The BulovaAstronaut, launched a few years after the debut of the first Accutron models, was named after the watch during the experimental phases of some American military aviation projects.
The first was the assignment by the USAF, NASA and US Navy agencies of Accutron watches to the pilots who took turns on the three North American X-15 rocket planes, aircrafts that between 1959 and 1968 completed 199 experimental flights overcoming the boundary between atmosphere and space.
Another important moment was when during the early 1960s the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) entrusted the same models to pilots destined to the OXCART project, code name of the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance military aircraft produced by the Skunk Works section.
The choice fell on Bulova’s tuning fork watches because, unlike traditional mechanical watches, they didn’t seem to be affected by the high pressures and temperatures that raised inside the cockpit.

DETAILS
Brand: Bulova
Ref.:
Model: Astronaut
Case No. D82168
Movement No. –
Years: 1967
Movement: at diapason, Accutron 214HN GMT
Functions: middle hours, minutes, and seconds
Measures: 38 mm x 40 mm included loops, 14 mm thick
Lugs: 17 mm
Case: steel with screw ring for closing the back
Dial: matte black with luminescent indices