cobrajet25
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Post by cobrajet25 on Oct 28, 2019 22:23:11 GMT -8
I was at my local Value Village, and was surprised to see this one sitting in the case. Normally, it's just cheesy fashion watches nobody wants. It is a '68 Bulova Accutron with what I believe is the 214 movement.
Very nice shape, perfect dial and hands. Even has a decent strap on it. I put in a battery, and after a little sputtering it started RUNNING! These aren't really my thing, but I figured it was worth the $40!
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pip
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Berkshire, UK
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Post by pip on Oct 29, 2019 1:27:09 GMT -8
I was at my local Value Village, and was surprised to see this one sitting in the case. Normally, it's just cheesy fashion watches nobody wants. It is a '68 Bulova Accutron with what I believe is the 214 movement.
Very nice shape, perfect dial and hands. Even has a decent strap on it. I put in a battery, and after a little sputtering it started RUNNING! These aren't really my thing, but I figured it was worth the $40!
That’s a great score at that price!
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Oct 29, 2019 1:54:59 GMT -8
That's a great score for $40. A running 214 movement on its own is worth a lot more than that.
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suntzu
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Post by suntzu on Oct 29, 2019 2:43:08 GMT -8
And it’s a Railroad Approved one too! I love the sound of the humming. Very cool. $40? That’s awesome.
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cobrajet25
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Post by cobrajet25 on Oct 29, 2019 4:52:25 GMT -8
And it’s a Railroad Approved one too! I love the sound of the humming. Very cool. $40? That’s awesome.
Well, not quite. It was $39.99!
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Post by rob3rto on Oct 29, 2019 13:10:52 GMT -8
And it’s a Railroad Approved one too! I love the sound of the humming. Very cool. $40? That’s awesome. You won't if you leave it on your bedside table at night .
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Post by philsinclair on Oct 29, 2019 14:56:39 GMT -8
Hi. Specialised battery for those. Unusual to see one without a burnt out coil. Cheers Phil
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suntzu
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Post by suntzu on Oct 29, 2019 15:17:02 GMT -8
And it’s a Railroad Approved one too! I love the sound of the humming. Very cool. $40? That’s awesome. You won't if you leave it on your bedside table at night . You must have hearing like your cat. I fall asleep to my TV on so I wouldn't hear it.
I sold my 214 ages ago. It was my grandfather's but never wore it. I had it repaired and really appreciated it but used the funds to buy something I would wear. Sold it to a guy in the UK.
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Oct 29, 2019 16:56:49 GMT -8
I have a 218-powered Accutron and it makes plenty of noise if I leave it on a wooden surface at night. No issues with a regular 1.55v battery, but I hear the 218s are more forgiving than the earlier 214s. Put it next to the left and right ear to see which has the poorer high frequency capability.
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cobrajet25
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Post by cobrajet25 on Oct 29, 2019 22:04:01 GMT -8
I have a 218-powered Accutron and it makes plenty of noise if I leave it on a wooden surface at night. No issues with a regular 1.55v battery, but I hear the 218s are more forgiving than the earlier 214s. Put it next to the left and right ear to see which has the poorer high frequency capability.
I only plan to leave the battery in it for about 24 hours...just to see if it keeps any kind of time. So far, so good. After that, the battery will be removed and the watch will likely go up on Ebay.
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Oct 29, 2019 23:28:48 GMT -8
I have a 218-powered Accutron and it makes plenty of noise if I leave it on a wooden surface at night. No issues with a regular 1.55v battery, but I hear the 218s are more forgiving than the earlier 214s. Put it next to the left and right ear to see which has the poorer high frequency capability.
I only plan to leave the battery in it for about 24 hours...just to see if it keeps any kind of time. So far, so good. After that, the battery will be removed and the watch will likely go up on Ebay.
I'd suggest leaving the battery in. These are most at risk of failure when a new battery is inserted. You don't want it to fail on your buyer when he tries to fire it up. Secondly, "runs but just needs a new battery" is usually code for " I don't know if it runs, and it probably doesn't". You'll get a better price if you sell it with the battery in and the watch definitely running.
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suntzu
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Post by suntzu on Oct 30, 2019 13:01:28 GMT -8
When I had my grandfather's 214 serviced, I believe it was converted to run on a modern battery. I vaguely remember this as it was done in the early 2000's.
If you're going to sell it, I'd polish the crystal and gold toned case to make it much more presentable.
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cobrajet25
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Post by cobrajet25 on Oct 31, 2019 1:41:20 GMT -8
I only plan to leave the battery in it for about 24 hours...just to see if it keeps any kind of time. So far, so good. After that, the battery will be removed and the watch will likely go up on Ebay.
