Accutron 214 Astronaut

[Professor]

A huge store of information on this thread, just sorry to have seen so much vitrol in some posts. Would have left a lot of likes on these posts for the great photos and historical information but didn't want to encourage any expressions of hard feelings.
A great bunch of folks here, hope you can all work things out and put the past behind you.

The Astronaut is becoming more attractive to me every time its mentioned. A truly great innovative time piece.

I had noticed there were some other brands of "tuning fork" watches, few and spare on the ground. I think I'll try looking into those.

 

[bobbee]

JimInOz

Goodo Bob. I spent over half my adult life on 24 hour time, and a good percentage jumping between various local time zones and GMT (now UTC) and I figured an astronaut would be on GMT, I just had to figure out when/where the pic was taken.

It is still a tiny bit confusing, as Cooper didn't go into space until May, and this picture was March first! And I can only find info that Apollo used local time, nothing about the zones used on Mercury missions.
Also I would have thought all personnel would use the same timezones, maybe someone forgot.
It is correct still that Cooper for some reason had his watch set to GMT/UTC.

 

[bobbee]

BTW, I have seen/heard that the model in the photos I posted did not appear until late 1963, all three watches in the pics are this model:





Here are blown up images of all three, rotated to show as 'upright'.

 

[bobbee]

A couple of great photos from NASA files from 1962.
Test pilots Armstrong and Walker with their Astronaut watches.

 

[Dms5150]

bobbee

A couple of great photos from NASA files from 1962.
Test pilots Armstrong and Walker with their Astronaut watches.

Wow these are great photos! So great to see Neil with the coffin bracelet.

The Astronaut is a very underrated watch. Incredible heritage with the X-15, Mercury and A-12 programs.

Does anyone know when the three line dials were first released? I have seen a few M4 watches with this dial, but most M4s have two lines only. Wondered if there was anything official out there documenting the variations.

Also when did the luminous seconds dial appear?

Lastly, was there anything inside the casebacks of the Astronauts to differentiate them from other 214 casebacks?

Moonwatch universe has some great photos of the watch in use by NASA:

https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/tagged/Accutron

 

[Uscjake87]

Dms5150

Wow these are great photos! So great to see Neil with the coffin bracelet.

The Astronaut is a very underrated watch. Incredible heritage with the X-15, Mercury and A-12 programs.

Does anyone know when the three line dials were first released? I have seen a few M4 watches with this dial, but most M4s have two lines only. Wondered if there was anything official out there documenting the variations.

Also when did the luminous seconds dial appear?

Lastly, was there anything inside the casebacks of the Astronauts to differentiate them from other 214 casebacks?

Moonwatch universe has some great photos of the watch in use by NASA:

https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/tagged/Accutron

Lots of questions. Some things are sort of a range like speedmasters.

Early 1962:
-Accutron, no dots dial, fils seconds.


Early 1962:
-Accutron Bulova, not dots dial, fils seconds




Mid 1962:
-Accutron Astronaut with fils seconds. "Standard" dotted marker dials appear on late 62 and early 63 on observed examples.


1963) Dotted dial Accutron Astronaut, transitions from fils to plain seconds hand.

Around 1964 is when you start to see the simple silver dials. 3 Line dials generally appear around 1965 or later, but that is a guess just based on ones I have observed. Even with a dated vintage advertisement, it doesn't mean mass production of a dial style happened with the advertisement year. It is typically a 2 line black standard dial from 1963 to 1964. The luminous seconds hand appears later in the 60s, but I don't have a date range. There is a well documented table on watchtalkforums to explain all the variants and which ones have a luminous seconds hand.

As far as distinct markings go, the casebacks of 214 accutrons have ink stamps of model numbers and other identifiers. Over time and with cleaning baths the ink markings can wear off. I haven't seen any markings in the few 1962 watches I have owned which might be due to the age. Around 1964 and later you start to see casebacks with markings that say, "support bottom rotating ring" but not all casebacks have this. If the ink stamps are preserved they might have the model number markings which you can find in the variant guide I linked.

 

[Dms5150]

Thanks for all this fantastic info uscjake87.

I have what I suspect is a 1965 Astronaut (3 line dial but with m4 movement) but it came with a caseback with the "10k gold filled bezel" engraving on the back, probably from a spaceview. Have been looking for a correct replacement. Suspect the watch was probably put together from parts, but I still love it.

The Astronaut is my go-to travel watch with the GMT hand and bezel, and what I use in my watchbox to set the time on all my other watches. It maybe gains 3 seconds a month.

Thanks for the link.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

@Dms5150
Don't forget the Gemini era... as the Accutron was worn during
Gemini III by astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young
Gemini V by astronaut Gordon Cooper
And the Space Shuttle era... as a 3-line dial was worn by Dr astronaut Norman Thagard onboard space shuttle STS-7
📖
.

