Accutron adds two models to its Spaceview 2020 collection. The new editions add strap variations to the existing green-dialed model while retaining the watch’s 43.5mm polished stainless-steel case, green transparent open-work dial, clear outer ring, white hands and orange seconds hand.
Now offered on a choice of a matte black or green American alligator strap, the watch continues to flaunt Accutron’s unique elecrostatic-enhanced proprietary movement.
The movement utilizes electrostatic energy as created by rotating twin ‘turbines’ highlighted on the dial. That energy, stored in an accumulator, powers two motors. One is an electrostatic motor to power the seconds hand and the other is a step motor powering the hour and minute hands.
Accutron explains that the movement is accurate to plus or minus five seconds per month.
Accutron cases the openwork movement in a domed double box sapphire crystal and protects the movement with a water resistance rating of 50 meters.
Accutron adds four new colors to its electrostatic-movement-powered DNA timepiece collection to create the new Accutron DNA Casino series.
One of four new Accutron DNA Casino watches.
This sportier version of the original Accutron Spaceview series arrives in bright-hues, including green, blue, orange and red, all meant to echo the Las Vegas neon skyline.
Like the initial Accutron DNA models, these debuts feature 45.1mm steel cases in a grey finish with silver-grey accent on the outer hour/minute ring and silver-tone hands.
For each, a colorful open-work dial and crown match its brightly colored integrated rubber strap, which is set with a solid double-press deployant closure.
As a reminder, Accutron’s DNA collection and its Spaceview models feature watches powered by Accutron’s proprietary movement that utilizes electrostatic energy as created by rotating twin ‘turbines.’
That energy, stored in an accumulator, powers two motors. One is an electrostatic motor to power the seconds hand and the other is a step motor powering the hour and minute hands. Accutron clocks the movement’s monthly accuracy to plus or minus five seconds.
“The vibrancy and energy of the casino atmosphere came to life in the new Accutron DNA Casino collection,” says Jeffrey Cohen, President of Citizen Watch America. “These new timepieces are a playful way to showcase the world’s first electrostatic powered watch movement.”
Accutron will make each watch as a limited edition of 100 pieces, each priced at $3,500.
Accutron offers a new twist within its electrostatic-powered Spaceview collection. The new Spaceview Evolution features two models with a movement Accutron has shifted thirty degrees counterclockwise.
The new alignment creates an asymmetric look to the Spaceview, with the watch’s turbines positioned toward the 3 o’clock position rather than at the 6 o’clock location on existing Spaceview 2020 models.
One of two new Accutron Spaceview Evolution watches.
Similarly the crown on the new design is positioned at two o’clock rather than at 3 o’clock.
In addition, Accutron has also paired the new asymmetric look with new bridgework finishing that adds a fine knurled pattern to the movement as well as blue or black screws that contrast with the bridge hue, depending on the model.
One of the new Spaceview Evolution models features a smoky grey open-work dial with metal dial rings on which Accutron sets light green luminous markers along with silver hour and minute hands.
The other Spaceview Evolution model offers a silver-tone open-work dial with metal dial rings set with light green luminous markers, metallic blue hour and minute hands and a silver tone seconds hand.
Both watches retain the Spaceview’s existing 43.5mm by 15.9mm polished stainless-steel case with domed double box sapphire crystal. Both also remain water resistant to 50 meters.
As a reminder, Accutron’s Spaceview is powered by Accutron’s proprietary Miyota-built movement that utilizes electrostatic energy as created by the rotating twin ‘turbines.’
That energy, stored in an accumulator, powers two motors. One is an electrostatic motor to power the seconds hand and the other is a step motor powering the hour and minute hands. Accutron clocks the Spaceview’s monthly accuracy to plus or minus five seconds.
Accutron and Bulova celebrate their shared history with NASA and the U.S. Space Program by launching the Accutron Astronaut and Bulova Lunar Pilot, each inspired by vintage Space Age designs.
The new Accutron Astronaut
NASA worked closely with Accutron to devise timekeepers for watches, instrumental panelclocks and internal mechanisms integral to the numerous missions into space starting in the mid-1950s through the 1970s.
