I have one hand wind watch from 1930, and it stills run, also have some from 50 60 and 70 and they al run , when i wind them or put on my wrist (automatics)
My dad used to have one when I was very young. I remember slipping it on my wrist and laying down on the bed with it against my ear. It was the neatest sounding watch.
My grandpa, former Division Chief of Aeronautics for NASA passed away last week after another’s 30 years in the private sector designing supersonic aircraft. As the only grandchild, I had my pick of his possessions, but I asked for only one thing: the watch my grandmother gave to him on their anniversary in 1961... his Bulova Accutron Spaceview watch. It still keeps perfect time, but not Due to the tuning fork. It has a heartbeat, I’d swear to it. Got the watch today, and it really is a special piece. I’ll cherish it and hope to pass it on to another generation one day :-)
Regarding the perceived jankiness of the oscillation, I think the diffeent frame rates might be the issue. First, you're sampling a 360 Hz signal with a 1000 Hz sample rate. This gives you 2.8 samples per cycle, which is just barely above the Nyquist requirement. To make matters worse, you're exporting it as 50 Hz, for playback, most likely, on 60 Hz screens. This also gives time domain distorion since in practice, every 5th frame of the original material is duplicated, to produce the higher frame rate. So in essence, that's no grounds to suspect anything wrong with the watch.
Yes, I was about to suggest the same thing - just a basic strobing/aliasing effect because of the effective frame rate being only a small multiple of the oscillation rate.
You didn't mention the best part of the engineering of this watch, the small wheel driven by the tuning fork... its only a couple of mm in diameter but it has 360 teeth cut into it, still people not sure how they made them so accurate and reliable 50 years ago... there are two jewels that ride on that wheel, some of these watches have had billions of ratchets on that wheel yet still work fine... need a good microscope to see the teeth on the wheel..
It is a very impressive technology and it is even more impressive that this extremely fine mechanic lasts that long! I know a person worked at the Bulova factory and made these wheels. They were drilled mechanically by mainly Italian workers (and not swiss!) in the factory in Biel (Switzerland)
Dave, The watch that NASA used to go to the moon in 1969 was the Omega Speedmaster, a completely mechanical watch. The reason the Accutron looks like a sweep second hand is that the tuning fork turns a gear (we call them wheels in watchmaking) that has 360 teeth on it. If you look really closely you'll see it does click along. The watches of the world's best watchmaker (George Daniels) were fully mechanical watches accurate to less than one second a month beating the Bulova. Needless to say they cost a lot! When I was in the US military in the late 60's you could by the Bulova in military stores along with Rolex but most people bought the Rolex which was only accurate to 5 seconds a day. The Bulova guys loved to pick on the Rolex guys! Also, it's pronounced: BULL-uh-vuh Enjoy your great watch, Rob
+EEVblog No, he's right, the speedmaster is an omega wristwatch, still in production although the original lemania based cal. 321 manual wind chronograph movement used on the Apollo missions has been replaced with 861, 1861 and now some co-axial movements in newer models (although the newer models are now flight qualified and are one of the options available to nasa astronauts on missions)
Yes, that's right: www.omegawatches.com/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/moonwatch-chronograph/ "Since its launch more than half a century ago, the OMEGA Speedmaster has been the classic chronograph, known for its robust reliability and timeless design. And since the 21st of July 1969, when it was first worn on the lunar surface, it has been popularly known as the Moonwatch."
+mosfet500 Its definitely a very cool movement-- the fact that an in house movement can be mass produced and still be accurate to way better than chronometer standards with the kind of reliability and toughness omega has gotten out of it... It's a huge leap for sure. But the lemania/321 movements still have it beat in terms of shear beauty in my opinion. Not until you step up to the likes of FP Journe, A. Lange & Sohn, Vacheron or Patek do you see movements that looks quite that good.
Thanks Dave, I have always enjoyed your channel and now we have something else in common. I'm wearing my N1, 214 Spaceview right now. I'm a second generation owner after my father had one in the late '60s. Cheers!
