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Bulova 214

Probable

The first electronic wristwatch movement. Its frequency is recorded here in vibrations per hour for comparability with mechanical calibers — 360 Hz is 2,592,000 vph, against 28,800 for a fast mechanical watch — and that ratio is the whole reason the Accutron was accurate to within a minute a month when a good chronometer was measured in seconds a day. Classified under the quartz winding system because the vocabulary has no electronic-mechanical category; the movement is neither quartz nor mechanical and this is a limitation of the taxonomy rather than a claim about the watch.

Specifications

Movement manufacturer
Bulova
Production
1960–?
Frequency
2,592,000 vph (360 Hz)
Winding
quartz

Architecture

Electronic tuning-fork movement. A tuning fork vibrating at 360 Hz is driven electromagnetically from a battery; a pawl finger acting on a fine index wheel converts the vibration into rotation. No balance wheel, no escapement, no mainspring. Set from a crown on the caseback rather than the case side.

Authentication notes

  • MovementHigh confidence

    The hum and the incrementless sweep are diagnostic

    A running Accutron emits a continuous 360 Hz tone, audible when held to the ear, and its seconds hand advances with no perceptible steps at all. A mechanical movement steps at its beat rate and is silent apart from ticking; a standard quartz steps once per second. Neither can produce either Accutron behaviour, because both work differently. This is the strongest single-observation test in the catalog and it is admitted as such precisely because it rests on mechanism rather than appearance.

Service practice

Requires a watchmaker who works on tuning-fork calibers, and there are few. The index and pawl fingers are extremely delicate, the coils fail, and the movement is sensitive to supply voltage — the original mercury cells are no longer available and a modern replacement of the wrong voltage will run the watch badly or not at all. A silent Accutron is very often a power or service problem and not a verdict on the watch.

Related calibers

References using this caliber

Provenance of this record

Sources & Evidence

Primary sourceTechnical documentation

Technical and service literature on the Accutron tuning-fork calibers

Bulova service documentation and horological technical writing

Accessed
2026-08-19

Cited for

This referenceHigh confidence
Secondary sourceCollector research

Bulova collector databases of period catalogues, date codes and model listings

Bulova collector communities

Accessed
2026-08-19

Cited for

This referenceProbable
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Last verified: Not yet reviewed