The Bulova Mechanical Collection 96A119

Bulova has been the manufacturer of many creative and functional timepieces, usually with an emphasis on accuracy. Despite all of the praise from their incredibly large global fan base, Bulova has maintained a rather affordable price point across their collections. Bulova’s logo – a tuning fork is a throwback to their origins as one of the brand’s that helped developed the conventional quartz watch. Bulova itself cannot lay claim to that specific feat but because of its use of a vibrating resonator as a timekeeping element, the brand, which was created way back in 1875, certainly laid the groundwork for it.

Today, Watch Marvel takes a look at one of Bulova’s watches that has been very popular over the last year. The 96A119 from the Mechanical Collection is a self-winding mechanical timepiece, gaining its power from the rotation of an oscillating rotor winding a mainspring. The movement used by this Bulova watch is made in Japan.

One of the more striking things about the watch is the open-worked dial, revealing the balance wheel in gold tone. There are two subdials on either side of the aperture displaying the balance wheel. The first at the 9 position reveals a dual time indicator, while the counter at 9 displays the small seconds. Bulova decorates the main dial with a ‘Clous de Paris’ guilloche design. The hour markers are rendered as Roman numerals in a rather inconspicuous hour chapter ring. The rhodium toned hands contrast well against the charcoal grey of the dial.

The 96A119 is crafted from stainless steel and is featured in a 42mm case diameter. Though this is a self-winding watch, it is relatively thin with a case height of 13mm. The steel case and steel bracelet are polished throughout, adding yet another formal element to this already dressy timepiece. This piece is water resistant to 30 meters.