BULOVA WATCHES

Bulova Watches

Bulova is one of the old, respected names of watch making that is still alive and well. Today it leads the field by offering timepieces of superb design and quality workmanship priced for a mass market.

Bulova is one of the early watch manufacturers that supplied timepieces to soldiers in World War I. As such, it took part in the popularization of the wristwatch, which was largely an outgrowth of the war.

There were wristwatches before the war, but they were generally oddities, jewelled baubles for the arms of wealthy ladies. The most common portable timepiece was the pocket watch, and certainly no self-respecting man would have owned anything else. World War I changed all that because soldiers needed timepieces that could be read while both hands were busy. Suddenly a wristwatch was more than a ladies' toy. Because of their role in this revolution, Bulova could be said to have literally made the wristwatch what it is today.

Their current line is a stunning assortment of compositions using a standard dial configuration and conservative color palette. Unlike other watchmakers, Bulova has never produced any digital models, nor has it experimented with unusual dial configurations. The faces of its watches take time-honoured elements and express them with beauty and grace.

Having said this, it should be noted that Bulova watches often boast an impressive range of features, including some handsome chronograph models, small second hands and visible tourbillions. Tachymeter bezels are featured on the sport models.

Rather than targeting a certain area of interest or demographic group, Bulova offers great variety covering many different tastes. The men's line includes hefty specimens in excess of 40 millimetres in width, their thick porthole-style bezels lending an air of stalwart dependability. Other models are less emphatic, more business-like.

Ladies' models are smaller and lighter without seeming ornate. They are not stern, but neither are they flippant. There are no garish colours or funny designs here.

In fact, this conservative look is the defining characteristic of Bulova watches. The company image is based on their ability to avoid the glitziness, playfulness and technical nerdity that some watchmakers have cultivated as selling points. While the watches of Bulova are not reactionary, they also are not trendy.

Bulova makes watches for those who grow weary of high-tech toys and just want a good, tastefully-designed wristwatch.

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