Similarly, Bulova watches were worn by astronauts and pilots in the same era. On August 2, 1971, Apollo 15’s mission commander made lunar history while wearing a Bulova chronograph.
An Accutron and NASA 60-minute timer from the 1960s space program.
Accutron Astronaut
Referencing the 1968 “T” version of its Astronaut model, Accutron now relaunches the model with an update that specifically highlights the watch’s distinctive day/night bezel. The new 41mm steel-cased Accutron Astronaut is the first re-edition in what Accutron says will be “an exciting new series of Accutron Astronaut timepieces.”
The new model offers a vintage-perfect double box sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, but updates the movement with a Sellita SW330 GMT automatic caliber that, in another update, is partially exposed via an exhibition case back.
Accutron fits the watch with a ‘bullet’ steel bracelet. The Accutron Astronaut is a limited edition of 300 pieces. Price: $3,500.
Bulova Lunar Pilot
With two new Lunar Pilot watches, Bulova expands its popular Archive Series with genuine vintage-sized replicas of the Bulova watch worn on the Moon. You might recall the first (and very successful) watch in the series, the 50th Anniversary Lunar Pilot Limited Edition, a 45mm model which Bulova in 2021 celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission.
The new Bulova Lunar Pilot, with black dial.
For the latest model, the case size remains surprisingly contemporary, measuring a full 43.5mm in diameter.
Bulova is offering the new watch with either a black dial (like the original) or a with a sporty two-tone blue and white chronograph dial.
The new Bulova Lunar Pilot, with blue and white dial.
Bulova fits both models the brand’s proprietary NP20 High Precision Quartz (HPQ) chronograph movement accurate to 1/20th second.
Both watches are available on steel bracelets and each also arrives with a matching leather strap.
Bulova connects the black-dialed edition with a black leather strap and offers a blue leather strap with the two-tone chronograph. Both straps are attached to the wrist with latched spring bars for interchangeability with the bracelet as desired. Price: $895.
There are more than a few iconic American companies that can trace their success to one product in particular. There’s Ford’s Model T, The Coca-Cola Company’s Coke, and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.
In the watch world, there’s Accutron, which was a revolutionary electronic watch with a tuning fork that Bulova debuted in 1960. Accutron today operates as its own brand.
Before writing this article, my knowledge about Joseph Bulova was limited. However, after diving deep into researching him, I have come to realize that Joseph Bulova was an innovative entrepreneur who not only loved to invent and visualize the future but also was guided by a strong sense of ethics and values.
Joseph Bulova emigrated from Bohemia (known today as the Czech Republic) to New York in 1870. As a fully trained watchmaker, he landed a job at Tiffany & Co. but left five years later to open a small jewelry store on Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan. It’s interesting to note that before dedicating his life to wristwatches, Joseph Bulova already had a few inventions under his belt, including making jewelry improvements to earrings, bracelets and rings.
Joseph Bulova understood time better than most and was always one step ahead. During his time in America the country was in its golden age of industry and progress thanks to railroads, manufacturing, electricity and light. It was the perfect era for Joseph Bulova to make his mark on timekeeping design and production.
By 1912, Bulova established a plant in Bienne, Switzerland, dedicated to the production of watch components and their assembly into jeweled movements. Although he was driven by the values of quality before quantity and perfection before production, Joseph Bulova was an early pioneer of mass and standardized production of watches, which he sought to fulfill his vision of putting an affordable watch on every wrist in the United States.
Bulova was one of the first brands to recognize the shift from pocket watches to wristwatches even before World War I. This was in large part due to Joseph’s 17-year-old office assistant, John Ballard, who would later become acting president of the company for almost fifty years.
Fifth Avenue
By 1927, the Bulova Watch Company moved to 580 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, complete with the Bulova Observatory on the roof — the first Observatory ever built on the top of a skyscraper. The Bulova School of Watchmaking is established in 1946. In 1948, Bulova develops the phototimer, which combined a photo-finish camera with an electronic timing mechanism. Bulova then introduced the unprecedented Accutron 214 electronic watch in 1960. In 1970, Bulova unveiled the 666 Devil Diver.