I remember this being shown on "The Secret Life of Machines" when I was 12 or so... The Bulova Accutron was essentially the prototype for all modern crystal oscillator powered timekeeping devices...
"You can shut the gate on this one Maxie it's the ducks guts!" Beautiful object of desire I was blissfully ignorant of. Now on my list of things I need in my life. Much appreciate all that you do.
I have an M3 (1963) spaceview. I haven't had it running in a while, but it was working perfectly when I last removed the battery. One of my favorite watches by far.
accurate??? lol are you joking the world time is not accurate, one year is 365 days and the next one 366,m so how a wathc is accurate?, day is not 24hours as they say. FUCK YOU OFF IMBECILE.
I have taken a couple tuning fork watches apart as a kid, but now I get how it works. There are 2 little feeler legs off of the tuning fork that ratchet around the smallest cog wheel. Every time the fork oscillates outwards it advances the cog a little bit. I appreciate this so much more.
really big/many thumbs up.. only have a single one to give.That's really beautiful, the design, these pictures, the imagination of the 1960ties era.And this slomo video on the vibrating tuning forks.. Really great cinema!!
I have a couple of these and the most remarkable things is the micro machining of the two 'hairs' that drive the geartrain. You can seem them in a couple of the illustrations, with some pink rubies on the end. Nowdays we'd describe it as nano technology, but it was a remarkable engineering feat for the time.
Ahh Dave, I'm so thankful to you for providing both the sound and high-speed footage of this watch, they are amazing to witness. Quick question though, do those two metal strips to the left of the face provide any function or are they just there to fill up the space?
Never heard of this so thanks for that! Also fully understand why you didn't take this apart but it was nice to see the pictures on how it was constructed. Electronics can be built to last - this amongst some older equipment proves it!
I'm late to the party, again, but what a great vid ;-). I joined the GPO in the UK in the mid/late 70s and we were trained in electro-mechanical teleprinter refurbishment (total strip-down and rebuild) and I still look back in amazement at the awesomeness of their functionality. However this watch is something else. Extremely impressive
That is a beautiful watch. The silver oxide battery has open circuit potential of 1,55V, but the typical median operating voltage is 1.2 to 1.5 V depending on the current.
Thank you for showing the unique design of this watch. You will not meet many people with one. I bought a new one in 1974 for my college graduation. My background and education are in electronics. Component level design and operation, so I had to have it. Guess what watch was worn by our Astronauts? Why?
The Space View was actually a demonstrator watch, it was not intended to be a model for sale to the public but rather to show how the watch worked. The demand was so high for the demonstrator, Bulova made them in addition to the solid face version.
When listening to the hum, the high harmonic you hear is the pawl ratcheting the index wheel forward. The index wheel spins over 38 million times per year and has 320 teeth that you can't even see well with magnification. Sometimes when you put a battery in, you'll hear just the fork vibrating, but no spinning of the movement til you tap on the side which gets the index wheel spinning.
I literally gasped when you showed the high-speed footage of the tuning fork. Had no idea these existed and were used for space missions, even though I thought I knew quite a lot about those. Thank you for sharing this with us!
I had one for many years, starting as a teenager. But I knew how to pronounce "BUHlova" (not like "Lenovo"). Glad to see that you finally praise an electronic device that I also liked.
Yes, but he might have said that because back then all Germanium transistors were PNP ~1960 - - of-course you'll have to reverse the polarity of the battery, if the crkt allows
2021 Jan, I have 3 Accutron wrist watch. one is a RailRoad version. THe differance is the RR the 2nd hand stops, so it can be calibrated to the second.
I was 9 years old and use to stare at this watch through the local jewelers window for hours. I found one the other day and I only had to wait 50 years but I now own one. Also the bare face watch was never supposed to be sold. It was used to market the watch and the demand was so high they were forced to build them.
I think the apparent jumpy tuning fork vibration is the result of the video FPS rate not meshing smoothly with the rate of the tuning fork's vibration. The video frames are catching the fork in different positions.
