er... 20th century, but who notices our blatant errors? lol

My grandfather was given a gold Bulova Acutron by his employer, General Motors, on the 25th anniversary of his employment. That was in 1973. He wore the watch for over 30 years, replacing the battery whenever it stopped keeping time, until one day, 5 years ago, a jeweler broke it... Papa kept the watch in a drawer as a keepsake, despite it not being functional. My Papa is no longer with me, he passed away in 2016. Today I picked up his watch from my watchmaker, who happened, out of sheer luck, to be one of the last graduates of the Bulova school of watchmaking. It's like new. The watch isn't worth much money, a few hundred dollars at best, and it's not especially fashionable. It is a horological oddity, this tuning fork movement, a relic of the past... not a mechanical swiss masterpiece, and it isn't going up in value... but it was His watch... and now here it is, humming away with that faint tuningfork buzz, on my wrist... It is my most cherished possession, and my all-time favorite watch.

What's more amazing is you knowing all that info on this watch . How on earth they made that little tiny lever . That's crazy .

That micro toothed gear is unbelievable

It's weird how the greatest technical achievement of the 21st century happened during the 20th century

The index wheels were stacked and hobbed, the hobbing machine was very large and was similar to a 1 to N reducing arm such as was used in a New Hermes engraving machine, the information is known and is in the public domain and has been for many years although the actual device is rumored to have been destroyed at the order of Bulova some time after the end of production. Almost a predecessor to the DaVinci surgical robot without the computer and servo system. There is no secret as to how the pawl jewels were manufactured! Also the transistors were hand assembled Germanium point contact devices made by ATT or P.R. Mallory in the first model 214 as I recall. There are something like a dozen of these movements in residence on the moon. Great work with the high speed and the magnification! Hope the info is useful.

In my last life, I was a field service technician. I used to have an account on the east coast that was a high end watch maker with a vault just for the jewels added to the watches. In one room were long benches and skilled tradesmen assembling the watches by hand. using micro sized files and tweezers.I would just stand there for what felt like hours watching them build. Such talent. But I didn't see any aliens. They were probably just the engineers.

I used to fix this tipe of watches and went to the North Seattle University to study how to fix all the movements . I still have one like the 218 and still working since 1977.

I bought one of these in the late 60's because my job required precise timing on a electronic military device. It was accurate enough that I really did not need to listen to every time signal that was transmitted from the bureau of standards time clock. Thanks for giving us fans of this watch an inside look. By the way it cost me about a third of a months pay to buy it.

I collect Accutrons and have 8 that work and 6 that stopped working because people put modern batteries in them all modern watches run on 1.5 volts or 3 volts but the Accutron runs on 1.35 volts so a modern watch battery will fry it , when I was younger and got my first "Space View" my hearing was much better and it would drive me nuts with the ringing ( squeal ) it would make I could find it anyplace in the house just from the noise it would make ( they all have a tuning fork inside ) , not my hearing is shot and they don't tick but also they stopped bothering me . I love the sweep of the second hand no one second jerk but a smooth movement . They are one awesome watch , I collect rare old watches and Accutrons are at the top of my favorite watches ( they also made a desk clock ) . Great video , Thank you . 2 thumbs up

Not saying it was aliens... BUT IT WAS ALIENS!!!

My Dad has one of these. I'm so impressed with it. The cool thing is the noise it makes. It doesn't tick. It hums. SO cool. Luv and Peace.

My Dad got one of those in the late 60's as I recall, good watch, the humming sound was very unique. He wore it til he died in 1976.

Once had an engineer tell me that the indexing jewel is what cut the teeth. The wheel is heated to a temp where it starts to get soft. The indexing jewel pushes against the wheel, making a toothy impression. Bump the index jewel again, another tooth, next thing you know, teeth all around. Micro-scale forging. Then again, he had no idea how the jewels were made/affixed. Fun tech. BTW,

i am watchmaker, i was working at official seiko service, few wears ago...we reapair al kind of watches, quartz, mechanical, digital.... but this is mindblow! also for me, one of craziest watches was Quartz tissot with som kind of electro mechanical compass made inside stanlies steel shell. That watch is made for mr. mrs. smith mowie some years ago.

hats off to the guy that made this.. ive always loved small things.. the smaller and more working parts the better.. the swiss mini gun is amazing i want one so bad but theyre banned in the u.s. for being so small i guess.. but it was made by a watch maker. i should try something like that.

