Bulova

[Daniel]

Hello all just wanted your thoughts on this brand of watch ?I do believe it started as a American made brand but when I look at the details of the watch it says it has a Japanese movement in it . Are these watches ant good now days ? I am looking at the 96A120 .

[WillFly]

Yes, Bulova started out as an all-American brand and were bought out by Citizen in 2008. So all post-2007 movements have Japanese quartz movements in them - and some pre-2007 as well.

 

They still make great watches. I have a fairly modern Precisionist, which beats at 57,600 bph - 16 beats per second. I checked the time recently after setting it to the atomic clock two months ago - correct to the second.

Edited September 27, 2014 by WillFly

[Daniel]

Thank you for the input .just was not sure if the Japanese movements are any good :D

[PadraicB]

I wear the black variation of that model and it's a good watch. Bulova is quite an old brand - I have a 1930 Bulova "Gladiator" which keeps good time among others. The newer models will have Japanese movements as Will mentioned, in this case the 96A120 has a Miyota movement. I haven't had mine regulated since purchase, and it runs slightly fast - ~20s per day. Nothing to complain about really for day to day use given the watch is not a hyper expensive Swiss made masterpiece ;).

[PadraicB]

P.S. A new version 96A120 will not have the Bulova "horns" at the 12 O'Clock position. Retailers will have a mix of stock, but may not have updated the photos on their sites. Depending on how attached you are to the horns, you should double check with the retailer to avoid disappointment.

[Daniel]

cool ty for the info .this is definitely a fine watch .I found one on ebay for a really good price .still thinking of buying some watch repair tool before I get the watch . I want to get set up to work on my watches before I start a watch collection  :D 

[PadraicB]

I'm on the same journey, so I'll pass along advice to get started using cheap disposable movements for practice before attacking the Bulova ;). I'm going to start by working on a Seiko 9S26C movement (there's a free online course/tutorial for it online if you search) - you can buy one of these as part of a whole watch for very little. If you do go that route, make sure it's the "C" variant or later. Apparently the older ones have an odd philips/cross screw which may not budge for a typical screwdriver and require a specialised Seiko screwdriver. The tools starting out can be expensive but they should last a long time. I have a shopping list for hobbyists posted on the forum based on what I worked out I needed to do a complete disassembly/clean/oil/reassembly on a watch which I am hoping strikes a decent balance between cheap & quality.

[Vich]

This may be of interest, it is a timeline for the Bulova Company I came across

 

 

Bulova timeline.pdf