accutron

Bulova Accutron Spaceview 214 50th Anniversary Watch

It is hard to believe that the famous Accutron Spaceview watch collection is 50 years old. Accutron was a sub-brand by Bulova and the name chosen to sit on the classic nerd watch. There were many Spaceview timepieces over the line's lifetime, but each shared the same type of movement technology as well as open dial. Bulova and Accutron are now owned by Citizen watches of Japan. As a 50th anniversary collection, Bulova Accutron is releasing a limited edition set of 1000 pieces of the iconic Spaceview 214 watch. The pieces will share the proportions and style of the original, but with a hand assembled movement, high-grade steel case, domed sapphire crystal, and alligator strap.

Spaceview watches have electronic movements that were precursors to quartz movements called "tuning fork" movements. Unlike quartz movements, I believe that turning fork movements used a sweeping seconds (as opposed to ticking) hand like mechanical movements. Though the movements are battery powered. Consumers were wowed by the "cool factors" of the Spaceview back in the 1960s, and they became very popular. I first discussed Spaceview watches here. Today, there are many Spaceview watches still available on the collector's market. The pieces are recognizable by their open, mostly green movements that contain those double copper coils. Back then the circuit board style dial was modern as could be. By today's standards it has a retro look that reminds you of that transistor radio you took apart as a kid. The 1000 pieces of this Bulova Accutron Spaceview 214 reissue models are going to be hard to get, and come with a nostalgia premium going for about $4,000 a piece. Available Fall 2010.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 214, 50, accutron, anniversary, bulova, reissue, spaceview, watch

Bulova Accutron Kirkwood Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

It used to be that for the most part, even though Accutron was owned by Bulova, it was a separate watch brand. Under Japanese ownership by Citizen, you are seeing "Bulova Accutron" on watch dials now - which is a bit confusing in my opinion. Can't they just choose one name? In Japan, they seem to have a custom of branding, and then sub-branding. This is exhibited on many of their products, but to Americans, the redundant nomenclature is a bit confusing. Aside from that we are presented with a handsome watch that won't break the bank. This is the new Kirkwood dive style watch (not to be confused with "Kirkland," which would make it a Costco watch!).

The watch continues the new trend of porthole open dials for Bulova. You can see this at 12 o'clock, where you see a decorated view of the Swiss automatic Sellita SW 200 movement (same at ETA 2824-2). The case is in steel (with rose gold ion plating treatment) and is 44mm wide. There is also a normal steel version available with a blue, black or silver colored dial (as opposed to the pictured brown). It has a handsomely made rotating diver's bezel and 100 meters of water resistance. I like the large lume filled applied hour markers and the wave patterned dial.

The strap is not rubber, but fancy plastic (polyurethane). I'd have to check that out to see what it feels like. Lugs on the case look really long as well. In addition to the strap, there is a metal bracelet option available. Watch case crystal is sapphire. Not too sure about price - should be in the $1,000 - $1,300 range, and the full line should be available for the holiday season.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: accutron, automatic, bulova, dive, kirkwood, watch

Bulova Accutron Edison GMT Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Bulova continues to creep up market and some of the latest offerings are clear indication of that. Funny enough the once American, now Japanese (Citizen watches owned) watch maker seems to be using less Japanese movements now as opposed to before. As such, this Bulova Accutron Edison GMT watch contains a high-grade Swiss ETA 2893-2 automatic mechanical movement that I would have never guessed would end up in a watch like this.

Going along with the Japanese obsession for double naming products, what was once two labels is now one under this watch. Accutron used to be a separate label, but owned by Bulova. Now both names are mashed on the face in a seemingly unnecessary attempt to gain as much brand recognition as possible. I will let it slide though as it is just one of those Japanese marketing quirks. The focus on the watch is the large applied Arabic hour indicators while the GMT hand is smaller and has its own ring that doubles as an hour indicator path for the hour hand. I like the little red GMT hand that looks almost cute. The lugs on the 41mm wide steel case look to be direct homages to those on classic Accutron watches - namely the popular Spaceview. Aside from the odd looking "two highways intersecting" graphic in the middle of the watch, things seem to be pretty classic "on the Edison GMT watch front." The caseback has a movement display window and the watch is water resistant to 50 meters. The crystal is sapphire. No price yet, but I would expect just a couple of thousand dollars for this new Bulova Accutron timepiece.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 2893, accutron, bulova, edison, eta, gmt, swiss, timepiece, watch