Custom Manufacture Advice

[Tim]

I have a question that I am hoping someone might have some ideas about how I could proceed. I have mentioned before that I mostly collect vintage watches and the target of my collection is early electrics before quartz. Examples are Hamilton Electrics, Accutrons, Megasonics, and so forth. I have probably one of the nicest collection that exists. There is a problem though with the Accutrons in that the most valuable examples have in them what is called a 214 movement. Many may know these watches as the old "hummers" since they have a high pitch hum sound to them when they run. Of course what causes this is a tuning fork movement.

That tuning fork is made to work by an electrical field generated by two coils (pictured)--one on either side of the tuning fork. The 214 was the original movement that was made for these watches although there were some models after that one. But the 214 is the holy grail of the model line so to speak. Here is the problem.

These coils are made of exceptionally thin wire wrapped around a tube. The wire is of sufficient age that it is getting brittle and breaking (the first production watches were released in 1960 making them almost 50 years old at this point). When this happens there is no repair that can be done on the watch and the entire coil must be replaced. It normally is no big deal and people have been making this repair for as long as the watches have been around. However no more parts are being made for these watches and that includes the coils. The Accutron community has been living off of NOS parts now since they've stopped selling the watches. And these coils are almost all gone now.

Now the question. Does anyone have a clue on what luck I would have commissioning a production run of these coils? Do any of the manufacturers that supply our watches have the capability of making something like these coils? From what I've seen they are very similar to the coil wrap they put on quartz crystals in quartz watches. (Did you know that a quartz watch is basically a tuning fork watch as well?) Anyone have any ideas?

/Tim

[freddy333]

Tim -- I know about those Accutrons. I have been on the lookout for a nice Spaceview 214 myself for several years. Almost bought a mint one about 5 years ago, but I thought the $300 price tag was outrageous and I am kicking myself now.

Unless the core is damaged (it looks ok in your pics) or there is something special about the wire (which I doubt), I would think that most transformer manufacturers would be able to re-wind them or produce something similar (if they do not already have something similar on the shelf). If not, they should be able to point you in the direction of someone that could. You just need to match the wire type & gauge, winding layout and number of turns on the core. Coils are pretty basic components. I no longer have the tools required, but I used to wind coils that were only a little bit larger for electronic kits that consisted of wire that was a little bit thicker than human hair.

I wonder if there is a problem with some of the other electronic components -- alot of older 1960s capacitors and ICs are no longer made and some can be very hard to source.

After I posted this it occurred to me that you might even try phonograph cartridge makers like Audio Technica, Shure, Grado, etc., since most cartridges contain very small coils (smaller than the coils in a watch) and they often use all sorts of exotic wires and winding techniques. I am sure that one of these companies could assist you.

[Tim]

I was really thinking about getting a 1000 piece run of them made. The are attracting a really nice price for them right now and it is to the point where they are scavenging them out of lesser models for parts for the more valuable models.

/Tim