Bulova's "Accutron" watches, first sold in October 1960, use a 360 hertz tuning fork to drive a mechanical gear train to turn the hands. The inventor, Max Hetzel, was born in Basel, Switzerland, and joined the Bulova Watch Company of Bienne, Switzerland, in 1948. The tuning fork was powered by a one-transistor electronic oscillator circuit, so the Accutron qualifies as the first "electronic watch". The tuning fork movement was a horological revolution. Previously, electronically regulated timepieces were limited to some scientific instruments, being too large for a personal watch. The Accutron was also the first wristwatch precise enough to qualify for U.S. railroad certification. A wristwatch regularly moves in all possible directions, as opposed to a pocket watch which spends the vast majority of its life either mostly vertical or mostly horizontal. Prior to the Accutron, that movement affected the precision of all wristwatches to a degree which precluded railroad certification, even for the best made and most expensive chronometer certified wristwatches. The ability to legitimately claim the Accutron as the most precise wristwatch in existence was a tremendous boon for the company. Unfortunately for Bulova, in 1969 the Seiko Astron, the first mass produced quartz movement watch, hit store shelves. Because the quartz movement wristwatch was easier and cheaper to manufacture, Seiko was able to sell watches just as precise as an Accutron at a much lower cost Bulova began the 17 year manufacture of the tuning fork Accutron with its round 214 movement in 1960, which departed from typical wristwatch design in that there was no setting stem and crown on the side of the watch. Instead, the stem and crown were placed on the back of the case. While used mainly in men's wristwatches, they also manufactured a number of different desk clocks using the 214 movement. In 1965 they introduced the 218 movement, with a setting stem and crown at the 4 o'clock position, rather than the more traditional wristwatch placement at 3 o'clock. in 1972 came the 219, and in 1973 the "Accuquartz" 224, all "full sized" movements, ranging from 28.7mm to 29.7mm in diameter. The 224 movement was actually regulated by a quartz crystal, but it still incorporated a tuning fork. For women's watches, they introduced the smaller, round, 19.4mm 230 movement (there was also a 23.5mm version of this movement) in 1970, and the basically rectangular 19.4mm by 17.4 mm 2210 in 1973. Both the 2210 and the larger version of the 230 were also used in some men's wristwatches. The photos to the right depict (top photo) the back of a 218 movement and (bottom photo) the front of a 214 movement which is shown in a Spaceview Accutron, perhaps the first mass produced open movement wristwatch, and certainly one of the first. Ironically, the Spaceview was never intended by Bulova to be sold; it was a salesman's demonstration tool. However, many jewelers asked the salesmen for their demonstrators, the salesmen had to order reeplacements, which made the company aware that there was a demand for this type of wristwatch and led to Bulova starting manufacture of the Spaceview as a retail model of the Accutron.