Citizen Watch Group has revived the Accutron watch brand, famous for its innovative and skeletonized Spaceview watch that debuted in the 1960s, as a stand-alone brand distinct from Bulova, maker of the iconic Bulova Accutron watch. Citizen acquired the Bulova and Accutron brands in 2008.

The company has since erected a marketing cyclone around the relaunch that includes the debut of an Accutron-branded podcast (which you can read about here) and a prestige coffee-table book from upscale book publisher Assouline.

Accutron: From the Space Age to the Digital Age chronicles Accutron timepieces from inception to its 2020 relaunch. Written by Hodinkee editor-in-chief Jack Forster and coauthored and edited by Aaron Sigmond—with a foreword by industrial designer Carl Gustav Magnusson—the book details the dawn of the  Spaceview, Accutron’s display timepiece that was built to illustrate Accutron’s revolutionary movement, which featured an electrostatic drive system. (Forster dives into the specifics of that right here.)

The sci-fi-looking Spaceview, with its industrial green base plate and clear-top design, was never intended for sale but as a window-display element. It captured watch fans’ devotion in the era of U.S. space exploration and inadvertently launched a new aesthetic in watches that put the spotlight on technical virtuosity.

Accutron has debuted two new Spaceview models this year: the Spaceview 2020 and the Spaceview DNA, both of which feature an electrostatic motor and two smaller electrostatic generators.

A special deluxe-box edition of the new book that comes with a limited-edition Accutron Spaceview 2020 timepiece is also being offered. Both the watch and the book are individually numbered 1–300. The book-watch set retails for $4,000 on Hodinkee and at other Accutron retailers.

Top: Accutron: From the Space Age to the Digital Age (all photos courtesy of Assouline)

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Emili Vesilind

JCK Senior Editor