Right about half way between an F sharp and an F (below A440) which is pretty much spot on 360Hz. Didn't expect to use my tuner watching a video about a watch!
That watch cost as much as a good used car. Tearing it down would be stupid. If you want to see one pulled pieces and put back together again there are videos on CZcams. Go look
M8 is not a model definition but rather a date code. M is the decade and the number is the year in that decade. These are beauties, they also made some official Railroad Approved watches with enamel dials. The movements were also used under license by the likes of Omega.
I remember seeing adverts for these i n old magazines. Terrific engineering, the frequency must give the first cog a good workout and durability must have been a serious consideration for the designers. Does the tuning fork self start or do you need to give the case a tap after changing the battery?
the most astounding thing about the movement is that tiny gear that drives everything via the pawls set with tiny jewels. the gear is so fragile that the teeth can be smudged off if touched incorrectly
I'm sorry Dave, but the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch on the moon. Bulova time device, not watch is used on the Appollo missions. Omega Speedmaster started its legacy in early 1965 when Nasa approved the watch for piloted missions. It has been part of some of humankind's greatest achievements. Its role in all six lunar landings earned it the nickname “the Moonwatch”. Because it is a chronograph, the watch can be used as a stopwatch. Verry useful when you must time a burn (Appollo 13!). See: www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/space/, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Speedmaster and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulova#Space for more info.
the best way to pick the sound of that hum would have been to use a piezoelectric pickup instead of the aerial microphone, precisely the kind of piezo capsule used as speaker in electronic watches, they catch any structural sound wonderfully and are connectable just like a normal microphone.
The original space view watch was only meant as a display piece in the jewellers window to show the fork mech. However they got so many people wanting to purchase one they started producing them for sale.
Don't tape the lavalier mic to the watch. You pick up lots of other mechanical noises transmitted through the watch (well, probably only the fork, but it will sound different due to the direct contact). Have it real close, but physically isolated from the watch and you might well get that sweet sound that you are looking for.
I got a accutron 218D, it has date function, a very nice date function there snap at midnight. Not like my other watches there are about 2 hours to move to next number. 218D is cheaper and the beautiful coils are hidden.
Just want to mention that the new Accutron line does not have a tuning fork movement. The one you put up is the Bulova Alpha - a part of the Accutron line. These watches are quartz powered but use a special movement called the "Precisionist" movement. This movement is (as the name suggests) very accurate and offers an incredibly smooth seconds hand - just slightly less smooth than the tuning fork movement. Now Bulova DID in fact make a real anniversary edition Accutron with a tuning fork movement that looks very similar to the Alpha. But this watch goes for $5,000, whereas the Alpha sells for ~$240.
Bulova was founded as the J. Bulova Company in 1875 by Joseph Bulova (1851 -1936), an immigrant from Bohemia. It became part of the Loews Corporation in 1979 and sold to Citizen at the end of 2007.
I wonder if the vibrations from the tuning fork have a dithering effect on the gears. And I'm talking about the source of the term of graphical dithering. Look up "dither" on Wikipedia, and look at the history section, it's neat. Anyway… Super cool video; I didn't even know this type of watch existed!
I bought one of these new in 1965 and it still runs.
I have one hand wind watch from 1930, and it stills run,
also have some from 50 60 and 70 and they al run , when i wind them or put on my wrist (automatics)
My dad used to have one when I was very young. I remember slipping it on my wrist and laying down on the bed with it against my ear. It was the neatest sounding watch.
My grandpa, former Division Chief of Aeronautics for NASA passed away last week after another’s 30 years in the private sector designing supersonic aircraft. As the only grandchild, I had my pick of his possessions, but I asked for only one thing: the watch my grandmother gave to him on their anniversary in 1961... his Bulova Accutron Spaceview watch. It still keeps perfect time, but not Due to the tuning fork. It has a heartbeat, I’d swear to it.
Got the watch today, and it really is a special piece. I’ll cherish it and hope to pass it on to another generation one day :-)
Regarding the perceived jankiness of the oscillation, I think the diffeent frame rates might be the issue. First, you're sampling a 360 Hz signal with a 1000 Hz sample rate. This gives you 2.8 samples per cycle, which is just barely above the Nyquist requirement. To make matters worse, you're exporting it as 50 Hz, for playback, most likely, on 60 Hz screens. This also gives time domain distorion since in practice, every 5th frame of the original material is duplicated, to produce the higher frame rate. So in essence, that's no grounds to suspect anything wrong with the watch.
Yes, I was about to suggest the same thing - just a basic strobing/aliasing effect because of the effective frame rate being only a small multiple of the oscillation rate.
You didn't mention the best part of the engineering of this watch, the small wheel driven by the tuning fork... its only a couple of mm in diameter but it has 360 teeth cut into it, still people not sure how they made them so accurate and reliable 50 years ago... there are two jewels that ride on that wheel, some of these watches have had billions of ratchets on that wheel yet still work fine... need a good microscope to see the teeth on the wheel..
320 teeth the fork moves at 360 hz so the gear actually makes more than one rotation per second.
MY CHINESE CHEAP QUARTZ WATCH IS MORE ACURATE THAN THAT SHIT.
@@lkkjhtemmexv1838 Your stupidity is profound and obvious for all to see.
@@lkkjhtemmexv1838 Who gives a shit?
It is a very impressive technology and it is even more impressive that this extremely fine mechanic lasts that long! I know a person worked at the Bulova factory and made these wheels. They were drilled mechanically by mainly Italian workers (and not swiss!) in the factory in Biel (Switzerland)
Dave,
The watch that NASA used to go to the moon in 1969 was the Omega Speedmaster, a completely mechanical watch. The reason the Accutron looks like a sweep second hand is that the tuning fork turns a gear (we call them wheels in watchmaking) that has 360 teeth on it. If you look really closely you'll see it does click along.
The watches of the world's best watchmaker (George Daniels) were fully mechanical watches accurate to less than one second a month beating the Bulova. Needless to say they cost a lot!
When I was in the US military in the late 60's you could by the Bulova in military stores along with Rolex but most people bought the Rolex which was only accurate to 5 seconds a day. The Bulova guys loved to pick on the Rolex guys!
Also, it's pronounced: BULL-uh-vuh
Enjoy your great watch,
Rob
It wasn't a watch, it was used in a instrument left on the moon.
+EEVblog No, he's right, the speedmaster is an omega wristwatch, still in production although the original lemania based cal. 321 manual wind chronograph movement used on the Apollo missions has been replaced with 861, 1861 and now some co-axial movements in newer models (although the newer models are now flight qualified and are one of the options available to nasa astronauts on missions)
Yes, that's right:
www.omegawatches.com/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/moonwatch-chronograph/
"Since its launch more than half a century ago, the OMEGA Speedmaster has been the classic chronograph, known for its robust reliability and timeless design. And since the 21st of July 1969, when it was first worn on the lunar surface, it has been popularly known as the Moonwatch."
The co-axial was a George Daniels design. It was considered one of the greatest watch advancements.
+mosfet500 Its definitely a very cool movement-- the fact that an in house movement can be mass produced and still be accurate to way better than chronometer standards with the kind of reliability and toughness omega has gotten out of it... It's a huge leap for sure. But the lemania/321 movements still have it beat in terms of shear beauty in my opinion. Not until you step up to the likes of FP Journe, A. Lange & Sohn, Vacheron or Patek do you see movements that looks quite that good.
Thanks Dave, I have always enjoyed your channel and now we have something else in common. I'm wearing my N1, 214 Spaceview right now. I'm a second generation owner after my father had one in the late '60s. Cheers!
I remember this being shown on "The Secret Life of Machines" when I was 12 or so...
The Bulova Accutron was essentially the prototype for all modern crystal oscillator powered timekeeping devices...
