The power of giving a gift can have an enormous impact on either one person or an entire community.

Since we are reaching the end of the season of gift giving, it would be appropriate to discuss the origin story of the Bulova Accutron and how this gift sparked a creative revolution, including iconic Nike designs.

What Sparked the Creative Revolution?

In the 1950s watch companies started experimenting with the first generation of watches.

Prominent companies that capitalized on this emerging development were Lip Electronics(France) and Elgin(USA).

In 1952, these early models functioned like mechanical watches with an added motor and battery.

While there was promise in this development of watches, they were prone to failure and difficult to repair.

History of the Accutron

Enter Bulova with the development of Accutron. For context, in 1866 a man named Louis Francois Clement Breguet patented the tuning fork timepiece.

He used vibrating metal coils to mark the passage of time as it goes. These vibrations divide each second into 360 equal parts.

He then implemented the tuning fork to create a characteristic “hum” sound when vibrations occur.

Inspired by this framework, a Swiss engineer named Max Hertzel was recruited to miniaturize the technology in 1953.

He created a pawl-and-jewel system attached to one end of the tuning fork. Vibrations then pushed microscopic teeth on a tiny gear to track time.

Thus the 1960s ushered in the birth of the Accutron, the world’s first fully-electronic watch.

To better present the watch’s inner workings, there was an “open dial” demonstration model developed as a salesman’s sample.

A request by jewelers to have an open dial revealing the movement to the consumer prompted the release of the new watch.

To attract passersby, the watch was made with 14-karat gold. Accutron was so accurate the adjustment mechanism was moved to the back away from the view.

One year later, the window model of the watch quickly gained popularity; the watch was introduced as the Accutron Spaceview.

It was called that because it views the inner workings of how the watch functions.

Its popularity led to conversions being made to existing watch dials to allow viewing of the inner workings.

Famous Accutron Watches

Since 1961, Over 200 models of Accutron have been released. Some of the models even made it to the hands of noted celebrities.

In 2013, a 1970 model owned by Joe DiMaggio was sold in an auction for over $20,000.

Paul Newman was photographed by Life Magazine wearing an Accutron 214 Spaceview during the filming of his directorial debut, ‘Rachel Rachel’.

Elvis Presley was frequently photographed wearing several Accutrons from his collection.

It was then in 1976 that over 5 million Accutron “tuning fork” models were sold worldwide.

From there, this timepiece continued to evolve but still paid homage to its original design.

Bulova introduced a new way for the watch to run using electrostatic movement.

This involves two small turbines generating a magnetic field, which moves the rotor and turns the motor — essentially powered by arm movements.

It achieves an extremely stable rate of just five seconds per month and relies on an open-worked dial view to showcase interior engineering.

However, Accutron did more than just keep time, it even went to space.

The Accutron Astronaut was developed to meet the demands of high-speed flight and space travel.

Even more, Accutron technology was adopted by the US Air Force, the CIA, and NASA.

How Watches Inspired More Creative Revolutions?

So, how did this technology inspire the design of Nike? In 1981, Tinker Hatfield was a corporate architect, designing buildings for Nike.

By 1987, he switched to shoes and created some of the company’s most iconic styles.

His inspiration was for the strong and attractive design on the Accutron Spaceview which brought forth the Nike Air Max 1.

When asked further about his inspiration for this revolutionary shoe design he had this to say:

“The Centre Pompidou was one of my must-sees when I was in Paris… this large almost machine-like building sort of spilling its guts out into the world… I remember being really super influenced by it. I’m fully convinced that had I not seen the building I might not have. I might not have suggested that we actually exposed this airbag and make it visual and actually let people see inside the shoe.”

Visions of Disruptive Technology

This inspiration leads to the transparent bubble element leading to be breathable and flexible.

Moreover like the Spaceview, you would be able to see the inner workings of the shoe through that bubble.

The combination of functional and fashionable made the Air Max 1 one of the greatest sneakers in history.

On October 25, 1960, Bulova released the first and most advanced watch in the world.

This meaningful gift to the world rooted in disruptive technology led to the creation of a culturally iconic sneaker.

It was truly a gift that kept on giving. Read on for the full story of a creative revolution below: