In 1875 Joseph Bulova, a 23-year-old Czech immigrant, opened a small jewellery shop on Maiden Lane in New York City. By 1912 Bulova had set up its first plant dedicated to the production of watch components and their assembly into jewelled movements in Bienne, Switzerland. In 1923 the name Bulova Watch Company, Inc. was adopted.
Two factors led to Bulova’s success. The first was Bulova perfecting a new concept in the watch industry of total standardization of parts. Every part of a Bulova watch was made with such precision (standardized to the ten thousandth of an inch) that it was interchangeable with the same part in any other Bulova watch.
The second was the outbreak of World War I during which the Bulova Watch company issued watches to military personal. These watches became very fashionable after the war and by 1919 bulova had introduced a line of Art Deco style men’s wristwatches. Ladies wristwatches then followed.
Bulova Lone Eagle
Some of the most collectable vintage Bulova watches today are the corner-cut, enamel-inlay Conqueror wristwatch which was re-branded as the Lone Eagle to commemorate Charles Lindergh’s flight across the Atlantic.
Bulova Doctors Watch
Another highly collectible vintage Bulova watch is the 1930s Doctor’s Watch. This watch was created with an inner second hand dial to make it easier for doctors to check the pulse of their patients.
During the second world war in 1941, Joseph Bulov’a son, Arde, offered to sell Bulova national-defence products. These included not just wristwatches but aircraft torpedo instruments.
Bulova 23 Jewels
In 1953 the bulova watch company added a shockproof self winding watch, as well as the Wrist-Alarm which are well sought after by vintage Bulova watch collectors. The waterproof Bulova 23 followed in 1945 and had 23 jewels.
Bulova Accutron Watch
One of the greatest of Bulova’s achievements was the introduction of the worlds’s first electronic watch, Accutron. The watch was powered by a one-transistor electronic circuit. It had no springs or escapement to turn the watch’s hands. Instead the fork’s 360 hertz vibrations drove a mechanical gear train that turned the watch’s hands.
The Accutron was so accurate that NASA used Accutron technology for timing mechanisms on the ground and was carried to the moon in 1969 by the crew of Apollo 11, the first manned mission to actually land men on the moon.
Bulova Accutron Spaceview
In 1961 Bulova introduced the popular Spaceview Accutron which had a transparent display and in 1962 Bulova introduced a Spaceview with a stainless steel case.
In 1970, the Bulova Accuquartz calendar wristwatch became the first quartz watch sold in the U.S