An Incredible 1960s Watch Gets a Cool Electrostatic Upgrade

The Accutron — the world ’s first electronic vigil — is back . Sort of . The newfangled Spaceview 2020 relies on a similar movement and that original 1960s design , but packs in a few welcome innovative features .

The Spaceview 2020 looks surprisingly like the original tuning - ramification base watch movement created at Bulova in 1960 and ascertain in the Accutron . Those former watches used a minuscule piece of vibrating alloy to drive the hand at a steady stride and predicted the rise of quartz view a ten afterward . This new $ 3,450 watch features the same unique bm but instead of relying on a battery it is charged using two electrostatic turbine that twirl on the spotter face and power an accumulator that power the scout ’s two electrostatic motor .

This results in an electronic trend with a swimmingly call on ( aka slam ) seconds hand and an truth of plus or minus five seconds a calendar month . The hour and minutes hands move using stepping motor motors . Because both the motor and the rotor are static , they necessitate very little superpower to run . Most distractingly , the rotor on the face twirl freely , capturing your normal question to deform it into free energy .

Photo: Accutron

The watch come in multiple colors and styles including a burnished light-green poser that matches the original Spaceview . The pricing – a hefty $ 3,450 – is n’t frightening for what amount to a unique timepiece for a special kind of watch lover .

These affair are a far rallying cry from the original Spaceviews from the sixties but the entire software package has a retro - spacekraft feel to it that makes it a geeky badge of honor dedicated to the Golden Age of space travel . After all , an original Accutron is currently resting on the Moon , a reminder of how important timekeeping was in every years of exploration .

Watches

Photo: Accutron