Is Bulova a Good Watch Brand - Brand History and Quality

Bulova is an American watchmaking brand founded in 1875 by Joseph Bulova in New York. Bulova came to the United States from Bohemia, a historical region of today’s Czech Republic. Though it’s very popular, Bulova is not a luxury, but rather a mid-range consumer brand. But it comes with an astounding and inspiring history that is worth reading.

Contents

1 History
2 Famous Watch Models
- 2.1 Accutron—the first fully electronic watch
- 2.2 Precisionist—the innovation continues
3 Quality
4 Conclusion
5 FAQ
- 5.1 – Is Bulova a good watch?

History

As I already mentioned, Joseph Bulova started the business in 1875, after he immigrated to the USA. It all started with a store in New York City, expanding into manufacturing pretty soon. In 1911, he officially founded the J. Bulova Company.

Bulova first worked with jewelry, pocket watches, and wall and table clocks, only later settling on wrist watch manufacturing and sale. One major event was the reason—World War I. During the war, wristwatches proved to be a much more practical and convenient option for soldiers, compared to their alternatives, and that’s when they significantly rose in popularity. Bulova listened to the market and started focusing on wristwatches.

Even before, Bulova was a pioneer in this industry. In 1912, he started the first factory for the mass production of watches and watch mechanisms in Switzerland, and he actively worked on the standardization of watch parts.

The first full collections of both male and female watches were available in the years 1919 and 1924.

They focused on production, but also on marketing their watches, where they were pioneers. The first national radio advertisement for watches in the US was for Bulova watches, broadcast in 1926.

During the 1930s, Bulova was already working its advertising magic, becoming the first brand in the watchmaking industry that spent more than $1 million a year on marketing.

Even more notably, Bulova is the brand with the first-ever TV commercial. This historical event in marketing history happened on July 1, 1941. They broadcast it before the baseball game between Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies on WNBT, today’s WNBC, a New York-based TV station. It was a simple, 10 seconds long advertisement. Black background with the map of the USA on it. On top of the map, there was a clock, with Bulova written over it. The ad stated: “America runs on Bulova time”. It shows once again the vision of the company and its founder.

Joseph Bulova died in 1935, but his son Arde took the reins and continued his father’s legacy. Ten years after his father’s passing, Arde Bulova founded Joseph Bulova Watchmaking School, which was active until 1993. The school was originally intended for disabled US veterans from World War II, later broadening their activity to disabled people in general. Bulova remained one of the most active advocates for disabled people’s rights.

Another important mark on this American brand’s history was collaborating with NASA. As we’ve already seen, Bulova was ahead of its time in various ways, so this was a natural course of events. Though they lost the title of the first watch on the Moon to the Omega Speedmaster, Bulova’s Accutron mechanism ended up on lots of NASA’s space mission gear, being used in 46 missions.

In 2008 Citizen bought Bulova out for $250 million. Today, their watches are manufactured in Hong Kong and Japan alongside their original factory in Switzerland.

Famous Watch Models

Here we will talk about the two most famous models of Bulova watches. They marked not only the history of the company but also the general history of horology. The watches in question are Accutron and Precisionist. Both are characterized by incredible accuracy and result from innovative ways of thinking.

Accutron—the first fully electronic watch

The Accutron watch was first published in 1960. But the idea behind it was much older. It was the first fully electronic watch ever, with an unprecedented accuracy of within 2 seconds a day. The name itself is a derivative of the words accurate and electronic, its fundamental features.

This watch was one of the biggest innovations in horology history, using a tuning fork that vibrates 360 times a second, making a distinctive hum that became the staple of this new technology. It was Max Hetzel, a Swiss engineer, who made this challenging innovation possible. Before that, tuning forks were only used in music. The result was a sweeping second hand gliding around the dial.

It wasn’t long before Accutron became the talk of the town, with yet another amazing marketing campaign to back it up.

There were several Accutron collections, The Accutron Spaceview being the most famous one, but none of them became the permanent part of their offer, making them limited edition and collectible pieces.

Precisionist—the innovation continues

The legacy of accuracy and precise time-telling continued even after Citizen bought the brand out. In 2010, the company published the innovative model named Precisionist, even more accurate than its predecessor.

Precisionist comes with a three-prong crystal movement of 262 kHz, providing an even better accuracy compared to any other quartz movement, staying accurate within 10 seconds a year. It also comes with a sweeping second hand ticking 16 times a second, much more than any other quartz watches.

They rightfully dub it the most accurate watch in the world.

Quality

In terms of the quality of Bulova watches, it’s important to note that their best watches are the ones we discussed above. With their innovative technologies and movements, they represent the highlight of Bulova’s offer.

Because Bulova is a consumer brand, of course, its quality is not the same as premium and luxury brands. But, I think they offer great value for the price. Apart from these staple models, most of their watches are not collectible pieces that will become a part of your family’s heirloom. But they will serve you right.

Stainless steel, genuine leather, and sapphire crystal are all materials used pretty often in their watches. We included Bulova watches on several lists on our blog, for example:

These are solid timepieces, with a classic look, giving great value for money.

Conclusion

Bulova watches are indeed worth the money and the time. During its almost 150-year-long history, it made several landmark innovations in the watchmaking industry, as well as in marketing.

They continued that legacy to this day, even after Citizen’s acquisition of the company, staying true to its core. If you want to buy a good quality watch on a budget, Bulova is sure one way to go without feeling sorry afterward.

FAQ