Im starting to think i should be looking for watches at yard sales and such as i bet nobody under the age of 40 wears one.
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Im starting to think i should be looking for watches at yard sales and such as i bet nobody under the age of 40 wears one.
Five or ten dollars represented more of an investment back in those days.
The Bulova Quartz Accutron (if I recall correctly) had a retail price of $249 when I bought it. That was a very significant investment for me at the time. That's why when it died and could not be repaired I was really upset. I only wore it a few times in my life. And I like the vintage style. I'd be half tempted just to wear it as a fashion statement. It will still have the correct time twice a day.
It's really rare for quartz watches to just stop. They can take loads of abuse.
I have several Seiko quartz watches from the 80s that work fine and as a matter of fact when my wife and I were engaged she bought me a Seiko quartz in 1977 and it still runs like a champ.
Some more "watch modding" fun....case, sapphire, hands, bracelet and dial with a workhorse Seiko NH-35A movement.
Little tribute to the Rolex 4 Digit 5513 Submariner.....first released in 1962 and ran until 1989, 27 years of production.
This will be my daily for awhile....:)
Attachment 342989
Check out the new Accutron, made into its own brand now...new Accutron will runs from $4,000 Cdn up to $24,000 Cdn......you can still find the original Bulova Accutron Spaceview on eBay, working, from anywhere from $500 to $1600 dollars.
New Accutron Spaceview:
https://www.accutronwatch.com/
An absolutely iconic piece, I think I had one when I was younger, but they were big money back then.....
That's nice, especially this one, right up my street.
Attachment 342990
The new Accutron is a Quartz based watch. All the baloney is (in my opinion) for a rube goldberg system to power the watch. In my book simple is best. Wrist mvmt, solar, battery do the same job for a lot less money and more accurately.
The original Accutron was a purely electronic watch. It cost around $130 for the basic versions. There is no relation to the new one.
I wouldn't be buying any "Working vintage" pieces. The chances are it would stop working in short order.
My information about railroad time-keeping regulations was obtained from The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.
https://www.nawcc.org/
Here is a Railroad Report from the June, 1890, CB&Q monthly report of watches is service, we can see that Aurora #72739 was in use by one of their employees (D.C. McKee) and was running 2 seconds slow over 7 days.
https://mb.nawcc.org/attachments/img200-jpg.320693/
Hmm that's interesting because the national standards weren't adopted until 1893. Probably your case is that particular company regulation though that seems way too accurate for that time. 2 seconds over 7 days is way past modern certified chronometer standards and is more what a modern quartz timepiece would be. Modern certified Chrono standards is +5 or -3 seconds a day.
There were specific standards specifying particulars of the case, mvmt and dial which changed as the years went by becoming more stringent. But the accuracy seems to be the same 30, seconds per week.