# Bulova Precisionist second hand movement



## fyndi

In this video, Bulova Precisionist second hand has continously sweeping movement like in mechanical automatic watches. Is it really so smooth movement? It is also ticking in video, is it then in stop watch mode? Hopefully I manage to attach this video link.


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## yankeexpress

It moves at 16 beats per second, smoother than any mechanical.

This stopwatch chronograph is 1 bps. Other models beat at 8 bps. 

Note there are several different Bulova quartz movements....Precisionist, UHF, 262kHz, Accutron II....and some beat at slower rates.


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## yankeexpress

Precisionist chrono vs Accutron chrono quote:

"It is important to note that the Precisionist movement in the Accutron II collection of watches is slightly different than the movement in the larger Precisionist watches (collection). That is because in order to reduce the size of the movement for these more classic timepieces Bulova needed to use smaller batteries. To maintain the same three year battery life, Bulova slowed down the frequency of the watch so that is uses a bit less power. So what does all this mean? Basically in order to have a watch that is not so large, Bulova decided to offer a bit less accuracy. Having said that, these are still much more accurate than "traditional" quartz movements. So while the larger Precisionist movements are "way" more accurate than most quartz movements, the Accutron II Precisionist movements are "much" more accurate."

Bulova Accutron II Surveyor With Precisionist Movement Watch Review | aBlogtoWatch

They also slowed down the beat rate of the sweep on the chronograph models to 8 bps from the 16 bps of the big Precisionist and 3-handers.

Video showing the 8 bps sweep of the Accutron II chrono sweep hand and 2bps small seconds.






Video showing smooth 16 bps sweep of the non-chrono 98b252 lobster:


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## fyndi

I'm little bit confused now. Is it so that in all Precisionist 262kHz models second hand has 16 bps sweep?
What kind of bps is it then in Marine Star models?


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## arogle1stus

Bros:
I happen to own 2 pieces with the 262 Mhrtz HF Precisionist movements
The new sheriff in town for me. 
This was a master stroke for Bulova (Citizen/Miyota) IMO. Breathed new
interest into a flagging quartz watch concept. 82% of ALL watches are
Quartz BTW.

X Traindriver Art


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## DaveK12

Marine Star doesn't have a 262 movement. Quartz Marine Star ticks once per second. All of the 3 hand 262 models have a 16 Hz tick. If you're holding it right to your ear in a quiet place, you can hear it. It looks very smooth, but slow motion betrays it. Sometimes out in the bright sun, I feel like a see a catch in its motion. There are at least 3 different 262 chronos, and they're all different in what their hands will do.


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## Ricardo77

_"It is important to note that the Precisionist movement in the Accutron II collection of watches is slightly different than the movement in the larger Precisionist watches (collection). That is because in order to reduce the size of the movement for these more classic timepieces Bulova needed to use smaller batteries. To maintain the same three year battery life, Bulova slowed down the frequency of the watch so that is uses a bit less power. So what does all this mean? Basically in order to have a watch that is not so large, Bulova decided to offer a bit less accuracy. Having said that, these are still much more accurate than "traditional" quartz movements. So while the larger Precisionist movements are "way" more accurate than most quartz movements, the Accutron II Precisionist movements are "much" more accurate."
_
　

Maybe. Maybe not.
All the Precisionist/Accutron II movements I have seen are 26.8mm in diameter and all run at 262 Mhrtz with 16 bps second hands.

Just now looked in an Accutron II 'Telluride', 'Alpha Spaceview' and a Precisionist 'Langford' and all have the same size movement, same ss hand beat rate, and 2016 cell.

_"262 Mhrtz HF Precisionist movements...
This was a master stroke for Bulova (Citizen/Miyota) IMO. Breathed new
interest into a flagging quartz watch concept."
_

Agree 100%.


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## DaveK12

Ricardo77 said:


> All the Precisionist/Accutron II movements I have seen are 26.8mm in diameter and all run at 262 Mhrtz with 16 bps second hands.
> 
> Just now looked in an Accutron II 'Telluride', 'Alpha Spaceview' and a Precisionist 'Langford' and all have the same size movement, same ss hand beat rate, and 2016 cell.
> 
> _"262 Mhrtz HF Precisionist movements...
> This was a master stroke for Bulova (Citizen/Miyota) IMO. Breathed new
> interest into a flagging quartz watch concept."
> _
> 
> Agree 100%.


If you look up the service manual for it, you can see that the plate cutouts shown match the ones visible on the face of the Accutron II Alpha. Bulova improved QC and tempered expectations, but I'd doubt there's any real difference in the 3-hands, no matter which callout is on the dial.


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## mystic nerd

I find it interesting that typical quartz watch crystals beat at about 32.8 kHz (32.8 k beats/second), while the second hand moves in one-second jumps. 
Apparently making the second hand move at 10-20 ticks per second for a smooth appearance, would reduce battery life.

Bulova's 262 kHz movements beat much faster and provide the higher long term accuracy. But the second hand moves only at either 8 or 16 ticks/second, depending on the movement design. That smoothness is not driven by the high quartz speed. My guess is that the higher 262 kHz quartz speed uses less power than the typical 32.8 kHz crystal, leaving more battery reserve available to run the second hand smoothly at 8 or 16 ticks/second.


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## WIS_Chronomaster

Is very smooth!


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