Bulova Accutron quartz mod

[Revision]

info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be retained,
but for those who choose otherwise:

"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations and
stem at 16:00"

[Jack Denver]

Yes, Frei still offers this movement:


http://www.ofrei.com/page_196.html

and for only $13 plus labor you can turn your classic Accutron into a
worthless generic quartz watch.

Post by Revision
info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be
"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations
and stem at 16:00"
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[John S.]

Post by Revision
info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be retained,
"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations and
stem at 16:00"
--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

For the owner of a busted tuning fork watch who simply wants a
timekeeper that choice makes a lot of sense. For a collector of old
accutrons it makes no sense whatsoever.

[Jack Denver]

Post by Revision
info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be retained,
"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations and
stem at 16:00"
--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

For the owner of a busted tuning fork watch who simply wants a
timekeeper that choice makes a lot of sense. For a collector of old
accutrons it makes no sense whatsoever.

The time for this kind of conversion has come and gone. There was a time
when Accutron was simply obsolete technology, like a VCR or an analog TV, so
people had no hesitation in doing such conversions any more than you feel a
twinge when you put your broken VCR in the trash. But now Accutrons are
collectible (in part because so many WERE trashed) - if your goal is
timekeeping and you have a busted Accutron, sell it to a collector (even
busted it will have some value), add the $ you were going to spend on the
quartz conversion (probably a watchmaker would charge you in the area of
$100 installed) and buy a Seiko or somesuch.

The one area where I feel quartz conversions are still in order are for
small ladies dress handwind watches ("cocktail watches"). The little shape
movements always sucked - they never kept good time because of the tiny
balance wheels. Most women today won't wear a watch that you have to wind
every day. So a quartz conversion is a good solution, but most of those
tiny little watches are so deeply unfashionable that they won't get worn
anyway.

[John S.]

Post by John S.

Post by Revision
info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be retained,
"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations and
stem at 16:00"
--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

For the owner of a busted tuning fork watch who simply wants a
timekeeper that choice makes a lot of sense.  For a collector of old
accutrons it makes no sense whatsoever.
The time for this kind of conversion has come and gone. There was a time
when Accutron was simply obsolete technology, like a VCR or an analog TV, so
people had no hesitation in doing such conversions any more than you feel a
twinge when you put your broken VCR in the trash. But now Accutrons are
collectible (in part because so many WERE trashed)  - if your goal is
timekeeping and you have a busted Accutron, sell it to a collector (even
busted it will have some value), add the $ you were going to spend on the
quartz conversion (probably a watchmaker would charge you in the area of
$100 installed) and buy a Seiko or somesuch.
The one area where I feel quartz conversions are still in order are for
small ladies dress handwind watches ("cocktail watches").  The little shape
movements always sucked - they never kept good time because of the tiny
balance wheels.  Most women today won't wear a watch that you have to wind
every day.  So a quartz conversion is a good solution, but most of those
tiny little watches are so deeply unfashionable that they won't get worn
anyway.

That is simply wrong Jack. If the owner of a broken accutron can fix
it a watch that he enjoys then why go out of the way to satisfy the
desire of some collector.

Most used and broken accutrons don't sell for much anyway.

[Revision]

"John S."

Post by John S.
Most used and broken accutrons don't sell for much anyway.

One fellow was looking at an Accutron RR with some problems and so he asked
about the quartz mod. In a way I can see doing it since it is such a nice
looking watch, but since the whole point of the Accutron RR was to provide
accurate time using the tuning fork technology, it would be a shame to
replace it with quartz.

Loading Image...

Once I bought a tiny watch for a 300 lb lady, then a couple weeks later I
started thinking that it would add 100 lbs to her looks. A 25 mm Explorer
would have been better. I was gonna say that this is a word to the wise,
but there wasn't anything wise about the whole situation.

[Jack Denver]

Post by Revision
One fellow was looking at an Accutron RR with some problems and so he
asked about the quartz mod. In a way I can see doing it since it is such
a nice looking watch, but since the whole point of the Accutron RR was to
provide accurate time using the tuning fork technology, it would be a
shame to replace it with quartz.

Actually I think the quartz module provides better timekeeping than the
tuning fork. Not as much fun but the timekeeping is actually better. RR
standard was 30 secs/week - quartz is 3.5 secs/week, well within RR time.

[r***@gmail.com]

We had large drawers full of non working Accutrons at watchmaking school. We dutifully went through them all and identified the faults. It was such a painstaking and time consuming process, we realized before we even left the school that repairing them was going to be pointless from a business perspective. I myself no longer repair them, nor do I repair the higher end ESA versions by Zenith or Omega.
Once the finite supply of index wheels is gone, this dinosaur will be extinct. It was an important innovation in the history of horology, and deserves it's place in any horological museum, but as a practical daily wearer is not really a contender. I know there are many still being worn daily by the collectors and aficionados, but once their movements are kaput, they are kaput. This is not an impeccably made mechanical timepiece that will last hundreds of years.
I have several, including an RR one, and if I could still get my hands on the ISA movt, I would retrofit them all, and wear them. To a purist, this is blasphemy, but I would rather have a functioning watch than a drawer full of non runners. My best Accutron, I leave intact, a solid gold 214, intermittent running notwithstanding.

[J.B. Wood]

Post by r***@gmail.com
Once the finite supply of index wheels is gone, this dinosaur
will be extinct. It was an important innovation in the history of
horology, and deserves it's place in any horological museum, but as a
practical daily wearer is not really a contender.

Hello, and what about other traditional mechanical (balance-wheel based)
watches? It's my understanding (and for a price) watchmakers have been
able to fabricate new gears and other parts for watches and clocks long
out of production. Can't see why this can't also be done for a
tuning-fork based watch. Sincerely,

[r***@gmail.com]

Ordinary wheels for watches can indeed be cut for watches, the setup is rather expensive having all the cutters and a lathe capable of indexing rather exactly.
However, the hobbing machines used in the production of the Accutron index wheels were all destroyed by Bulova, and it is not possible to make these tiny wheels. Simply touching the tiny wheel with a tweezer will ruin it.
As I said, when the supply of these is gone, they are gone. Add to that the Accutron battery lifespan, which is very short, and the fact that most of them won't run on a modern battery, and you have something that becomes a bit of a pain.

[Bert Kanters]

It's like putting a Chevy V8 in a vintage Ferrari with a broken V12. It has
been done in the past but not today anymore.

Post by Revision
info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be retained,
"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations and
stem at 16:00"
--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

For the owner of a busted tuning fork watch who simply wants a
timekeeper that choice makes a lot of sense. For a collector of old
accutrons it makes no sense whatsoever.

[John S.]

The analogy doesn't work because with the acccutron the end result is
a bettter timekeeper. It's accuracy will improve by over 50% and
battery life will double.

And regarding the ferrari conversion the result could easily be a car
with equal power and probably a much less finnicky and more reliable
motor. Look what the Ford motor did for the AC automobile.

Post by Bert Kanters
It's like putting a Chevy V8 in a vintage Ferrari with a broken V12. It has
been done in the past but not today anymore.

Post by Revision
info found on a forum ... I think the original movement should be retained,
"Bulova offered a quartz conversion kit.... for repair folks to swap into
Accutrons coming in for service, after Bulova discontinued the Accutron.
Currently there is ONE quartz movement, an ISA 1198/42-4 that is a direct
swap for an Accutron 218 day date, right down to the dial feet locations and
stem at 16:00"
--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

For the owner of a busted tuning fork watch who simply wants a
timekeeper that choice makes a lot of sense.  For a collector of old
accutrons it makes no sense whatsoever.