Hey. I am getting around to organizing the watches. Dug pretty deep for this beauty of an Accutron. Never done a thing to it and it runs like a top. An M8. What I would appreciate are opinions on the crud? that is on the hands. Should I address it or let it go. Not sure what it is exactly but under a tight loupe there is some reddish color on the metal and creeping onto the lume. Actually my second A has the same problem (jokes allowed here). thank you Bill
I have seen this happen to many an Astronaut, the watch, not the individual. Not sure what it is but makes me think is might be some type of oxidation caused in occasion with the battery over time. Wayne
That's an interesting observation. Makes me think it's best to leave as is, but maybe find some hands As back up. Don't fix it if it ain't broke. Love the old watches.
You can find the replacement hands very easy for these guys. I have an attachment for these as my dad had one that was an M5, by birth year. He was a contractor for NASA and if you did any business with them back in the day, someone gave you an Astronaut. They wanted everyone to wear one out there. Most people have no clue that it was Bulova and not Omega that was THE watch and timepiece for NASA. There is still an Accutron on the moon waiting for them to go back and get it to bring back for testing, not an Omega. Omega kind of stole Bulova glory when Armstong wore the Speedy on the moon and Bulova never recovered. But Accutrons went on to be used in ever moon mission, satellite, and shuttle mission till the end. The Hubble even uses Accutrons to make its calculations. To bad the rest of the line of watches did not hold a candle to Omega. Still don't!!! Wayne
Wayne, I didn't know that much of the story. I knew the watch had done some space walks and the one waiting on the moon. I graduated high school in 1969. Pres Kennedy timed it like an Accutron for me. I love those watches. Just giving it to people and asking them to listen is revelatory. My Gfather brought one home in 1965 and I still have it and remember the day. Of course watches were a big deal in Nebr where there were two times ---daylight and sunset.
BTW Wayne what was the band of choice back then. I have the coffin and the Kreisler shown in the photo. Stelux is original the the watch. Bill
Being born and raised in Orlando, I was always around launches. My dad took us to the Cape to see 11 go up and I remember watching them walk on the moon. I was little but I remember and were I was sitting to this day. I was a big thing, NASA around our house back then. Then it ended and it was like the end of the world! There was NOTHING there before NASA came to town and when the shots ended, people went broke, moved out, just like..... Now! Then the shuttle started and it was boom time all over again. Then that ended and it is three times as bad this time. Privatization of space flight. Anyone that has been around it all of there life can tell you, it takes governmental dollars to go to space not private dollars. Private companies in the end have to make money, there is no money to make in space! At least not yet. A shuttle ate a 1.5 million dollars in fuel in that belly tank alone in 90 secs. If they scrubbed the launch, you had to empty that tank and it was not reusable. Bye-Bye a 1.5 mil. I wish I had my dad's Astronaut. It was stole from a restaurant washroom when he forgot it for a few minutes after washing his hands. Went back and it was gone. I have been thinking of getting one just have not gotten to it. A personal must have though.
Ok, coffin it is. The bracelets are one of the best features of old watches. As to which one? I think mine may be more unusual having not seen any for sale in awhile. The applied dials are better IMHO, but not sure you can go wrong With any. Several main sites on the web where you can see the history. They're all readable and simply part of history go for gold if you want to stand out!