The History of Your Bulova Wrist Watch

That Bulova wrist watch you're wearing isn't just stylish - it represents over 100 years of quality watchmaking. Whether you prefer a Bulova chronograph or a Concord ladies watch, it's important to know your timepiece history!

The Bulova wrist watch company was established by a Bohemian immigrant named Joseph Bulova in 1875. Bulova began manufacturing watches in Woodside, New York, where the company headquarters remain to this day, in addition to Flushing.

Bulova company began creating innovative watchmaking techniques from day one, but the business really started making history in 1941, when it purchased the world's first commercial on television. The commercial aired on July 1 on New York's WNBT station immediately before a baseball game featuring the Dodgers and the Phillies. Believe it or not, the commercial cost only $4!

Four years later, the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking opened its doors. The institution was founded to train disabled WWII veterans, however its operations soon expanded to cater to a more diverse body of students.

Of course, it's impossible to mention Bulova without covering the Accutron timepieces, which hit stores in the fall of 1960. The Accutron watches featured a revolutionary technology developed by the Swiss inventor Max Hetzel, who had been working for Bulova since the late 1940s. (Hetzel is just one example of Swiss ingenuity - just look at the Swiss-born Concord Mariner series!)

Drawing its power from a unique tuning fork system, the Bulova Accutron was the world's first electronic watch. Inside the casing, a 360 hertz tuning fork sat between two electromagnet coils, which formed a single-transistor oscillator circuit. This drove the fork, which in turn powered the watch's hands and allowed the device to keep time. The original Accutron was discontinued in 1977 after over 4 million of the timepieces had been sold.

The invention of the Accutron launched Bulova not just into the national spotlight - but into space. Throughout the 1960s, Bulova competed with its rival Omega to create the "first watch on the moon." Omega won this battle, as Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin had an Omega Speedmaster Professional on his wrist when he first set foot on the moon.

But the Bulova wrist watch company also came out on top - and in space - as NASA used tuning-fork-powered Accutrons for all of its spacecraft time-keeping devices. This is because scientists were unsure how other electronic movements would fare under low gravity.

To commemorate its contribution to the space program, the Bulova wrist watch Accutron line of timepieces currently features a limited edition Astronaut watch. Only 1,000 of these watches were made, and each is individually numbered with a caseback autographed by "Buzz" Aldrin himself.

Bulova made headlines once again in 2007, when a dredging team discovered an automatic Bulova wrist watch on the floor of the Gibraltar Harbor. The watch had been lost by a sailor in 1941, and was returned to him in 2008, still ticking!

The History of Your Bulova Wrist Watch