Oct 16 2010
Mens Bulova Watches: An Ageless Timepiece For The US
The history and success of Bulova watch is closely intertwined with the history of the United States in the 20th century. Just as America was founded by immigrants from foreign shores, the Bulova Watch company was started by Joseph Bulova, a young Bohemian immigrant in 1875 in New York City. Making beautiful pocket watches and lovely clocks, young Joseph brought with him old-world craftsmanship and shaped it with new-world innovation.
In the early days, pocket watches were used by both the professional working man and the laborer. Women wore simple watch pins that adorned their blouses. Wristwatches were new and considered avant-garde and worn only by the elites. It would not be until World War I that the wristwatch became an object of everyday use and worn by men, women, and even children.
In 1920, the company built an observatory atop a skyscraper in the middle of New York City. This is the first observatory to be built on top of a skyscraper. It is managed by a mathematician, whose readings are instantaneously recorded electronically on a chronograph, guiding the watchmakers in the Setting and Timing unit. This was an important feat as it demonstrated Bulova’s dedication to accuracy and exacting measurements for their timekeeping pieces.
In 1923 the company introduced and perfected a revolutionary concept in the industry: complete standardization of parts. From then on, every Bulova watch was made with such precision (standardized to ten thousandth of an inch) that it is interchangeable with the same part in other Bulova watches. This is a revolution in the watch servicing industry.
In 1928 Bulova introduced the first clock radio. In 1929, it re-engineered and patented a new method of building clocks for automobiles. And the first electric clocks were manufactured in 1931. These included small clocks for homes, as well as large clocks for train stations, office buildings, airports and public buildings. During the depression, the company spent over $1 million to support their dealers by offering buyers of their watches time-payment plans.
In 1926, Arde Bulova, the son of the founder and now President of the company, offered a prize to the first pilot to fly a transatlantic flight solo. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh was presented with a special commemorative watch. Five thousand copies of the watch named the Lone Eagle were sold in three days after Lindbergh’s’ famous flight.
Never forgetting their humble beginnings, the Bulova Watch Company was eager to work closely with our Defense Department to provide our soldiers and sailors military watches. During World War II they provided strong and accurate watches to our military, as well as mechanical devices for torpedoes and other armaments that required precision timing. Being a true patriot, the company would only charge the actual cost of production, making no profit on the war products.
To help our wounded veterans, the Watch Company opened the Joseph Bulova School of Watch Making. This school was designed for disabled veterans with forward thinking accessibility: automatic doors, wider than usual door openings and aisles, lower worktables, and other accommodations. Upon graduation, the vets would find employment across the country. Most likely one of those jobs was from the 1,500 jobs pledged by the American jewelers. Once again, the company put our country first.
How many watch brands have visited the moon? Bulova’s first electronic timekeeping mechanism based on tuning forks, was an integral part of the U. S. Space program in the later years of the 1950′s until the first moon walk of 1969. NASA was unsure of how traditional mechanical watch movements would work in low to zero gravity environments, so they found an alternate in the Bulova Accutron. All instrument panel clocks and time-keeping mechanisms in NASA spacecraft, including the Moon Rover, were provided by Bulova.
The story of watches Bulova is the story of America. From the imagination and hands of a poor immigrant from Bohemia, came beauty and craftsmanship, endurance, practicality, and watches for men. Joseph Bulova changed the way Americans kept time.
