Looking at 1970's Bulova's we have both Accutron and Accuquartz. Can someone explain the difference, WHY would Bulova use 2 technologies, and which is more reliable/desirable/
Thanks Ken S
Bulova had a lot invested in Accutron, and when Quartz technology began to seriously emerge ( It was first used in 1931) in the late 60's (spearheaded by the Seiko Astron) and 70's, they decided to add it to their already established tuning fork watch, making an entirely redundant twin set of oscillators. The quartz component regulates the tuning fork which is relegated to simply driving the hands. It was more expensive to produce than a fully quartz watch and was abandoned in 1977.
Desirable? Entirely in the eye of the beholder, it was the first quartz watch available in the US, and the Accutron was the first of its kind also as a tuning fork controlled watch. Both eat batteries and parts are not available for either, especially the index wheel. Neither were designed to operate on 1.5v although the Accuquartz does tolerate the higher voltage while the traditional Accutron must be indexed or use the Accu-Cell.