When the 214 and 218 movement was introduced, Bulova held regional schools to teach watchmakers how to repair them. The excellent microscope, as part of the tool kit, made all the difference. Without it, it's impossible to properly adjust the index and pawl jewels.

Not at all what I expected when I clicked on it. Thanks for taking the time to make this! I've seen a few things about this watch before but never a slow motion video of it in action. Thanks man!!

This was amazing. Both the presentation and the explanation. I had no idea this type of technology even existed. Thank you!

Thanks for the nice reminder. This was my dad's watch (I still have it) and I grew up intrigued by the noise, but it drifted out of my mind over the 37 years since he passed away, until this morning.

As a diagnostic tech and a mechanical engineer at heart, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen on KZfaq, maybe ever. Thanks for doing this video.

I missed this the first time around. Incredible. Awesome vid

I have 3 of these watches .They all have the open face design.My father( who worked at the Kennedy Space Center at the time) bought one of these in the early 1960's .I still have it.

Watching this in 2024 wearing my 1965 Accutron, what a wonderful video, makes me like the watch even more.

Such a curious sound it makes and what a nifty mechanism!

That was a really cool video! You should make more videos like this one where you just talk about random cool things that have intricate parts! Favorite channel on KZfaq for sure!

I... didn't expect to have my mind blown by an old watch... but it's definitely a mind blow.

Wow, thanks for your effort. I have one of these in fine working condition and the fact that it has lasted over 50 years is just astonishing. I had a rough idea of how it worked but putting a hair in the picture made it very clear just how tiny those gear teeth are and how fast it is moving. Thanks again.

Very cool! You should start a series

Wow Jeff, what a marvel of engineering. I'm always amazed at how advanced some technologies were even as far back as the sixties. I don't think the average person realizes (and me included) how incredible human innovation in the modern age really is.

Truly amazing, especially since those tiny index wheels were made in the 1960's.

That is a really cool watch it amazes me how someone came up with the idea for it and got it to work so well with such tiny parts... watch makers are different breed...

"Pawl Finger". That's the name of my new Simon & Garfunkel tribute string quartet.

Cool video! But how is it as a slug?

My Dad had one of those, he bought it from a friend who had a jewelry store in the early 70's, we still have it in the family.

I owned one back in the 60s. It made a very soft humming sound. I still have it, although I stopped wearing it long ago. While going through a closet, I found it and took it to a jeweler for inspection. Of course, the battery was dead. He put a new battery in and the watch came to life. It works as well as when it was new. Compare that to my father's Rolex of equal vintage. It wasn't working so we sent it to Rolex in NY. We got a letter saying it was unrepairable due to the unavailability of parts.

Love your vids but this even though different was beautiful in its own way. I love precision and mechanics and anything autonomous. thanks for this Jeff🎩

man that was sick as, what a piece of engineering

I own a Bulova Accutron from the mid 70s and that watch still keeps perfect time. I do not wear it much anymore since it tends to eat batteries, but it still functions as well as the day it was made. About once a year or so I will have a new battery installed and wear it until the battery dies.

that's insane. you would never think that much is going on in just a watch. trillions of movements! cray cray

That's awesome! :D Really cool video! Liked!

Man, RIP headphone users. I thought my tinnitus was getting worse. Fascinating watch though.

Amazing video, very informative. It shocking how under appreciated this technology and craftsmanship is these days. Watch collectors are so snobby about any watch that is not a mechanical watch when the simple quartz watch and the accutron watch technology was just so amazing.

Dude! Thanks for the educational video! We definitely owe you a beer. My first Accutron was in 1962 but I lost it during my Vietnam tour. Recently obtained one via eBay and it is in excellent condition. Best of luck!

