At the dawn of the space age, test pilot “jocks” who flew high-speed experimental rocket planes and the Mercury 7 astronauts who rode the Redstone & Atlas rockets needed a timepiece that befitted their ventures into a brave new world. Enter America’s first microsonic wristwatch, the Bulova Accutron introduced in October 1960. The Accutron 214 movement appeared a full decade before the first commercial quartz watch by Seiko of Japan. Bulova’s press advertising was quick to capitalise on the Accutron Astronaut’s space age connotations as the little GMT tuning fork pilot watch became a favorite with and adopted by military testpilots and civilian CIA pilots. 1964 M4 Accutron Astronaut wristwatch by a 1/18th desktop Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. (Photo: MoonwatchUniverse) Learn more about early pilot watches in the Space Age: https://www.time4apint.com/podcast/the-time-4a-pint-podcast-episode-52
