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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.

This was an odd repair. Had a screw loose within the movement from the rotor gear plate. It was jammed under the Balance wheel preventing it from moving and likely would shake loose from time to time. I got it out and screwed it back in place: correctly and sealed the back and cleaned it up. Ready and working. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.

Thought I'd share a picture or two, since I was cleaning up today in preparation for finally getting to work on all these Accutron 218 movements I have waiting for love. Hence the power supply over there.

@JohnR725Thanks for the great download! I'll spend time with it. I guess I was a little light on the oiling by using the wire oiler without another conventional oiler first. I did see oil in the recess. But I will know in the future that the wire is more of a finish step to draw the oil onto the cap. At least that what I think I'm picking up from your comments. Thanks for clearing that up. On the Moebius oils, I just replaced some rather old Nye oil that I've had. I was using the 9010 for all wheels except the center wheel, on which I'm using the Synt-HP 1300. I hope that's not a terrible thing. It seemed to make sense to me. So the train in an Accutron is under more pressure, thereby requiring the 9020 oil? I was under the impression that there was less pressure in the Accutron. It's probably a good thing I don't work on watches for a living. I seem to remember reading that Samantha had worked at Bulova, I just wasn't certain. Thanks. Cheers.

Hello everyone! I hope this message finds you all healthy and well! So I was having a look at some watches I recently acquired, both Bulova’s with date codes of M6 (1966). The 2 I was comparing were a Surf King and an Accutron. So both watches have luminous hands and dials, but I noticed the Surf King had “T” markings indicating tritium but the Accutron does not have any markings indicating lime material. Now with both watches being from 1966 I would assume the Accutron is tritium as well. I doing some more research, I find the Accutron is made in the USA and the Surf King has “SWISS” between the T’s. So I’m just curious, would the US and Swiss have different requirements as to the markings of their dials? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

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'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, 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 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

I have both 2X Barlow and 20X eyepieces, but I don't use either for watchmaking. Accutron movements seems like a good application for the eyepieces, and I'm sure there are occasions when you really want (though probably not strictly need) to get as deep on a mechanical movement, but that seems like a wait until the need arises sort of thing. That scope looks like it's from the same factory as the AmScope, et. al., so I wouldn't worry about inexpensive eyepieces getting hard to find any time soon.

Try it out for yourself. Do you find 22.5x sufficient to oil a pallet jewel? Is 3.5x wide enough to see the whole watch? Like I said, the only time I need higher magnification is when working on Accutron watches. Possible upgrades that you might want to consider are a led ringlight for shadowless lighting and a tiltable microscope mount, so that you won't need a step ladder.

I have an Accutron Railroad (218) somewhere that has two hour hands, like a Gmt. No way to adjust the difference aside from resetting them on their pipes. Always found that weird. Now here's one with two crowns and no GMT. Weird.

If you look carefully it's not your normal screw back as you're already noticed. Typically you see similar things on Accutron Bulova watches where there's an outer ring that screws on. But this ring doesn't look like it's screws it looks like its locked into tabs four of them on the case. The problem with outer rings are ideally you should have a special wrench. Another was it fits into the notches and then you can turn. In the case of Bulova they do have a special wrench. You can use your standard case wrench except. Normally with a standard case wrench to tighten it up and hold the back tightly when you rotate it you do not want to grab the back itself tightly as typically it's held in place with a tab or something in its physical location. So all you want to do is rotate the ring Only.

I thought that was the spare crown in case the primary crown fails you can use the spare crown? Interesting that it doesn't have the other hand or even a bezel to rotate? Then I'm attaching a supplement that covers the thing is that the other crown can do. Bulova-Accutron-2185-Manual.pdf

The post office just delivered this Astronaut ll . I got it to compliment my collection of my two other Bulova Astronauts . Bulova has seen to install three different types of movements for each . My first Astronaut is a vintage Accutron with the 214 Tuning fork movement . My second is the Automatic Buzz Aldrin signed limited edition version . And my latest is the Astronaut ll with the Very accurate Precisionist movement ,...what a smooth second hand . Here's a look at the second hand's sweep...... I chose the economical blue model with the blue textured leather strap because of its simplicity that seems to highlight the smooth second hand's sweep . Not a bad price at all.... And you have an option . Black dial and SS coffin link bracelet ,...at yet another deal.... From 2014... And the Watch...