Bulova with Japanese movement?

October 25, 2010, 12:10

Dana Fuller

I recently acquired an Oceanographer with a 17j manual wind movement made in Japan. what's that all about?

October 27, 2010, 09:58

Dave Freeman

Dana,
The Bulova Watch Company was taken over by Citizen of Japan in 2008.

October 27, 2010, 11:17

Lindell V. Riddle

That's right, in fact Citizen-Miyota is today the world's top producer of mechanical-automatic movements. Their Grade 8215 compares favorably to the venerable ETA 2824 in durability and time-keeping abilities. Here is a link to "Japan Bulova" which may prove interesting.

October 27, 2010, 11:19

Dana Fuller

This one is a 1976 (N6) Oceanographer. that's what surprised me.

October 27, 2010, 12:00

Lindell V. Riddle

That's very interesting Dana,

The link I provided above will take you to discussion of Bulova Caravelles with movements sourced from Japan in the same era as your watch, apparently the use of Japan movements began much earlier than is commonly supposed.

To take it one step further, around the same time as your watch the later Bulova Accutron Grade 219 which is circa 1977 (N7) and marked as 2191.10 was actually a result of simplification engineered by Citizen-Miyota which eliminated several parts from the standard 218 movement and cut the cost of production significantly.

I constantly see parallels between the watch and automobile industries, we all know how much things have changed and will continue to change, the world just keeps on turning... and shrinking!

Share a picture or two if you can,

Lindell