Bulova is associated with so many “firsts” in the industry, including the first radio clock, the first Dust-Tight Protector (to keep dust out of the watch movement), the first national radio commercial (1926), and the first television commercial (1941).
Bulova was also no stranger to pop culture with banners at the first Beatle concert in the United States. The Frank Sinatra Show musical variety show that ran in the early 1950s was also known as Bulova Watch Time. Earlier than this even, Bulova understood the importance of associating watches with celebrities of the era, like pioneer aviator Charles Lindbergh, Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller (who later became an actor famous for playing Tarzan), and General of the Army Omar Bradley.
In Space
The Bulova company was also involved with NASA, participating in forty-six space missions). In fact, the U.S. Air Force purchased an Accutron Astronaut watch for every pilot in the X-15 project, which ran from the late-1950s until the late-1960s. More recently, astronaut Dave Scott’s Bulova chronograph, which he wore on the Moon, sold for nearly $1.6 million at RR Auction.
Astronaut David Scott wore this Bulova chronograph on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. It sold for nearly $1.6 million in 2019.
Bulova was involved in many other applications such as developing timing instruments, clocks, and altimeters. However, some of Bulova’s work remains unknown as Bulova worked with the U.S. government on plenty of top-secret military projects.
Archives
Carl Rosen at Bulova’s museum in the Empire State Building.
Six years ago, Jeffrey Cohen, CEO of Citizen Watch America, called up Carl Rosen, a trained engineer and the former COO of Bulova, and archivist Julie Loftus and proposed creating a Bulova archive, complete with vintage watches, ads, memorabilia, sketches, designs, patents, marketing materials, and other ephemera.
The archive contains physical recordings, as well as digital electronics files stored in a database. Not only will this work serve to keep the Bulova brand alive forever, but it also lends inspiration to the current design, marketing, and sales teams. There’s plenty of material to inspire reissues or modern interpretations of vintage Bulova classics.
Furthermore, the Bulova museum is charged with showing the history and evolution of this important watch brand. Items are presented to represent key moments of both Bulova and American history. I was amazed to see unique and iconic pieces like one of the oldest Bulova watches with an open back, as well a watch that once belonged to Elvis Presley.
Today, the company has more than 2,000 physical items like advertisements, books, memorabilia and packaging, in addition to 6,000 digital documents like scans of Bulova annual reports, catalogs, commercials, and images. If you look at the packages, names of the watch lines, and advertisements, you quickly begin to see the history of the United States unfolding in front of you.
It’s clear that Bulova is an integral part of American history.
If you have the opportunity to visit the Bulova museum at the Bulova offices in the Empire State Building, I highly encourage it! Carl is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his work.
Bulova and Accutron have teamed with their headquarters, New York City’s Empire State Building, to light the building in Accutron’s signature green hue in celebration of Accutron’s anniversary on October 25.
Rosen is the encyclopedia of Bulova and he knows the ins and outs, the origins of everything, the timing, the advertisements, the why of this design or packaging, alongside a plethora of interesting anecdotes and charming stories.
If you want to learn more about the fascinating history of Bulova, I also recommend two beautiful books published by the brand. The first is “Bulova, A History of Firsts” and the second is “Bulova, A Legacy of Innovation.” A lot of documents are also accessible via the Bulova and Accutron websites.
I commend Julie and Carl for their amazing work to preserve the history of Bulova.
Laurent Martinez is the proprietor of Laurent Fine Watches, Greenwich, Connecticut. Read more by him at blog.laurentfinewatches.com or visit his store’s site at www.laurentfinewatches.com
Accutron explains that the movement is accurate to plus or minus five seconds per month.
For each, a colorful open-work dial and crown match its brightly colored integrated rubber strap, which is set with a solid double-press deployant closure.
Bulova connects the black-dialed edition with a black leather strap and offers a blue leather strap with the two-tone chronograph. Both straps are attached to the wrist with latched spring bars for interchangeability with the bracelet as desired. Price: $895. 