This is an engineer's wet dream

I have a Bulova precisionist. I believe it is the most accurate now.

what a fascinating feat of engineering - thank you for showing us this in slow motion so we could see the mechanism in action.

That is the most incredible things I've seen, and just to think it's from the 60's. Thanx for posting it.

I love your enthusiasm but a trillion is a big number! Even if this watch lasted 40 years non stop it would only vibrate the mechanism 454,118,400,000 (Four hundred fifty four billion, One hundred eighteen million, Four hundred thousand) times. Still incredibly impressive though. 360*60*60*24*365*40

How can something be boring and fascinating at the same time

Accutron’s are my big big love... have my Bulova Accutron Astronaut GMT on my wrist at the moment, what a beautiful humming beast 🔥

Thanks for this amazing share. My Dad used to repair watches. Good memories surfaced watching this. Amazing design and mechanics on this baby.

Who were the 5 people who disliked, swatch people?

u_u for a second i thought that marvelous piece of engineering was going to get shoot.

I watched this video this morning, and as I was drinking my cup of coffee, I realized that I wasn't quite awake enough to take in all the amazing technical detail that went into the manufacturing and engineering of this watch. The slow motion video of the indexing mechanism, compared to the human hair was truly amazing to see. I have seen some other videos of watches being assembled, and always marvel at the precision of engineering. Thanks for bringing us something unique to "watch". See what I did there?

If you told me earlier today that I was going to watch a KZfaq video about a 1960's watch and it's movement and be completely fascinated..I wouldn't believe it.

Hmmm...Maybe we really did go to the moon!

cool watch. bit if it makes that sound I couldent stand to be in the same room as it.

Loved that watch ,I have my father's spaceview ,it's all worn out and I keep it because it was my dad's .one day I will restore it if I can afford to

Thank you for this video, it got me curious and I pulled out my old Bulova! Looked it up on eBay and it's $195! That's some good money I could use

Way cool. I wonder if such a watch could be made today at an affordable price. The quartz oscillator all but killed the fine art of watchmaking. I'm only aware of a couple Swiss companies that use traditional methods.

Nanomachines, son. I'm joking.

One of the most impressive watch related videos I have ever seen. Why doesn't it have millions of views????

That watch is so amazing. I want one now.

Thanks for bumping this into our feeds again. Really enjoyed it.

Great 1950's-style documentary voice, complete with slight chuckles to liven up a relatively dry subject.

This is hands down the best action footage of the pawl and index finger that I've ever seen. It really drives home the marvel and ingenuity of accutron movements. No wonder all the super spies were issued these. If these little accutrons were slightly more robust, they would have passed NASA's wristwatch test and there would be no Omega Moonwatch... just accutrons imbedded within spaceship hardware and on the wrists of astronauts- a complete (and unbelievably smooth) sweep, so to speak. Where a watch like the Hamilton Pulsar P1 pushed electric watches into the digital age, there is no comparison to the marvel of Bolova's achievement. Thank you for this video.

Grandpa bought one as soon as they hit the market. Listening to the tuning fork was fascinating.

All your content is AMAZING. Whenever a Taofledermaus notification pops up, I find a way to watch it! Thank you for all the great Info!

I am pretty sure this is the best youtube channel. also, chronos cameras are the best thing to ever happen to youtube.

not just the shotguns I come here for Geoff, this was a beautiful look at some amazing mechanical engineering. well done

I have a feeling that the gear was built by the tuning fork itself then casted there in after. The watch being built around the gear, built around the transistors all while having extremely high quality resistors. I'd say this watch is the definition of high quality. Amazing

Thank you!!! I just learned about the Accutron, and this video is *EXACTLY* what I wanted to see!! Cheers! Great work with the slo-mo microscope camera! The footage was great! What truly incredible technology! Super cool.

awesome video! My dad had this watch and I used to listen to it as a kid.

Thank you for all the work on the amazing videography and images. It describes the design and function superbly. Human hair overlay: nice touch!

