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You Should Really Understand, A History Of The USA Is A History Of Bulova Men'S Watches
The history and success of vintage Bulova watches is closely intertwined with the history of the United States in the 20th century. Just as America was founded by immigrants from foreign shores, the Bulova Watch company was started by Joseph Bulova, a young Bohemian immigrant in 1875 in New York City. Making beautiful pocket watches and lovely clocks, young Joseph brought with him old-world craftsmanship and shaped it with new-world innovation.
Over the course of the next 130 years, the Bulova Brand developed into one of the world's leading developers of timekeeping instruments. These included delicate boudoir clocks and simple pocket watches to diamond encrusted watch pins for women. In 1919, when the US entered World War I, the watch company began making simple yet sturdy wristwatches for our soldiers. Until this time, wristwatches were for the elite.
In 1919, during the First World War, the soldiers realized how inconvenient pocket watches could be. Joseph Bulova responded by making wristwatches that were excellent yet practical timekeepers.
By the end of the First World War, Joseph Bulova and his Bulova Watch Company have produced thousands of watches worn by our soldiers on the battlefields of Europe. He presented a special commemorative watch to Charles Lindbergh when he completed his solo transatlantic flight in 1926. And as the twenties roared, the company presented the first National Radio Advertisement in 1926 at a Dodgers vs. Phillies baseball game.
In 1928 Bulova introduced the first clock radio. In 1929, it re-engineered and patented a new method of building clocks for automobiles. And the first electric clocks were manufactured in 1931. These included small clocks for homes, as well as large clocks for train stations, office buildings, airports and public buildings. During the depression, the company spent over $1 million to support their dealers by offering buyers of their watches time-payment plans.
Charles Lindbergh was a real fan of Bulova watches. The 1926 the Bulova Watch Company offered a prize of $1,000 to the first pilot to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1927, when Lindbergh landed, he was given a special mens wristwatch as a commemorative gift and then began appearing in advertising shoots until the late 1920's. The company also produced a special commemorative line of watches called the "Lone Eagle". The supply of 5,000 watches was sold out in three days!
Never forgetting their humble beginnings, the Bulova Watch Company was eager to work closely with our Defense Department to provide our soldiers and sailors military watches. During World War II they provided strong and accurate watches to our military, as well as mechanical devices for torpedoes and other armaments that required precision timing. Being a true patriot, the company would only charge the actual cost of production, making no profit on the war products.
At the end of the war, the company opened the Joseph Bulova School of Watch Making in New York. Here disabled veterans would learn the skills of watch making. The building was specially designed to accommodate wheelchairs and those with disabilities, including automatic doors and extra wide aisles. After graduating from the school, employment was assured with over 1,500 positions pledged by American jewelers.
When the war was nearing its end, the company founded the Joseph Bulova Watchmaking School for disabled veterans. Equipped with state of the art features for disabled accessibility, the school taught many of our veterans a trade that would provide them with employment for the rest of their lives. As if this was not enough, the school assured employment with over 1,500 positions promised by American jewelers.
The Bulova Watch company was a company of many firsts. From their Bulova watches women to their observatory, from their marketing and brand building to their school for disabled veterans, the story of the watch company is inextricably intertwined with the history of the United States.
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