Bulova Accutron space view

[Accutron]

(01-22-2018 02:41 AM)DavidM Wrote:  Although I know nothing about these watches, I am nonetheless intrigued by this discussion. My father gave what appears to have been an Accutron Spaceview to his father back in the late '60s, and with the passing of generations it is now in my possession. It has far more sentimental value to me than any likely monetary value, so I'm not particularly interested in selling it. I am, however, curious as to whether it fits into the category of original Spaceviews. I've no reason to believe that this watch was ever modified in any way, at least other than having the band replaced. It certainly looks like the images of other Spaceview's I've seen online.

I'm not familiar with what is involved in "removing the back" to check the case number. Does that require special tools and/or special skills to perform? I don't mind putting a little grunt work into checking it out, but I'd rather not do anything that would put it at risk.

The age of your Spaceview makes it less likely to be a conversion, but watchmakers have been doing conversions since the Accutron was first introduced. The Spaceview was not initially intended to be a commercial product, but rather a demonstration model to show customers the new movement design. There was an immediate demand for the dialless Accutrons that couldn't be purchased, so watchmakers began removing the dials. Soon after, Bulova introduced production Spaceviews and official conversion kits.

If you post a photo here, I can probably tell you if it's factory correct without you having to open the watch. The proper way to remove the back is with a spanner wrench or an official case back tool. You can do it with a pair of needle nose pliers, but I wouldn't recommend it. The outer ring unscrews counterclockwise, and is independent from the case back itself. Once you remove the ring, you can lift the back up with a small screwdriver placed under the keying tab at the top.

If you have an old Accutron that hasn't been run in many years, whatever you do, do not put a battery in it before it's been serviced.