[Bromo33333]

I heard a rumor that Bulova was going to do a reissue of their tuning fork movement in a limited run of new watches. Any truth to that rumor?

For me, I'd think this would be an opportunity to get good parts for watch repair...

Though ... second thought ...

Making a new tuning fork movement would be rather easy as a design - there was only 1 active component and it is a simple Hartley oscillator. One might be able to do it with a single chip and a driver to energize the fork.

Hmmmm ....

[accutronguy]

This is what I have heard, this will be a alpha case in stainless steel only larger than the original. Coils will be hand wound. Limited to 1000 pieces for $4,000.....this will be a jumping off point for a new timekeeping innovation that Bulova will unveil at Basel this year

[Bromo33333]

That makes sense. I Googled it, and only got the "Astronaut" with the mechanical movement.

It'll be good to see Bulova get back to what really put them on the map.

(The thing that's funny, is that the movement ought to cost significantly less than a mechanical one. If someone were to make a tuning fork movement in significant quantities (say 1000+) each coil would be $5-10 (for up to $30), the transistor about 5 cents. Resistor about 2 cents. Circuit board, $2, tuning fork $5-10, and a form of regulator for the battery ($2). I'd expect the electronic part of the movement to cost < $100, new, assembled and tested. The gear train I wouldn't have an idea.

I was toying with the idea of designing a tuning fork movement and doing a limited run watch based upon it. (I am an Electrical Engineer by training).

[gaspar]

Wow!! That would be super-cool!!
I hope Bulova realizes there is a lot of love for the old hummers and decide to continue with that tradition.
In the 70's they made money by the truck load..

Wow, that's good news!!

[Boomertime]

Wow!! That would be super-cool!!
I hope Bulova realizes there is a lot of love for the old hummers and decide to continue with that tradition.
In the 70's they made money by the truck load..

Wow, that's good news!!

SUPER Cool indeed! I have had the Accutron watches sitting brand new in my showcases as far back as 1973. I loved them then,,,,, and still do!!! Let's just see what happens in Basil!
Boomer

[Thomas Carey]

I wonder if the quality is improved with the improved manufacturing techniques and material we have now. The price is sure high. Seems to me you could get quite an original for the price.

[accutronguy]

I hate to be a pessimist,, but I think that since they are only making 1000 new alphas. It would'nt suprise me if citizen bought up 1000 non working movements then produced new piller plates, moved all parts to the new pillar plate and re wound some bad coils and called it good and said $4,000 please. This is not a ridiculous scenario

[gaspar]

It would'nt suprise me if citizen bought up...

So Bulova is owned by Citizen? Wow...
I've had a Citizen for the last 8 years that hasn't missed a beat so I know at least the quality is there..

[Boomertime]

Yep,,,,, the big $250,000,000 deal was "talked" about for at least a couple years, but actually did happen in January of 2008. Citizen now owns Bulova. The Citizen company at it beginning planned to let Bulova be marketed as its own separate brand & company. Time will tell (no pun intended) if they stick with this plan.

[Wien]

Citizen is wise for this move. Can we say Citizen's managment makes better sense than Toyota?

But down to earth, I'm curious about the equipment, plant, technology and personnel required. After all, it's no conventional mechanical movement and production line. Producing Accutron back in Bulova's plants in NY State was crazily costly and meticulous in 1960s. Bulova could do so only after decades of success and profits worldwide, before and after WWII.

How can Citizen and Bulova manage to rebulid such a production line? For 4,000 only?

[gaspar]

I think the automation available today (read robots) can do wonderful things! The re-introduction of the tuning fork for 4k is a complete loss but will give the leverage to marketing they need to start up the campaign and that's were the money is...

[Bromo33333]

I would tend to agree, though most expensive part of the R&D is already done. All they would need to do is get the circuit board layout, updated components, coils and mechanical/alloy for the tuning fork into modern form (which I'd imagine could be done by 2-4 people over 2 months. Test a couple of prototypes to make sure it performs to specification, then do the release (and how lengthy that would be depends upon the Citizen/Bulova release process).

The coil winding they said was "by hand" but given the design, it certainly wouldn't be as labor intensive as it was in the 1960's. It is simple enough you could do it by machine and have tighter tolerances.

As it is a in-house build ... the release could be minimal. Though there are a number of excellent quality PCB assembly places globally. Though you'd want to be careful, because a few could "fall off a truck" and you have a bunch of Chinese copies.

But 1000 watches at $4000/ea. makes it $4M. Given the economies of scale, and the likely investment, I would bet they at least break even, and they may actually turn a profit.

But resurrecting this movement to just build a limited number seems kind of silly. I'd expect to see a range of watches released.

And ... I wonder if they could be retrofitted in existing 214 watches as a restoration? Kinda scary thought, that.