I have an Accutron Spaceview. Thanks for the great video. Cheers
"You can shut the gate on this one Maxie it's the ducks guts!" Beautiful object of desire I was blissfully ignorant of. Now on my list of things I need in my life. Much appreciate all that you do.
I have an M3 (1963) spaceview. I haven't had it running in a while, but it was working perfectly when I last removed the battery. One of my favorite watches by far.
Great video, and a really cool watch - been eyeing these up for months; I really should just get one. Thanks for sharing!
It was the most accurate watch before it's time ran out... LOL
hahaha.
pinhead
What does a hungry watch that didn't get enough to eat do?
It goes back four seconds.
Comic timing!
accurate??? lol are you joking
the world time is not accurate, one year is 365 days and the next one 366,m so how a wathc is accurate?, day is not 24hours as they say.
FUCK YOU OFF IMBECILE.
I have taken a couple tuning fork watches apart as a kid, but now I get how it works. There are 2 little feeler legs off of the tuning fork that ratchet around the smallest cog wheel. Every time the fork oscillates outwards it advances the cog a little bit. I appreciate this so much more.
That's a beautiful piece of engineering. Thanks for showing it off!
really big/many thumbs up.. only have a single one to give.That's really beautiful, the design, these pictures, the imagination of the 1960ties era.And this slomo video on the vibrating tuning forks.. Really great cinema!!
Thanks for showing this. I always wondered about the first electronic watch, but never took the time to learn it's history.
My chemistry teacher back in late 1990s used to wear such a watch. The whole class was fascinated by this thing.
LOVING IT! I like watches that have a story or crazy ideas behind the desing choices and this one takes the cake. :D
As long as you are not running out of time... Very good video, thanks Dave.
Excellent video-- As always. Great production quality. Thanks.
I have a couple of these and the most remarkable things is the micro machining of the two 'hairs' that drive the geartrain. You can seem them in a couple of the illustrations, with some pink rubies on the end. Nowdays we'd describe it as nano technology, but it was a remarkable engineering feat for the time.
Ahh Dave, I'm so thankful to you for providing both the sound and high-speed footage of this watch, they are amazing to witness.
Quick question though, do those two metal strips to the left of the face provide any function or are they just there to fill up the space?
That continuous second hand is the reason I chose my Bulova Precisionist watch! I absolutely love the look of it.
Super accurate those ones!
Lol, you guys are such nerds, It's great. I love how diverse your channel is. Please keep this stuff up. I would never have heard of this stuff.
Never heard of this so thanks for that! Also fully understand why you didn't take this apart but it was nice to see the pictures on how it was constructed. Electronics can be built to last - this amongst some older equipment proves it!
Great review, thank you! The super-slo-mo @14:10 is amazing!
I just bought one and you made a video about it. You made my day sir!!!
"Hope you enjoyed it..." I DID enjoy it! Ya did your homework! Thanks, so much!
I've got my dad's '69 Accutron Astronaut 214. Love the hum.
I'm late to the party, again, but what a great vid ;-). I joined the GPO in the UK in the mid/late 70s and we were trained in electro-mechanical teleprinter refurbishment (total strip-down and rebuild) and I still look back in amazement at the awesomeness of their functionality. However this watch is something else. Extremely impressive
I can remember the illustration of this watch in the first technical encyclopedia my parents brought me when i was a kid ('75-'80s)!!!
Amazing to see the fork at 1000 fps! Hope to see the watch on your wrist next time.
I am glad to you left the lightning stuff at the end of the video.
That is a beautiful watch. The silver oxide battery has open circuit potential of 1,55V, but the typical median operating voltage is 1.2 to 1.5 V depending on the current.
Thank you for showing the unique design of this watch. You will not meet many people with one. I bought a new one in 1974 for my college graduation. My background and education are in electronics. Component level design and operation, so I had to have it. Guess what watch was worn by our Astronauts? Why?
