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ACCUTRON

The Worlds First Electronic Timepiece

In any serious discussion of 20th centurytechnology, the Accutron 214 should be acknowledged as an American icon. The 214 project was begun by Bulova at a time when America felt threatened by Russian advances in technology. At the helm was retired generalOmar N. Bradley, the quiet hero of WW2 and the man after whom the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was named. The "Astronaut" model was worn by pilots of our experimentalX-15 Rocket Planes,and Accutron played a vital part in every US Space mission during the 60's and 70's. To this day, there are several Accutron214 timing devices sitting on the Moon's "Sea of Tranquility". The first was carried there in 1969 by the crew of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to actually land men on the moon. The Accutron 214 was declared an American "Gift of State" by PresidentLyndon Johnson and for over a decade they were given to hundreds of visiting dignitaries. The 214 was made into panel mountclocks that were installed in the instrument panels of military ships and aircraft including "Air Force One". The 214 can reasonably be considered to be the prototype for all modern quartz watches. No other timepiece has had a greater impact on the way we keep time today.

A Symbol of it's Era:
Many of us who watched the liftoff ofApollo 11 in 1969 remember the pride and the apprehension that we felt as a tiny capsule, mounted atop a gigantic "flying bomb" was launched into space. TV's were set up in store windows and at workplaces so that people could go about their business without missing the launch and we crowded around those early sets to witness the historic event.

Three.....two.....one.....lift off!   The rocket rose, ever so slowly at first, and the world watched. In every group, a spontaneous chant could be heard. It was almost inaudible at first, breathed rather than spoken, "go".  Several more voices chiming in, "go",  louder now, "go....go", and finally, shouting as the telescopic lens showed the stages separating, GO!.....GO!.....GO!.......

As the rocket rose into the blue Florida sky, America and the world rode with it on an emotional high. At last, when the spacecraft had reached the escape velocity of 17,500 miles per hour and the main engine shut down, the enormity of what had just occurred set in. At he Kennedy Space Center on that July day at 9:32am EDT men from Earth began a journey to the Moon and Accutron was aboard.