My father bought a "Spaceview" version of the 214 model in 1968. I still have it. It has been "serviced" a few times... but it has never needed repair. It has run continuously for 50 years now... except for the 1 minute per year that it takes to change the battery... and the few times that it has been "serviced" for an hour or two. At over 31 MILLION oscillations per day of the Tuning Fork times 365 days per year times 50 years... it has pushed the Index Wheel over 550 BILLION times... without fail! I have "regulated" it (they have small "plates" at the ends of the Tuning Forks that allow it to speed up or slow down a few seconds per day) to well within the original stated "guarantee" by Bulova of 2 seconds per day accuracy ( for the first year of ownership). I often get these to run within /3 second per day over a few months. Try THAT with a Rolex!

that was AMAZING! I like adding loops to camera for macro views. AMAZING engineering involved in the watch is baffling. I'M de baffled. GREAT job, thanks guys.

thank you so much for appreciating this work of art. As an aspiring watchmaker it always makes me extremely happy to see other people interested in such amazing movements such as this one. This is one of my dream watches.

This is the best KZfaq video I've watched all week. I love precision.

What an incredible and crazy cool watch. It's insane thinking about how all those mechanisms are in something so small. Thank you so much for sharing!

Excellent video and description. I remember an old guy who was a friend of my family had one about 1970. I was fascinated by that hum and the smooth second hand. Now I really want one for my collection.

all I can say is wow...that's absolutely incredible

I don't know why I'm just now seeing this in June 2020 but it's real nostalgia for me. I bought an Accutron Astronaut in 1966. It is even more complex as it has 2 hour hands. One goes around every 12 hours and the other every 24 and it has a rotating 24-hour bezel. You rotate that to set the 24-hour hand. I was in the Air Force at the time stationed in Alaska with frequent TDYs to other time zones so I could set one hand to local time and leave the other on Alaska time. I still have it but the batteries have become hard to find.

Definitely the best video on this. Thank you.

To make something that complex at such a scale is amazing!

Hell I was expecting that Bulova to be somehow stuffed into a 12g hull and blown down range at 1500 fps! Was I surprised! In all seriousness one of the best clips I've yet seen on KZfaq on an astounding piece of engineering that's got me fucked in awe as to how the hell it was built!

When I went to horology (watch and clock making) school back in the 70's, one of these was the last piece I work on before graduating. I remember the teacher telling me not to touch the wheel at all with tweezers, handle by the arbor only. He also got a good deal on some, which one of them I had to get after seeing them work. Still have it.

This is an amazing piece of engineering. I love seeing how mechanical or electro-mechanical devices work. Before modern technology that gave us quartz clocks and transistors (for other devices), people had to find novel and new physical ways to do things. My pocket-watch is mechanical because I just love seeing the motion (it has an open face). They're also so robust! I wouldn't be surprised if this watch would last a long time while running constantly. When something is more difficult, complex, and expensive to make, you sure as heck wanted it to last. The ingenuity needed is just superb. It's really neat seeing this gem of vintage timekeeping.

I knew most of the things about how this mechanism works but never saw it in slow motion and a close up of it. Really nice video

Absolutely love this design. Just happened to read about it a week ago. Very impressive craftsmanship.

The engineering in that is stunning, thank you for posting.

Fantastic video Jeff! I love watches and I've always been fascinated and curious as to how these electric Accutrons worked. Maybe you could do a companion video in the future of a modern quartz movement.

Absolutely mindblowing. Truly stunning...thank you for sharing!

That was amazing. These watches came out when I was a kid. I had no idea that they had the ability to do that kind of miniaturization then. Great video. guys. Almost better than the shooting vids.

More like these! Listening to zero-project while watching this was great. Great vid as always Jeff. Love your channel.

Wow. Amazing design and craftsmanship!

Hey Jeff, I'm a mechanical engineering student, and this was one of the coolest and most interesting videos ON ANY CHANNEL that I have ever seen. Awesome! I hope to see more stuff like this. Also, The shotgun stuff is still cool.

Hope you make more videos like this one! Short, too the point,interesting=KZfaq gold!

By far one of his best videos ever!!

Amazing craftsmanship. Thanks for sharing Jeff!