It’s that time again– time to turn your clocks and watches back an hour. It’s also a good time to check to make sure your time piece is keeping accurate time. Most of the top quartz watches are accurate to 15 seconds/month. However, if you are the proud owner of a Bulova Precisionist, it maintains accuracy to 10 seconds a year!
The key is Precisionist’s unique three-prong crystal which produces a vibration frequency of 262.144 kilohertz (kHz), eight times greater than the usual two-prong crystal and the highest of any watch available today.
This innovation results in the most accurate watch with a continuously sweeping second hand. The aesthetic movement of the second hand becomes the symbol and signals a watch with accuracy so exceptional, you can see it.
Bulova has always been a company driven towards scientific and technical advances, helping mankind to achieve new limits with the aid of their inventions.
In the 1920s, when radio was a new phenomenon, no one really understood the power of this new advertising medium. No one other than Bulova, who, continuing in their culture as pioneers and innovators, created the very first radio commercial in 1926, “At the tone, it’s 8 P.M., B-U-L-O-V-A, Bulova time.”
In the same year, it was no surprise to the nation when Bulova offered a prize of $1,000 for the first pilot to successfully make a solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic. Charles Lindbergh’s epic flight in 1927 from New York to Paris, won the prize.
In 1928, Bulova introduced the first clock radios to the world. Now America could wake up to their favorite radio station and set their watches to Bulova time.
Up until 1929, the clocks found in automobiles and recreational powered watercraft had all been spring driven mechanical clocks, requiring the owner to constantly remember to manually wind these clocks to keep them running on time. Bulova found the solution by replacing the manually wound mainspring with a solenoid driven short duration spring.
In 1931, Bulova begin to produce the first electric clocks. With the expansion of the power grid, electrical power was now commonplace . These clocks not only included mantle clocks and wall clocks for the home but electric clocks for use in store windows, offices, train stations and airports. All across America, Bulova electric clocks could be found, keeping time for the nation.
In 1960, the Bulova Accutron, the revolutionary timekeeping breakthrough invention was to set in motion an unstoppable revolution in the watch making industry. Never before had a watch been available that was so accurate, not at any price. This new watch had truly done away with the spiral balance spring and escapement mechanism that ticked, having replaced it with a miniature tuning fork which hummed, keeping time to an accuracy of within one minute per month.
It was with this timekeeping mechanism that Bulova, the same year, entered the space race, having been invited by NASA to incorporate this new ultra accurate electronic clock, into NASA’s space program computers. The Bulova Accutron was used on a total of 46 missions of the US Space Program and went on to become the White House’s official Gift of State, as announced by President Lyndon B Johnson.
But Bulova never rested on any one invention, and continued to perfect and redevelop its Phototimer clock for track and field events. By now, the technology existed for infrared sensing devises that could automatically detect the flare of the starting pistol and set in motion the event timer. All this could happen at the same instant that the competing athletes left their marks. 
Bulova’s interesting history gives insight into its outstanding series of watches.
Today, the company maintains the same old integrity that brought forth innovations such as the Accutron and Phototimer, while applying them to modern, fashionable timepieces.
Gold Market Diamond Jewelers is proud to be an authorized Bulova dealer. We carry a wide selection of their fine watches. Please stop by to take a look, or let us know of a watch you are interested in from Bulova’s website (www.bulova.com)
