The first Accutron Astronaut, 1962

Bulova 1962 Accutron Astronaut

Submitted by Accutronitis on February 5, 2016 – 10:04pm

Manufacture Year

1962

Movement Model

214HN

Movement Jewels

17

Case shape

Round

Case Manufacturer

Bulova

Crystal details

Crystal Ref. # 1245 31.0 mm

Accutron Astronaut M2, The first stainless steel Astronaut ever made, It’s unclear if they were ever released for sale to the general public, The dial only says “Accutron” on it, The hands and markers are of white nonluminous paint, The movement is stamped “USA” and “214HN” and has a date code of “M2” which is the same as the back cover, It has a early type applied logo Kreisler USA Coffin Link Stainless Steel Bracelet.

This watch is Made in the USA and is true Red, White, and Blue through and through and was given to and used by all the X-15 Test Pilots, It’s very questionable to say Omega had the moon given that Bulova 214 based Clocks, timers, and switches were used extensively throughout the Apollo spacecraft including the lunar lander and they all did the real work while Omega got the title “Moon Watch” ! The Bulova Accutron Astronaut paved the way into space and to the moon starting with the X-15 program and ending with Apollo program and that is a FACT !!! 

This stainless steel “Astronaut” model was made before all of the other stainless steel Astronaut watches for only one year 1962 and has a date code of M2 on the case back and movement, There was one Accutron Astronaut watch made before this one with a date code M1 (1961) but it was a 18k Solid Gold Astronaut watch (possible known as the “Royal” Astronaut), Some people might say that a Platinum Accutron or the 18k Solid Gold Astronaut is rarer but I say to that I’ve seen real world pictures showing a few of each other those watches with over a hand full of the 18k Solid Gold Astronaut known to still be around with one of those for sale on ebay as I type this BUT other than some pictures in Bulova ads and the real thing in pictures on the wrists of X-15 test pilots I’ve never seen another one of these 1962 Astronaut watches ANYWHERE ! can you honestly say you have ??? 

Here are some of the undisputed facts about this rarest of rare Accutron Astronaut watch that sets it apart from Any of the other Astronaut watches ever made……

#1 the dial that only says “Accutron” and used nonluminous white paint on the hour markers and no rather large single dots between the hour markers unlike all other Astronaut watches (other than the near equally rare 1963 Astronaut)

#2 the spade hands that Bulova lifted from the aviation panel clocks of the time which were also painted with the same nonluminous white paint as the dial markers, The spade hands were only used for less than one year in 1962 before Bulova changed them in 1963 to the hands you see on the common Astronauts, They are Accutron 214 spade Rail Roal hands painted white and this fact has recently been verified by a number of highly knowledgeable sources of Accutrons of this type 

#3 This 1962 Astronaut watch came with only one type of bracelet, the early applied logo Kreisler USA Coffin Link Bracelet

The Accutron Astronaut definitely evolved very quickly in that first year, Bulova started making the all stainless steel Astronaut in 1962 and sometime around late 1962 / early 1963 they changed the first type of hands to the luminous hands which are the most commonly seen hands on the Astronaut after 1963 and at the same time added luminous paint to the hour marker to match the now luminous hands and other than that one change to the dial it is exactly the same as the very first dial to be used in the all stainless steel 1962 Astronaut watches and really is every bit as rare as the first nonluminous dial that was used, Sometime around late 1963 Bulova added “Astronaut” to the dial and also added the large luminous dots in-between the now luminous hour markers, Then sometime in 1964 they switched to the “bullet” bracelet. From then on the evolution of the Accutron Astronaut slowed way down with relatively small changes made to it over the rest of it’s life.