 

[Dms5150]

SpeedyPhill

@Dms5150
Don't forget the Gemini era... as the Accutron was worn during
Gemini III by astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young
Gemini V by astronaut Gordon Cooper
And the Space Shuttle era... as a 3-line dial was worn by Dr astronaut Norman Thagard onboard space shuttle STS-7
📖

Definitely! Not to mention Wally Shirra double wristing his Astronaut with his speedy..
.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

It has pointed out before, each of the X-15 test pilots and the Mercury astronauts received an Accutron GMT pilot watch...
Moreover it looks like some of the Mercury astronauts got both versions... one line & two-line dial Accutron Astronaut tuning fork beauties
MoonwatchUniverse will have an Accutron/Bulova special soon as we're scanning a bunch of time-period photos on the subject right now...
https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/archive

 

[Dms5150]

SpeedyPhill

It has pointed out before, each of the X-15 test pilots and the Mercury astronauts received an Accutron GMT pilot watch...
Moreover it looks like some of the Mercury astronauts got both versions... one line & two-line dial Accutron Astronaut tuning fork beauties
MoonwatchUniverse will have an Accutron/Bulova special soon as we're scanning a bunch of time-period photos on the subject right now...
https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/archive

That's awesome! Look forward to it. Love moonwatch universe! Its great Forstner have re-released the NASA mesh bracelet. I'm pretty sure the horned endlinks were designed to fit perfectly into the astronaut lugs.

I guess the A-12 program used the 3 line version? There's only that one we've seen in that Hodinkee article.

 

[SpeedyPhill]

The Skunk Works Oxcart first flew in April 1962... in pilot photos it's hard to tell as the watch was worn in a wristwatch pocket on the left forearm in the David Clark pressure suit...

 

[TDBK]

JimInOz

Trainer is in US Central Time zone. So is Cooper, but his watch is on GMT 😁

But CST is UTC-6; March 1 is too early for CDT, which is UTC-5.

 

[Dms5150]

SpeedyPhill

The Skunk Works Oxcart first flew in April 1962... in pilot photos it's hard to tell as the watch was worn in a wristwatch pocket on the left forearm in the David Clark pressure suit...

Yes that's confirmed in this letter from A-12 pilot Frank Murray from the Hodinkee Astronaut article by Jack Forster. Great watch, looks like probably a 1965/66 model.

 

[bobbee]

Uscjake87

Lots of questions. Some things are sort of a range like speedmasters.

Early 1962:
-Accutron, no dots dial, fils seconds.


Early 1962:
-Accutron Bulova, not dots dial, fils seconds




Mid 1962:
-Accutron Astronaut with fils seconds. "Standard" dotted marker dials appear on late 62 and early 63 on observed examples.


1963) Dotted dial Accutron Astronaut, transitions from fils to plain seconds hand.

Around 1964 is when you start to see the simple silver dials. 3 Line dials generally appear around 1965 or later, but that is a guess just based on ones I have observed. Even with a dated vintage advertisement, it doesn't mean mass production of a dial style happened with the advertisement year. It is typically a 2 line black standard dial from 1963 to 1964. The luminous seconds hand appears later in the 60s, but I don't have a date range. There is a well documented table on watchtalkforums to explain all the variants and which ones have a luminous seconds hand.

As far as distinct markings go, the casebacks of 214 accutrons have ink stamps of model numbers and other identifiers. Over time and with cleaning baths the ink markings can wear off. I haven't seen any markings in the few 1962 watches I have owned which might be due to the age. Around 1964 and later you start to see casebacks with markings that say, "support bottom rotating ring" but not all casebacks have this. If the ink stamps are preserved they might have the model number markings which you can find in the variant guide I linked.

Looking again at old adverts-especially the colour ads-of the spade hand Astro model, I feel sure these dials and also the tips of the hands were lumed, except for the second hand which looks silver to me. You can see the tips have lines where the arrows are pointing, just like this example of a photo taken by Bob at mybob.net.

Edited: Feb 5, 2021

 

[Waltesefalcon]

I can't believe I never posted my Astronaut on this thread since I'm so proud of it. Here's my M3 Astronaut. It has a Swiss M5 movement that the watchmaker who serviced it said was likely a service movement that was put in it back in the 60s. I'm wearing it on my new Komfit bracelet. This has become my go to watch, replacing my Constellation.

 

[Norfolk]

Here’s my 1964.

 

[spacemission]

Great thread and pictures. Thank you guys.

 

[prontoprint]

I'm just catching up with " For All Mankind" on Apple+ and was very pleased to see the props dept haven't just focused on Speedmasters for authenticity . Spotted this 214 on a coffin bracelet in start of scene in Series 1 , episode 2. Sorry for poor picture, phone shot of screen .

 

[Waltesefalcon]

That's nice to see.