From 1960 to 1977, the Accutron was the most advanced wristwatch made by Bulova. Though not the first electric wristwatch—Elgin and Hamilton got there first in 1952—the Accutron was a breakthrough nonetheless. Designed by Max Hetzel and then refined by William Bennett, its chief innovation was a small metal tuning fork powered by a one-transistor electronic circuit manufactured by Raytheon. The fork’s 360-hertz vibrations drove a mechanical gear that turned the watch’s hands—the Accutron did not tick, it hummed. Until the arrival of the Accutron, the hands on wristwatches had been propelled across their dials by the energy stored in wound springs, and their rate of movement was regulated by a device called an escapement. The Accutron did away with these moving parts, making it a major advance in wristwatch technology. Between 1958 and the first moonwalk in 1969, NASA relied on Accutron technology for numerous timing mechanisms on the ground. The space agency even brought a Bulova to the moon—today a Bulova timer still sits at the Sea of Tranquility, where it has been since 1969. But the astronauts themselves wore Omega wristwatches, which must have been a blow to the morale of the Accutron team at Bulova, especially because one of the earliest Accutron models was called the Astronaut. If the snub by NASA was disappointing, the Accutron received a boost on Earth in 1962, when the Accutron 214 (the designation of its internal movement) became the first wristwatch certified for railroad workers who demanded accuracy to keep their trains running on time. Until then, pocket watches had ruled the rails, but these Accutrons had the words “Railroad Approved” right on their dials. Initially, the Accutron had an opaque dial and was housed in a 14k-gold case, but Bulova marketers wanted to show off their tuning-fork technology, so early advertisements for the Accutron revealed its state-of-the-art circuitry and proprietary hardware by eliminating the dial entirely. Dial markings such as the rectangles that indicated the hours were printed on the inside of the watch’s plastic crystal. Naturally, Bulova assumed some of its customers would want these novelty wristwatches, so the company supplied its dealers with handfuls of conversion kits, so the opaque dial could be removed and the clear crystal swapped for the printed version. Much to Bulova’s surprise, though, customers preferred these “Spaceview” Accutrons to the regular ones, so much so that the 14k-gold cases were supplemented by stainless-steel cases to keep up with demand. In the end, these high-tech-looking Accutrons proved even more popular than the gold ones. By 1967, Bulova was making an Accutron pocket watch to go with its Astronaut and Spaceview models. Most calendar Accutrons had small windows in their dials to show the day of the month, but some also displayed the day of the week. A “Deep Sea” Accutron followed in 1970, and by 1977, the last year the Accutron was produced, the dominant movement in the wristwatch was made out of quartz rather than a metal tuning fork.