1974 Citizen Tuning Fork Hisonic in near mint condition.
During the 1960s , tuning-fork movements (like Bulova’s Accutron) were developed as a high-precision alternative to mechanical watches before quartz took over. Citizen licensed tuning-fork technology from Bulova/Accutron and produced a line under the “HiSonic” name, incorporating variations of the Accutron 218 family.
Because they were somewhat niche and relatively short-lived compared to quartz, they have a niche collector following today.
The central novelty is the tuning-fork movement. Instead of a balance wheel or quartz crystal oscillating, a tiny tuning fork vibrates at 360 Hz to regulate time. In effect, it’s electronic but operates differently from quartz.
The second hand on a tuning-fork watch has a very smooth “sweep” motion (no discrete ticks), which is one of the charms of this technology.
This is example is in all original, well kept, in rarely seen pristine condition.
