In MAD MEN, some of the issues regarding the marketing of the Bulova Accutron, as well as all luxury watches for that matter come up. Still, it was a difficult sell to many consumers who were used to wearing strictly mechanical watches. These timepieces were not exactly cheap, and represented a very high-tech and interesting new technology. Nevertheless, the Accutron brand had many different watches with tuning fork movements, including sport watches as well as dress watches. Eventually people wanted to buy those demonstration watches so much that Bulova Accutron decided to produce them. This was originally done as tool to help people see what the movement looked like inside of the watch. The most famous Accutron watches were called the Spaceview because they featured a dial which displayed a view to the movement. Quartz watches also had ticking versus sweeping seconds hands. Quartz watches were less expensive (eventually), more accurate, and had longer battery lives. About a decade later in 1969, the world was introduced to the quartz electronic watch that made all tuning fork watches obsolete overnight. We considered the Accutron tuning fork watch so important we included it in a list of the 10 most important electronic watches. Tuning fork watches had an slight humming noise that went along with them that accompanied the sweeping seconds hand. They also happened to be powered by batteries versus springs. Turning fork watches were among the first electronic timepieces and used a vibrating tuning fork as the regulation system as opposed to a balance wheel. We discussed the Accutron Spaceview watches originally here back in 2008, early in the history of aBlogtoWatch. The most famous model was the Spaceview, which was actually an accidental design never intended for sale. It was in the year 1960 that Bulova unveiled the Accutron range of watches to the public. The pitch, as described in a monologue in the opening scene of season 7 episode 1 titled “Time Zones,” is perhaps one of the best watch advertisements of all time. As the original electronic tuning fork watch, it offered a unique upgrade over mechanical watches but existed in a pre-quartz movement age. It was only a matter of time before the subject of watch advertising came up in the series and there is perhaps no better example than the original Bulova Accutron. Season 7 (the final season) of the television show MAD MEN debuted tonight with the reading of a pitch for the Accutron wrist watch.
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