Bulova / Accutron Stamps

Submitted by mybulova_admin on September 2, 2021 - 11:38pm

I'm not sure how many postage stamps were ever made dealing with either Bulova or Accutron watches, but if you find any please post here.

mybulova_admin
Posted September 2, 2021 - 11:53pm

Will start off with a few gorgeous metalic stamps from Tonga...yep Tonga.

Released July 20 1971, to commemorate history's greatest single engineering achievement, man's first landing on the moon, on July 20 1969 at exactly 8:17:41 PM GMT.

The stamps feature the Accutron movement and from what I've found so far came in 14s, 17s, 21s and 38s, 'Airmail' and 'Official Airmail'.

The Bulova museum in New York has an original 'First Day Card' as shown below. I managed to pickup a few mint-hinged stamps from this series and are pretty cool to look at up close, including the metalic parts that make up the case , tuning fork and center head piece.

1971 Accutron Tonga Stamps

1971 Accutron Tonga Stamps
1971 Accutron Tonga Stamps

1971 Accutron Tonga Stamps

1971 Accutron Tonga Stamps postcard

neetstuf-4-u
Posted September 3, 2021 - 9:13am

Wow Stephen great stuff! Thanks for sharing. I never knew these even existed.

Geoff Baker
Posted September 4, 2021 - 8:43pm

These are so cool.....I love any and everything space related!

JEV1A
Posted September 26, 2021 - 6:10pm

The sad news is that the Electrical Engineers at NASA decided the Accutron coil voltage could inflict harm on other small voltage computers so it was replaced with OMEGA. Bulova continued to advertise the moon landing since the original Mercury 7 wore Accutrons. But it was Omega not Bulova that made it to the Moon in 1969. John V. 

Geoff Baker
Posted September 26, 2021 - 9:26pm

In reply to by JEV1A

John - can you please link to the documentation for this, it seems it would be interesting to see.

Astronaut M2
Posted October 30, 2021 - 4:45am

In reply to by JEV1A

I'm sorry but this is not true, From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, American watchmaker Bulova worked in partnership with NASA to provide timekeeping instruments, including clocks equipped with the brand’s signature Accutron tuning-fork technology, and that equipment was used throughout the Apollo spacecraft from the command module to the lunar lander and even experiments left on the lunar surface, the only timekeeping instruments Omega provided was the wristwatches that the Astronauts wore...     

Astronaut M2
Posted October 30, 2021 - 4:56am

Accutron Gemini spacecraft

Astronaut M2
Posted October 30, 2021 - 5:02am

In reply to by Astronaut M2

The countless contributions of Bulova's Accutron timekeeping equipment to the NASA space programs from the '50s to the '70s are well documented... 

Astronaut M2
Posted October 30, 2021 - 5:18am

In reply to by Astronaut M2

Accuton was everywhere in the NASA programs of the '50s to '70s, this is well known and the documentation is endless...

 

Accutron

Accutron

Accutron

Accutron

Astronaut M2
Posted October 30, 2021 - 5:25am

The Bulova Accutron served NASA for over a decade in space!

Accutron 

Accutron

Astronaut M2
Posted October 30, 2021 - 5:28am

In reply to by Astronaut M2

And this partnership with NASA continued extensively through the '70s with the Apollo program...

Astronaut M2
Posted November 11, 2021 - 9:43pm

Fun fact, The power consumed by an Accutron 214 movement is only eight one millionths of a watt during operation...