Bulova 1975 Accuquartz

Submitted by grentch on June 14, 2015 - 6:17am
Centenary
Manufacture Year
1975
Movement Model
2242
Movement Jewels
14
Movement Serial No.
-
Case Serial No.
-
Case shape
Other
Case color
Yellow
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

 

Bulova Accuquartz Centenary in tuning fork style 20 Micron gold plated case in "NOS" condition. The model as featured in the original French adverts at the time. I got it as a collection of parts. All original including; strap, centenary clasp, the original price tag in Belgian Francs and the protective caseback sticker(shown here on the parts donor case until I get a clear protective sticker for it). This means of course we'll never know the serial number, but I can live with that. :)

The issues were the quartz can had died - it seems very soon after it was originally shipped - and the date mechanism had been cannabalised at some point. Otherwise the movement was in very good condition and included the caseback spring which seems to go missing often enough.

Part of my collecting interest is early quartz watches and as a golden rule I try to find a working donor movement to keep for any future problems. Luckily I have two other Accuquartz Centenarys(steel cased, Italian and British) I found over the years, both "well loved" ;), so was able to use the quartz and both coil assemblies from the Italian example, which seems to have been very well bolted together as it is remarkably accurate in rate and has most of its adjustment screws still present. 

For future reference, I could never find a casemaker stamp on these, but the three examples I have all have dials made by the Swiss company Singer(now owned by Rolex I believe)

Having the original hangtag with price means I was able to work out going by historical exhange rates the watch cost the equivalent in Belgian Francs of around 220 dollars in 1975.

NB in the interests of horological accuracy, it originally had a silver seconds hand, but the donor had a white one and I prefer the look and legibility of that so used it instead. In my excitement/stupidity I forgot to use the French daywheel, so it's the Italian one. However I have both the originals(and an English daywheel) should it ever need be put back to complete originality.

Thanks for looking. 

 

 

 

NOS Accuquartz Centenary 06142015.
1975 Bulova watch
1975 Bulova watch
1975 Bulova watch
1975 Bulova watch
Bulova Watch
jabs
Posted June 15, 2015 - 5:22am

Accuquartz Centenary 

Geoff Baker
Posted June 15, 2015 - 6:06am

Hello grentch, welcome to myBulova. This is a very nice watch, thanks for sharing it with us.

1975 Bulova Accuquartz Centenary

Andersok
Posted June 15, 2015 - 7:38am

Accuquartz Centenary

grentch
Posted June 15, 2015 - 12:27pm

Thanks for the welcome folks.

I've read some of the discussions about whether it's Centenary as a model for the world market or just in France/Belgium. German folks seem to describe them as Centenary models. I've noticed on Italian forums they generally refer to them as Centenario too, though sometimes also refer to them as Anniversario. Indeed if you're looking for one on that well known auction site, Italy is a very good place to look and putting both those words into the search is helpful. They regularly come up. Nearly always the Accutron Spaceview version in steel(usually high prices sadly 1000 euro/dollars range). With patience you can get lucky though, the above watch cost me 22 euro. The UK and Italian steel examples under a 100 euro. Both are pretty far from NOS however. The UK example has a gold dial, which I though interesting, but I think what happened was sun damage bleached the original blue leaving the gold and white printing behind. 

 

To add to the above details the original controller chip had the processor code and date stamp printed on it. Most of the early quartz chips fitted in different makes/movements follow a similar code stamp which can be useful in dating them.

[img]http://i57.tinypic.com/8z41o6.jpg[/img]

The date code tells us it was produced in the 23rd week of 1975. Also some stamped the quartz can too. This had 75 printed on it, but it's extremly faint. The UK market one I have was produced in the 20th week of the previous year 74. I don't know how much this reflects production, but the gold one above seems late enough given they were only produced for that year.

grentch
Posted June 15, 2015 - 12:29pm

PS just to say that IMHO this is one of the single best reference sites out there for any manufacturer. Kudos. :)

William Smith
Posted June 15, 2015 - 4:57pm

In reply to by grentch

I agree.  Thanks.
In retrospect, I saw interest in Bulova spike in 2000 w/ Bruce Shawkey's NAWCC Bulletin article (Dec 2000,  pg 809-811).  This article was actually adapted for the Bulletin from an original story Bruce did in "Vintage Wrist Watch Report".  I think this was a quarterly or monthly publication for one of the NAWCC chapters at time- Maybe Chapter 181 or 185.

Then in 2007 Bruce published another Bulletin article "Bulova Wristwatches Revisited" (Aug 2007, pg 455-457) where he mentions MyBulova.com, and discusses various early Bulova attributes, including “Favre W. Co. Bulova W. Co.” movement signatures, early case signatures, and some info Cary Hurt discussed w/ Bruce and Chapter 185.   This brought MyBulova.com to the national, if not world spotlight.  We started getting more members and interest shortly after this article.

Then things really picked up here after Lisa published her article in 2013 Bulletin, discussing both her website and MyBulova.com.  I don't have month/pages for this Bulletin article off top of my head, but its a great read, and sent our membership numbers soaring.

We try to be accurate, back up discussion with ads, documents, etc..., learn more about the history of Bulova, and have fun all at the same time.  

grentch
Posted June 15, 2015 - 5:22pm

In reply to by William Smith

[quote=William Smith]

 

We try to be accurate, back up discussion with ads, documents, etc..., learn more about the history of Bulova, and have fun all at the same time.  

[/quote]And my word WS, you do all of those things. A really fantastic resource and community you have here. I've lurked for years and other than a couple of Accutrons and one 1930's example I wouldn't exactly be a true blue Bulovite like most around here. Though I have always thought them a fantastic, innovative and daftly undervalued maker. I lurked for the enthusiasm and knowledge and horological scholarship.  So when I got the chance to hopefully add to this community and knowledge base I jumped at it. TBH I did think "oh man, I have gotta get this onto myBulova pronto" :) 

Geoff Baker
Posted June 20, 2015 - 6:05am

In reply to by grentch

Thanks grentch, for the kinds words, it's nice to hear your enthusiasm. I know exactly how you felt about having to get it into our database 'pronto'. Alas, it does remind me that I have a small pile of Bulova watches I need to photograph and add myself......