Then there is the battery voltage issue work reverses silver cell. But I doubt that that's going to last forever so at some point in time there will be no more index wheels and circuits even if people are at least one person is rewinding the coils. Fortunately there is eBay where new old stock materializes from time to time. Problem is their vintage and all vintage watches have a problem with parts availability and of course parts wearing out. Although Bulova's certificate if you past was much nicer than everyone else's. So Bulova wasn't the only company with training for their electric watches. But that was also a generation of the watchmaker who didn't understand what to do with any of electric watches. For instance Bulova had an issue with the watch first came out as watchmakers didn't know what the make of this newfangled watch that didn't have a balance wheel. How easy are they? I suppose it depends on a variety of factors. This would then mean that any basically electric watch would qualify including a quartz watch but I'm going to assume tuning fork watches what you're asking about. I found this definition quite interesting ACCUTRON stands for“ ACCUracy through Elec TRONic. I assume you are talking about their tuning fork models It's like trying durian for the first time. So until someone finds a way to manufacture new index wheels or finds a stash of NOS index wheels, I'll probably turn down Accutron repair jobs.īut just for the experience, I would encourage you to try it yourself. I have tried to repair some by increasing the tension on the pawl/index fingers to compensate for tooth wear of the index wheel, but that results in higher current consumption and shorter battery life. The design of tuning fork watches is such that if the index wheel stops moving and the fork continues to hum, the pawl/index jewels would probaly damage the index wheel. IMO most non-working Accutrons would need replacing a coil or index wheel or both. The most difficult part in repairing any tuning fork is getting replacement coils and index wheels. Since your father was repairing Accutrons, he would probably have had all the tools. But you'll need a microscope, Accutron test meter, ultrasonic cleaner and Accutron adjustment tools. Very different devices indeed, you will say, but I think, without detracting from the brilliance of the invention of the Accutron, that it was one of the devices that helped give birth to the Accutron.It's not that difficult. We would call it a redundant feedback device because the clock had a pendulum, which was impulsed instead of a gear train as in the Accutron. The basic principal of an electric clock with an index wheel impulsing a finger and controlled by an electric circuit was patented around 1880 in the UK and fairly widely known. However, rather than ramble on with old timer stories, what I would like to point out about the Accutron is that the idea behind was partially based on what was an already well established form of electro-magnetic clock. I learned to adjust them at a night school at my local watch making college. By comparison, trade shop watch makers were getting $ 3.50 per watch overhauled, with material costs deducted from that. As I remember, at that time, a Bulova microscope cost $200. They were difficult to adjust, and the expense of buying a microscope-when I started my apprenticeship there were still watch makers not using timing machines -was considered an expense that would act as a barrier to many watch makers being able to repair them. Click to expand.I can tell you that watch makers hated them and only a few embraced them, and with some reluctance.
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