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Belittled Bulova B-5203, bringing it back!

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    Belittled Bulova B-5203, bringing it back!

    Another one of my recent eBay finds, a Bulova flip clock! I'm a large Bulova fan in general, the accutron watch movement / brand is what I believe to be one of the under-appreciated marvels of the 20th century.

    Just for fun, a picture of my 1967 Accutron Spaceview I acquired this summer, it has a important story behind it.

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    Back to the other Bulova! This is my first flip clock from this brand, so I was wondering what sort of mechanism / construction it would use. Turns out, it's very similar to other "non-copal" mechanism flip clocks from the time, like Seth Thomas.

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    As like any clock I scrummage from eBay, it was filthy! But not broken at least.

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    You can tell it was a survivor, even as dirty as it is, the neon bulb is still trying after all this time at the very tip!


    #2
    First up was building a new neon bulb / wire set and getting that installed, then oiling all the gears / bushings. After a closer look, it uses a sealed gear case / inductor (hope I'm thinking of the right thing) to keep moving. However, this gear case looks different than the other omron models I'm used to.

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    And of course, we need to address the cosmetics with a plastic UV treatment!

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      #3
      Nice clock and nice work! As far as I have seen, with all the Bulova flip clocks I have laid my hands on (and opened up), they all have a generic clockwork on the inside.

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        #4
        Well, at least I know what I’m in for if I pickup another one!

        I decided to service the rotor assembly rather than leave it be. This brings me back to the Sony roller clock I did forever ago, but this time I have much better tools.

        Following this gentlemen’s guide (https://youtu.be/nyAuWRVSSuU) that is used for Telechron motors, it was pretty simple to service it. Hopefully this keeps it going for another 50 years.

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          #5
          After placing a carefully considered hole into the rotor casing, I was able to relube the internals using synthetic clock oil. I found about 1-1 1/2 ml of oil is all it takes. Too much, and the geartrain will run slow.

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          Interestingly, it's a Toshiba rotor / motor assembly. I sealed the hole with hot glue, being careful to not allow for any to drip inside the movement.

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          And with that, this clock is complete, beauty shot time! The brutalist, mid-century design really stands out.

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