The Space View was actually a demonstrator watch, it was not intended to be a model for sale to the public but rather to show how the watch worked. The demand was so high for the demonstrator, Bulova made them in addition to the solid face version.
I want one now.... Awesome video as always!!!
Brilliant - very educational and interesting...
When listening to the hum, the high harmonic you hear is the pawl ratcheting the index wheel forward. The index wheel spins over 38 million times per year and has 320 teeth that you can't even see well with magnification. Sometimes when you put a battery in, you'll hear just the fork vibrating, but no spinning of the movement til you tap on the side which gets the index wheel spinning.
I literally gasped when you showed the high-speed footage of the tuning fork. Had no idea these existed and were used for space missions, even though I thought I knew quite a lot about those. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Unique innovative watch. great vid thnks.
06:58 The crowd goes wild: µRuler... µRuler...
Oh yeah, I should make more of those...
lols.. my everydaywearer is a 285 acutron. 1976. pretty nice to see someone enjoying theirs.
oh.. and that has a calendar. but please dont wind it backward, its not so good for them in the long term.
I had one for many years, starting as a teenager. But I knew how to pronounce "BUHlova" (not like "Lenovo"). Glad to see that you finally praise an electronic device that I also liked.
I've wanted one of these for soo long!
1:30 "Change from Germanium to NPN" I think you meant from Germanium to Silicon.
Yes, but he might have said that because back then all Germanium transistors were PNP ~1960 - - of-course you'll have to reverse the polarity of the battery, if the crkt allows
2021 Jan, I have 3 Accutron wrist watch. one is a RailRoad version. THe differance is the RR the 2nd hand stops, so it can be calibrated to the second.
I have a couple of different Bulova watches and they are well made. I love mine.
A very interesting concept. I first remember coming across it on the excellent BBC series "The Secret Life of Machines" by Tim Hunkin and Rex Garrod.
Great thanks now i need to get one. never seen or hear about this nice.
I was 9 years old and use to stare at this watch through the local jewelers window for hours. I found one the other day and I only had to wait 50 years but I now own one. Also the bare face watch was never supposed to be sold. It was used to market the watch and the demand was so high they were forced to build them.
I do love the content and have 2 of them love the video!
I think the apparent jumpy tuning fork vibration is the result of the video FPS rate not meshing smoothly with the rate of the tuning fork's vibration. The video frames are catching the fork in different positions.
Right about half way between an F sharp and an F (below A440) which is pretty much spot on 360Hz. Didn't expect to use my tuner watching a video about a watch!
falling in love by this watch
Great video. I always wanted to know more. Also the new accutron is Quartz
Beauty! Teardown, teardown, teardown! :-)
That watch cost as much as a good used car. Tearing it down would be stupid. If you want to see one pulled pieces and put back together again there are videos on CZcams. Go look
Someone needs to model the watch face for android smart watches. I'd pay a couple bucks for my smart watch to look like that.
I wonder how it turns that minute vibration into the rotation needed (seems like whatever gear is handling it, would wear out quickly.
Awesome watch !! :)
M8 is not a model definition but rather a date code. M is the decade and the number is the year in that decade.
These are beauties, they also made some official Railroad Approved watches with enamel dials.
The movements were also used under license by the likes of Omega.
I remember seeing adverts for these i n old magazines. Terrific engineering, the frequency must give the first cog a good workout and durability must have been a serious consideration for the designers. Does the tuning fork self start or do you need to give the case a tap after changing the battery?
adding to my collection
Beautiful
the most astounding thing about the movement is that tiny gear that drives everything via the pawls set with tiny jewels. the gear is so fragile that the teeth can be smudged off if touched incorrectly
Still use one on regular Basis, works like a charm after all that years.
I was wearing one every day untill I got my smart watch
well clock accuracy for space missions seems pretty "relative" in my position
I'm sorry Dave, but the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch on the moon. Bulova time device, not watch is used on the Appollo missions.
