A subsidiary of Bulova, Accutron is sometimes referred to as Bulova Accutron. Each Accutron watch is manufactured in Switzerland with components and craftsmanship commonly found in much more expensive Swiss watches. It has been said by others that the Accutron watch was developed by the Bulova Watch Company as a response to a perceived requirement by the American Army for a better time standard. I don't know whether that is true or not.
Bulova Technical Documentation states quite clearly that the watch was developed entirely as a consumer item, with no funding from any outside source. Still, it might be fair enough to imagine that the potential military applications hadn't gone unnoticed by Bulova management. The CEO of Bulova at the time was Omar Bradley, 5 Star General, US Army, Retired. All research undertaken was performed by Bulova engineers in their own labs. Although the tuning fork concept had been had been previously demonstrated in clocks, they were never mass produced, let alone miniaturized to watch-size. Work began on the development of a Tuning Fork watch in 1953 by the engineer Max Hetzel. The first protype watches were produced in Switzerland in 1955. In 1959, Max Hetzel and William Bennett further developed the Bulova Accutron at the Bulova Headquarters in New York, based on Hetzel's previous research in Switzerland. The first Bulova Accutrons were offered for sale to the public in November 1960. These were the Accutron Model 214. Production of tuning fork Accutrons ceased in 1977, with Bulova directing their efforts to producing quartz watches. The name "Accutron" is still used by Bulova on some of their quartz watches. These watches bear no relationship at all to Tuning Fork watches.