The Non-Existent Accutron 114

The initial concept for the Accutron movement can be seen in its most basic form as the 114. What’s notable about this earlier movement is the timing modulation at the very top of the case. “F | S” denoting fast and slow allowing the wearer to adjust the timing if desired. This text and function is removed on later models and instead added the regulators to the forks.

This prototype movement was never sold to the public making it incredibly rare. 100 models were produced for testing by Bulova executives. Back in 1960 one prototype – be it a 114 or earlier was lost by John F Budd Jr. At the time is was valued at $60,000 which in today’s values equates to in excess of half a million dollars (see article below).

I fixed a couple of accutrons for a gentleman who owns the last known 114. I was informed that he received it years ago and has had it since and always cherished it. He gave me some photos, too, which I have included here. Now, I can’t find him in my database as I must not have recorded a doggone note about it. If you are reading this and you are the gentleman I spoke with, please give me a call. I’d love to talk about your Accutron 114.

News article published in many newspapers around the country, June 6, 1960

Lost $60,000 Watch Recovered

Greenvale–A housewife and her 2-year-old-son did something over the weekend that a troop of Boy Scouts and four Army engineers couldn’t do. She found an electronic wrist watch valued at $60,000 that her husband had lost Memorial Day.

John F. Budd of 14 Marry Lane, said the watch was found by his wife in a clump of weeds along a part about a half-mile from Old Country Road. Budd’s wife, Elaine, spotted it by chance when she stepped back off the part with her son, Jonathan, to let a car go by.

At the moment she found the watch, the area was being searched by Scouts from Troop 82, Mellville, and the detector-equipped engineers, members of the 102nd Engineering Battalion of the 42nd Division of the New York National Guard. Budd had obtained their help when his own week-long search had proved futile. He lost the watch when a pin on the strap broke while he was running through a field with his dog.

The watch is one of 30 experimental electronic watches being developed by the Bulova Watch Co. Budd, a public relations official for a company that does work for Bulova, was wearing the watch to test it. Budd declined to reveal any details of the watch, other than to say that it hums rather than ticks. He said it was valued at $60,000 because of the research that went into developing it.