====== Megasonic ======
**Megasonic** was a [[tuning fork]] movement from [[Omega]] and the [[CEH]].

===== History =====
Swiss inventor [[Hetzel, Max|Max Hetzel]] created the [[Bulova Accutron]] in [[1953]], building prototypes in [[1955]] and participating in the final design for the [[1960]] launch of [[Accutron 214|Cal. 214]]. Hetzel left [[Bulova]] in [[1963]] amid disputes with management in New York and returned to Switzerland to work for [[Ebauches SA]]. There, he worked with the team developing the [[Mosaba]] tuning fork movement, leveraging the Bulova patents which [[ESA]] had licensed in [[1968]].

In [[1973]], the [[Centre Electronique Horloger]], [[SSIH]], and [[Omega]] announced the Megasonic. This was a next-generation tuning fork movement quite different from the Accutron and Swissonic. Where those operated at 360 Hz or 300 Hz, respectively, the Megasonic vibrated at 720 Hz. It used a new micro-motor leveraging an oil-filled capsule with the toothed ratchet wheel. Two ruby pawls on the resonator advance the wheel with each oscillation, and a magnetic coupling is used to connect the sealed system to the [[wheel train]].

The Megasonic was used by Omega starting in [[1973]] but never reached its potential as [[quartz]] movements gained accuracy and popularity. Although the Megasonic was capable of +/- 10 seconds per month accuracy, the production product only boasted +/- 30 seconds, and [[high-accuracy quartz]] movements were able to beat this by an order of magnitude. The [[Omega Megasonic 720]] came to market alongside the [[Omega Megaquartz|Megaquartz 2400 and 32]] and the [[Omega Time Computer|Time Computer]] digital watch, both of which overshadowed it.

===== See Also =====
  * [[Swissonic]] and [[Mosaba]]


{{tag>Omega Tuning_fork_movements}}