In 1960, Bulova had a vision of the future — and that future hummed with potential!
About a decade before the Quartz Crisis, the American firm introduced a watch that did away with the traditional balance wheel, instead using a 360-hertz tuning fork attached to a battery-powered transistor oscillator circuit as its heart. Designed by Max Hetzel, the Accutron made waves, becoming the first wristwatch precise enough to be qualified for U.S. Railroad certification — guaranteed to be accurate to about one minute per month, or roughly two seconds per day.
This particular Accutron, an Astronaut Mark II, merges funky late ‘60s industrial design with the innovative Accutron movement, adding in a handy dual-time complication for good measure! Housed in a 34mm yellow gold-filled case with “cornes de vache” lugs, dual Accutron-signed crowns, a domed, acrylic crystal, and a convex bezel, it features a cream-colored dial with an outer printed minute track, applied ‘baton’ indices with luminous tritium plots, a lumed ‘baton’ handset, a black date window at 12 o’clock, and a home-time indicator window between 5- and 7 o’clock.
Powered by a 1.55-volt battery, the Accutron tuning-fork movement powers a complicated mechanism that displays the time, date, and a secondary time zone, all of which is easily controllable via the dual-crown system on the case flank. Perfect for a frequent traveler who desires an elegant dual-time solution, it comes paired to a black leather strap, and even features a compelling, horologically-themed engraving on the caseback.
Who could possibly resist such a compelling mix of history, design, and horology?