I'd suggest leaving the battery in. These are most at risk of failure when a new battery is inserted. You don't want it to fail on your buyer when he tries to fire it up. Secondly, "runs but just needs a new battery" is usually code for " I don't know if it runs, and it probably doesn't". You'll get a better price if you sell it with the battery in and the watch definitely running.
Thanks for the advice. The watch seems to run and stop. It will run for eight hours, then stop. Give it a little tap and it will run for another ten hours, then stop. Another tap and it runs for six hours, then stops. Rinse and repeat.
When I list it I plan to make it very clear that the watch needs a service, but does not seem to need any major parts or repairs.
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cobrajet25
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Post by cobrajet25 on Oct 31, 2019 1:45:21 GMT -8
When I had my grandfather's 214 serviced, I believe it was converted to run on a modern battery. I vaguely remember this as it was done in the early 2000's.
If you're going to sell it, I'd polish the crystal and gold toned case to make it much more presentable.
Yes, they can be converted...but I am not sure what is involved. This one had a modern Energizer 387S in it when I got it, along with the little plastic spacer ring. When I put in a 394 to test it the watch kept pretty good time for many hours, but stopped intermittently. My understanding is that the 1.55 volt batteries we have today will usually make these run faster than the 1.35 volt mercury batteries available in the '60s. This one does not seem to run fast. In fact, it runs a little slow.
Perhaps this watch has already had this 'conversion' done?
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Post by bailifer on Mar 8, 2020 2:42:12 GMT -8
Not familiar with this accutron, but I’m about to go down a rabbit hole. Beautiful find!
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russtmurray
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Post by russtmurray on Mar 8, 2020 7:17:48 GMT -8
As an ex-railroader all I can say is well done!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2020 7:49:22 GMT -8
The fix for these was to insert a germanium diode in the circuit. This dropped the 1.55v to 1.35v.
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bradurani
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Post by bradurani on Mar 17, 2020 21:07:45 GMT -8
When I had my grandfather's 214 serviced, I believe it was converted to run on a modern battery. I vaguely remember this as it was done in the early 2000's.
If you're going to sell it, I'd polish the crystal and gold toned case to make it much more presentable.
Yes, they can be converted...but I am not sure what is involved. This one had a modern Energizer 387S in it when I got it, along with the little plastic spacer ring. When I put in a 394 to test it the watch kept pretty good time for many hours, but stopped intermittently. My understanding is that the 1.55 volt batteries we have today will usually make these run faster than the 1.35 volt mercury batteries available in the '60s. This one does not seem to run fast. In fact, it runs a little slow.
Perhaps this watch has already had this 'conversion' done?
Some of those spacer rings come with a resistor disc that sits on top of them that does the conversion. The one I had had a white nylon ring that the battery sat in, and there was a disk that went over the top, and the disk has a protrusion. That's the resistor that drops the voltage to 1.35
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Post by stevenjohn on Mar 18, 2020 2:30:56 GMT -8
Yes, they can be converted...but I am not sure what is involved. This one had a modern Energizer 387S in it when I got it, along with the little plastic spacer ring. When I put in a 394 to test it the watch kept pretty good time for many hours, but stopped intermittently. My understanding is that the 1.55 volt batteries we have today will usually make these run faster than the 1.35 volt mercury batteries available in the '60s. This one does not seem to run fast. In fact, it runs a little slow.
Perhaps this watch has already had this 'conversion' done?
Some of those spacer rings come with a resistor disc that sits on top of them that does the conversion. The one I had had a white nylon ring that the battery sat in, and there was a disk that went over the top, and the disk has a protrusion. That's the resistor that drops the voltage to 1.35 I've serviced quite a few of these. There are typically two ways to convert to modern 1.5V batteries. The easiest is the Accucell. It's a 327 1.5V battery with a diode in a lid on top that drops the voltage to the original desgin voltage of 1.35V. The other method is to "rephase". Rephasing is adjusting how the tuning fork fingers are positioned in relation to the index wheel to account for the extra amplitude the 1.5V batteries will cause the tuning fork to move. Not all movements can be rephased to work correctly, especially if the fork was near the tolerance limit. 9162 and 218 movements seem easier in this regard over the 214s. Here's a few I've gone through: www.instagram.com/accu_base/?hl=en
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Post by stevenjohn on Mar 18, 2020 2:39:29 GMT -8
Intermittent stopping can be caused by a few things. The most common is old oil or a rusty pinion on the 218 movements. The train becomes locked and the index finger bends instead of advancing the gear train. This is hard on the index wheel and can wear the teeth off. The wheels are not cheap since they are in limited supply. The other common reason for stopping is improper adjustment of the fingers. If they're not positioned correctly in relation to the index wheel, they cannot advance the wheel correctly. Additionally, 214 movements have an index guard that I've seen contact the finger.
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