Omega Speedmaster started its legacy in early 1965 when Nasa approved the watch for piloted missions. It has been part of some of humankind's greatest achievements. Its role in all six lunar landings earned it the nickname “the Moonwatch”. Because it is a chronograph, the watch can be used as a stopwatch. Verry useful when you must time a burn (Appollo 13!).
See: www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/space/, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Speedmaster and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulova#Space for more info.
Excellent
"Dont switch it on - take it APART!!"
Dave, I'm disappointed ;-)
He wouldn’t dare....
the best way to pick the sound of that hum would have been to use a piezoelectric pickup instead of the aerial microphone, precisely the kind of piezo capsule used as speaker in electronic watches, they catch any structural sound wonderfully and are connectable just like a normal microphone.
The original space view watch was only meant as a display piece in the jewellers window to show the fork mech. However they got so many people wanting to purchase one they started producing them for sale.
Revolucion en la Historia relojera.Thanks you.
I haven't worn an analog watch since the mid to late 1970's but I would totally wear one of those or a replica if I could afford it.
Beautiful. How long was battery life of these?
Hey Max, we want you to turn 360hz tuning fork vibrations into rotary motion. Hurry up! Okay, I'll have it for you next Tuesday.
so if you placed the watch on a speaker putting out 360hz would it cancel out the watch and make it stop or put two watches back to back?
I just imagine you saying:"Look at that croc! Crikey"
random bit of trivia - I grew up on the same street as the Bulova corporate center as a kid.
now I want one. or something similar. looks so nice and retro. tips for similar ones without the risk of buying a fake is welcome.
A fake space view is still a real Acutron it's just been refit with different hands face and Crystal
Wow! Just wow!
I have a Bulova 100 kc crystal from some old military equipment and im pretty sure it was older the the 60s
Don't tape the lavalier mic to the watch. You pick up lots of other mechanical noises transmitted through the watch (well, probably only the fork, but it will sound different due to the direct contact). Have it real close, but physically isolated from the watch and you might well get that sweet sound that you are looking for.
great video ^~^
Why didn't you use your EMI compliance pickup coils to get a better waveform?
What a beauty.
I'd love to see that tuning fork with the high speed camera set to 359 frames per second.
Hey Max, we need you to turn fork vibration into rotory motion. We need it as soon as you can do it, so... can you please hurry up with that?
I got a accutron 218D, it has date function, a very nice date function there snap at midnight. Not like my other watches there are about 2 hours to move to next number. 218D is cheaper and the beautiful coils are hidden.
1:38 - I think you meant to say that they switched over to a "silicon transistor," which happened to be of an NPN polarity.
Nice high speed footage
That watch was made the same year as I was. I wish I ran that well.
Just want to mention that the new Accutron line does not have a tuning fork movement. The one you put up is the Bulova Alpha - a part of the Accutron line. These watches are quartz powered but use a special movement called the "Precisionist" movement. This movement is (as the name suggests) very accurate and offers an incredibly smooth seconds hand - just slightly less smooth than the tuning fork movement. Now Bulova DID in fact make a real anniversary edition Accutron with a tuning fork movement that looks very similar to the Alpha. But this watch goes for $5,000, whereas the Alpha sells for ~$240.
Dave whats the battery life on that watch rated for ?
I noticed on ebay you can buy some beautiful brand new clear glass faces for it.
I am so glad you didn't "take it apart". I wish they paid more attention to those solder joints .... yikes!
Bulova was founded as the J. Bulova Company in 1875 by Joseph Bulova (1851 -1936), an immigrant from Bohemia. It became part of the Loews Corporation in 1979 and sold to Citizen at the end of 2007.
I wonder if the vibrations from the tuning fork have a dithering effect on the gears. And I'm talking about the source of the term of graphical dithering. Look up "dither" on Wikipedia, and look at the history section, it's neat. Anyway… Super cool video; I didn't even know this type of watch existed!
I thought you are going to dissect this watch
Don't turn it on, take it apart!
My father had that (white face though) - great watch... He wore it from the 60s to the late 90s