My High School Graduation Present
Astronaut "Mark I (AKA Deep Sea 666 feet World Time Zone)
After sitting that long it should probably be serviced again, the new synthetic oils are much better and last longer. Just be careful to have it serviced by someone who knows how to work on tuning fork movements.
I understand about keeping your wife up at night, I keep at least 6 Accutrons running in my bedroom at all times and they make the room hum a little but we are accustomed to it. Some are louder than others. I have a Soviet made Slava that is quite noisy.
Incredible piece Roglen! Has anyone seen a long case spring like this one has? I have a Bulova technical letter in pdf format that explains that the casing spring was no longer needed for Accutrons after a certain date of manufacture and that they'd eliminated them. The one present on this one is longer than the standard one I've seen. Were they like this on astronaut/world timer models for any certain reason?
Eric
This ad is incorrect, the Astronauts were never marked for depth, only as "water resistant".
The MK1 was the single crown model, all twin crown models were MK2's and variants of.
The subject therefore is the World Timer, in the ad above.
These catalogue excerpts contain images and features of Astronaut MK2's. None are marked with the depth on the dial.
http://www.mybulova.com/sites/default/files/vintage_ads/Bulova_AD_1972_…
http://www.mybulova.com/sites/default/files/vintage_ads/Bulova_AD_1972_…
http://www.mybulova.com/sites/default/files/vintage_ads/Bulova_AD_1972_…
The panel has voted to reopen this watch for re-identification.
I will vote to retain the original ID - that of Accutron Astronaut MK1. My basis is that we have an ad that shows the ID clearly for the exact watch presented. The adverts presented to support a new ID do not reference the MK1 but the MK2. While the MK2 ads do not show "Deep Sea" on the dial, the MK1 ad does. Bob, I have to disagree that Accutrons weren't depth marked, this one clearly was, is as is the supporting ad. Bob (ROGLEN) has owned this watch since it was new, there is no reason to suspect it's had a dial modification. I agree that it's ODD it was marked Deep Sea but I see no reason to believe it isn't original.
Accutron Astronaut MK1
In reply to The panel has voted to reopen by Geoff Baker
[quote=Geoff Baker]
The panel has voted to reopen this watch for re-identification.
I will vote to retain the original ID - that of Accutron Astronaut MK1. My basis is that we have an ad that shows the ID clearly for the exact watch presented. The adverts presented to support a new ID do not reference the MK1 but the MK2. While the MK2 ads do not show "Deep Sea" on the dial, the MK1 ad does. Bob, I have to disagree that Accutrons weren't depth marked, this one clearly was, is as is the supporting ad. Bob (ROGLEN) has owned this watch since it was new, there is no reason to suspect it's had a dial modification. I agree that it's ODD it was marked Deep Sea but I see no reason to believe it isn't original.
Accutron Astronaut MK1
[/quote]
I said Astronauts weren't marked for depth, not "Accutrons". The colour ad clearly shows the watch being called the "World Timer" in ENGLISH, in a French language catalogue. This also indicates the name as original. As an aside, all Deep Sea twin crown and single crown models are marked "666 feet". This could mean it is a "Deep Sea World Timer", but surely not an Astronaut.
This is a part of the same full page 1971 advert, which was snipped up to fit the site.
It clearly shows two misnamed watches, one being an Astronaut MK2 model being called something else. This proves the full page ad is at fault and not to be trusted. This, with the Accutron Swiss catalogue naming exact match to subject as the "World Timer" should set the record straight, along with the experts from WTF calling the watch by that name too.
