Accutron 50th Anniv servicing details

[cruvon]

Hi, after a few places mentioning that the new Spaceview had to be sent to Japan for servicing because Citizen is now Bulova's parent company, I thought will check with Bulova themseleves, who as I understand it still operate as an independent company financially backed and owned by Citizen, much like the Chinese own Hummer or Indians control Jaguar/Landrover, etc.
Turns out that the watch is actually being serviced in New York. They gave me an Australian dealers contact who would send it to New York for servicing with Bulova. Did anyone here do or hear anything different from Bulova about servicing?


Bulova - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"On January 10, 2008, Citizen bought the Bulova Watch Company for $250 million. Together they are the world's largest watchmaker. After the acquisition Dennis W. Perry was named the president of Bulova, after having previously served as chief strategic officer.[9]
Currently Bulova designs, manufactures, and markets several different brands, including: the signature "Bulova", the affordable "Caravelle", the dressy/formal Swiss-made "Wittnauer Swiss", the very popular "Marine Star", and the sportier Swiss-made "Accutron"."

[oliverb]

It will be interesting to see if others concur. If so, that is a good thing. I can only imagine the difficulty in obtaining parts 30-50 years from now for such a low volume production piece. I would like to see Bulova market more modern tuning fork Accutrons in the future but at a lower price. There seems to be a resurgence of interest in mechanical watches. I know, the Accutron isn't a true mechanical watch but it at least somewhat fits the category.

[cruvon]

It will be interesting to see if others concur. If so, that is a good thing. I can only imagine the difficulty in obtaining parts 30-50 years from now for such a low volume production piece. I would like to see Bulova market more modern tuning fork Accutrons in the future but at a lower price. There seems to be a resurgence of interest in mechanical watches. I know, the Accutron isn't a true mechanical watch but it at least somewhat fits the category.

I am hoping that with Citizens financial muscle and backing that Bulova will remain viable for a long time and hopefully has the finances to keep a nice stash of parts to services these Spaceviews in the future. I think Citizen's the best shot these Spaceviews have in making a parts stash available to preserve the Accutrons rich heritage for the future and the best financial backing Bulova too has for it's survival as a company; especially since the previous company that had bought Bulova is widely credited for it's downward spiral. What I like is that Citizen has chosen to keep Bulova independent of it's other watch operations, moved into Swiss operations and appointed Richard Branson as it's brand ambassador. Also interesting is that Citizen and Bulova are not new to collaboration and had been doing that decades ago on Accutron technology, just that now one owns the other. From a watch collectors perspective, a company gone under is not good for collectability so is great that Bulova has survived, my take atleast:)

[CLEANS-HIGH]

I rally like the new models Bulova has come out with lately, from the Marine star to the Precisionist which are exceptional watches
and if it keeps them going that Citizen purchaced them it is a good thing, Citizen is another exceptional watch company and I like the fact that they operated independently from Citizen, I like both watch companies and will keep purchacing both brands

[oliverb]

I rally like the new models Bulova has come out with lately, from the Marine star to the Precisionist which are exceptional watches
and if it keeps them going that Citizen purchaced them it is a good thing, Citizen is another exceptional watch company and I like the fact that they operated independently from Citizen, I like both watch companies and will keep purchacing both brands

I like Citizen - have three chronographs - but is Bulova doing anything, movement-wise, on their own? A local jeweler says he does not think Bulova is producing any of their own movements. Maybe decisions on case styles, marketing, etc.

[alton1]

I'll need to do some more research, but I think Bulova continues to do a lot of European Market (Switzerland) work. They produce a number of watches strictly for the European Market. I have found some high-end Swiss made, new and pre-owned Bulovas being sold from a Poland-based online dealer and from private owners in Germany, and other places in Europe, that I've never seen being offered here in the U.S.

[vtec2006]

Do you know about this guy?

Accutron Spaceview Repair and Astronaut Service Bulova Recommended

[cruvon]

Do you know about this guy?

Accutron Spaceview Repair and Astronaut Service Bulova Recommended

Hi thanks but my query is for servicing the 2010 50th Anniv Spaceview. The link you posted is for vintage spaceview repair:)

[oliverb]

I'll need to do some more research, but I think Bulova continues to do a lot of European Market (Switzerland) work. They produce a number of watches strictly for the European Market. I have found some high-end Swiss made, new and pre-owned Bulovas being sold from a Poland-based online dealer and from private owners in Germany, and other places in Europe, that I've never seen being offered here in the U.S.

I really do hope that is the case. What a loss it would be for a company with such a storied history to be relegated to a product in name only. You know, there are a lot of products only seen in the Euro/Asian markets that I believe would sell quite well here. Sometimes I wonder about the marketing folks who get paid big money to deny us desirable products.

[accutron]

As far as I can tell no parts off the 50th anniversary Citizen movement interchange with the original Bulova 214. This was probally done to deny original 214 owners a parts source.