A few days ago, I saw a post in a local FB group. Someone nearby was giving away a handful of old watches his dad had. The photo was not great, but I could see some watches I was interested in. I told him I'd take 'em and he replied right away with his address.
 |
| From this picture, I could tell the gold digital (lower left corner), the gold Bulova (second from right) and the worn Casio (lower right corner) could be fairly interesting. |
Since it was in a neighborhood group, I figured he'd be close, but not less a than a mile away. Marci, Koder and I took a quick walk to his house and picked up the watches.
The original pic he took didn't show how well-worn the watches were. Of the 9 shown above, there were two Timexes, a Tag Heuer quartz, and a couple of no names, all likely from the 90s. The gold one in the lower left corner I was hoping was more of a name brand, but it appeared to be a Fairchild. I happened to have some batteries for it, and though it did light up, it appeared to be stuck in some sort of test mode, and it was dead the next morning.
The Casio in the lower right corner was called a Data Bank Computer (DBC) and it was in pretty rough shape. It looked original but it was grungy and the buttons on the calculator face were completely worn out. I gave it a courtesy cleaning, but after a quick eBay search, it would be easier to just buy a used unit as the face is tied to the unit. No easy button replacement.
The most interesting watch to me was the Bulova Accutron. I was able to ID it via the original photo and when I finally got my hands on it, it looked pretty good. The expansion bracelet was not the original, but a Speidel, and the watch itself was not running.
After grabbing my watch tools and a light, I popped the back off of the Bulova. It did have a battery installed, but obviously it was dead. I unscrewed the crown and turned the hands and they moved smoothly enough. Removing the case was interesting; there is a silver ring around it, where the case removal tool would grab, and then that ring rotates independently of the actual cover. The ring is then removed and the cover then comes off.
 |
| The Accutron as I received it. |
 |
The back, with its silver retention ring.
|
After removing the case, I got the tiny screwdriver out and removed the battery retention bracket, as well as the battery itself. Sadly, I did not have the correct battery for the watch, so after cleaning the ring and back cover, as well as the bracelet, I let it sit overnight until I could get a battery the next day.
 |
With its case off, reads USA Bulova 218 D.
|
Admittedly, I did not know much about the Accutron watches, other than something about a tuning fork. I knew it was quartz and battery powered, but apparently, just because it is battery powered does not necessarily mean it's quartz as well.
I spent some time watching videos and reading a little about the watch. In the picture above, the two things at the 12 o'clock position that look like opposite brackets - ][ - are actually the tuning forks. They move at something like 300 vibrations a second and allow for a very smooth sweeping second hand, rather than the less smooth movement of a mechanical watch.
The "D" in "218 D" stands for date, of which this watch has. When I moved the hands, the date would change every 24 hours, but I didn't know how to quick change the date. After watching a video, it appears that once the crown is pushed all the way in, the date is quick set from there. And simply turning the crown in that first position confirmed it. My date is now set correctly.
After work, I picked up a battery and brought it home. I put it in and screwed the bracket back on and... nothing. Watch did not fire up. I was a little disappointed, but for a free watch that I put $5.99 into for a battery, no big deal. I went upstairs and had dinner.
To my surprise, after I ate, I picked up the watch again and it was running! Not sure if it needed a few minutes to fire up or what, but I was really excited to see just how smooth that second hand swept. Putting the watch to my ear, I could hear the high-pitched vibration of the tuning forks as well! I put the cover and screwed the ring back down and set about putting the bracelet (after scrubbing and soaking it) back on.
I wore it to work yesterday and spent a few minutes adjusting the bracelet to fit me better. It is an easy wear and I thought I wouldn't like the gold. Turns out, I did like the gold. The crystal is in good shape but needs a light buffing with some Polywatch. A new leather band may be in the works as well, in case I want to dress it down. But the vintage 34mm size fits my dinky wrists and now I'm doing some deeper dives into the world of Accutron watches.
