as usual, but realized too late there were burnished-in cap jewels on the other side and managed to get bits of pegwood trapped between the hole and cap jewels. I was able to clean one out through the hole jewel with a sharpened oiler, but the other is not budging. I've been soaking the bridge over night in hexane, but it's no better this morning. I'm worried about chipping the edges of the jewel hole if I keep it up. Any other suggestions on what might soften/dissolve pegwood?

The service manual calls for only 2 lubricants: Moebius OL219 - Synta Visco Lube Moebius OL207 - Special Lubricant with Molybdenum Disulfide I understand that they are now Moebius 9020 and 8201, respectively. Unfortunately, I don't have either in stock. I do have 9010, 9104 (HP1300). For greases I have 9501, 9415, and Kluber P125. The manual recommends OL219 on the train jewels where I'd normally use 9010, and looking at Moebius' lubrication chart that seems reasonable. In Mark's chronograph course he also notes that 9010 can be an acceptable substitute for 9020. The grease is a little more tricky. The manual uses it in some places I'd normally use 9104, like the minute wheel post, but also where I'd use 9501 like the stem and sliding clutch. I thought the Kluber P125 might be a reasonable substitute for the 8201, but I think the Kluber is thicker. Basically I'm wondering if there's a compelling reason to buy the lubricants specifically called for, or if I can use what I have here. I don't mind spending the money if I really should, but if I can get away with what I've got and not have to wait with parts on my bench, I'd love that too.

Is that a 218 movement? 218s are a good starting point to learn Accutron repair. They are infinitely simpler than 214s. The uA are an indication of the amount of current drawn. It should be within the current range for the movement. An abnormally high current could indicate a faulty circuit, a dirty gear train or a high amount of pressure of the pawl/index fingers on the index wheel. A high current draw will result in short battery life. The adjustments to the index finger that we are talking about here are incredibly small. My 218 just died on me after two years. I found that it's due to an open cell coil. Looks like it's time to build a jig to do coil rewinding as working coils are getting really hard to find.