Introducing: The Bulova Joseph Bulova Swiss Made Automatic Collection

March 21, 2019

To celebrate the legacy of its founder, Joseph Bulova, the eponymous brand is releasing a brand new collection of watches inspired by the 1920s, '30, and '40s, the last great age of American watchmaking. The watches all take their design cues from watches of that period, even pulling numeral fonts and details from specific watches in Bulova's archive, including the Commodore, Bankers, and Breton models.There are three different sub-families within the Joseph Bulova collection, each defined by a different case shape: Round, Tonneau, and Tank. We'll break each family down below, but all three share the same automatic Swiss movement, the Sellita SW200, a reliable three-hand-with-date movement with 26 jewels and a 38-hour power reserve. As used here there's also a custom-designed rotor to complete the package.This is a limited edition collection too, with only 350 pieces being produced of each individual reference (metal, dial, and bracelet/strap combo). ? Round The simplest models of the bunch, the Round Joseph Bulova pieces come in both 34mm and 38mm sizes, which should help them fit a variety of wrists, and there are a ton of metal, dial, and bracelet options too (including a version with a handsome salmon dial and blued hands). The Art Deco numerals are sharp and look nice with the unusual hands. The case itself has unusual lugs that sit somewhere between traditional lugs and wire lugs, and there's the option of a nine-link bracelet for both the steel and gold-PVD models. Tonneau This is my favorite of the bunch. The Tonneau shape always feels very aligned with Bulova and other early 20th century American watchmakers to me, and this execution is very nice. You've got those chunky lume-filled numerals surrounding an elegant railroad track for the minutes, and the date is integrated in an unobtrusive way too. When I get to the Bulova booth at Baselworld, the silver-dialed Tonneau will be the first thing I ask to try on. Tank Finishing things off we have the rectangular Tank models. You get the same block-like numerals found on the Tonneau models, but with an outer minute track and a more angular case. Notice, the case isn't a hard rectangle C it actually has cut corners, giving the watch a slightly more period look overall. I'm very curious to see how this one wears on the optional bracelet. It could be a real winner. The Movement Caliber: Selitta SW200Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, dateDiameter: 25.6mmPower Reserve: 38 hoursWinding: Automatic Frequency: 4 Hz (28,800 vph)Jewels: 26 Pricing & Availability Price: $995 to $1,495Limited Edition: Yes, 350 pieces of each referenceFor more click here.