Throughout the years watch complications have been a focus of development by the majority of the brands. Some of the best known complications include chronographs, calendars, world timers and GMTs, which are very trendy nowadays. But one type of complication that is forgotten by many is the mechanical alarm. Perhaps the best known timepiece with an alarm is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox, both in vintage as in present-day watches. But in this field Bulova was also a big contestant.

The timepiece presented dates from the 60’s and is a vintage Bulova Wrist Alarm N2 with a beautifully aged blue dial, applied hour markers, date window at 3 o’clock, hour and minute hands with aged luminescence and a white central seconds hand. If you look closely you can distinguish a separate blue alarm hand that allows its wearer to set the alarm time according to an inner blue minute track, operated by a secondary manually wound upper crown. The alarm is particularly interesting as it not only makes its noise but it is also felt by the wearer through its vibration on the wrist, also known as a “cricket alarm”. You can also hear it and its vibration when placed somewhere like on a table or nightstand. This watch is powered by a 11AURCD movement with 17 jewels and provides up to 50 hours of power reserve. Also, at 37mm in diameter it presents a great size for a vintage piece, ready to accommodate to most wrist sizes, and comes with a black leather rally strap and steel buckle.

This timepiece has been evaluated by a professional watchmaker and as it is a vintage watch we advise you to take special attention not to submit it to any water or humidity. Also, although it is working completely fine you have to remember it was built many years ago, so you should not expect time keeping accuracy similar to todays more rigorous standards.

This is not only a beautiful but also practical timepiece that vintage watch collectors will love. From a well known brand with a horological reputation, this can be your everyday vintage watch, with a size and dial colour adaptable to most of your life events, with the possibility of turning it into your bedside alarm clock.

The post Bulova Vintage Wrist Alarm N2 first appeared on RF Timepieces.

Regarding Bulova’s horological advances, there are a few worth mentioning. In the 1960s one of their most important models was released, the Bulova Accutron, which was the first completely electronic watch ever developed with an accuracy of 1 minute per month. Bulova also partnered with NASA, where it provided timepieces for 46 missions, from the 1950s to the 1970s. The best known history is that of “the other moon watch” when, on 2nd August 1971, astronaut Dave Scott wore his Bulova Chronograph watch in the Apollo 15 mission to the Moon, which had been customized for lunar conditions. In that mission the Omega Speedmaster had again been chosen and issued to all astronauts, but when the crystal popped off from Scott’s Speedmaster he was able to wear his Bulova during the rest of the mission. In 2015, Scott’s Bulova was auctioned for the final price of $1,625,000.

The Bulova Lunar Pilot Chronograph presented here is a special edition in honor of the events occurred in the Apollo 15 mission. This watch is powered by Bulova’s high performance quartz movement with a frequency of 262 kHz, protected by a solid 316L surgical-grade stainless steel case in silver-tone. The black dial has a lot of details for your eyes to admire. First it’s very easily legible with its super-luminous white indices and pencil-shaped hands, all of which can be admired through the anti-reflective sapphire glass. The dial also shows some well thought depth details, with a raised tachymeter scale and the sundials appearing just a  step bellow the main dial. The back of the case is inscribed with a tribute to the Apollo 15 mission, including the specific location on the moon where the Bulova was worn. This watch comes with two interchangeable straps, one made of textured black leather and the other of black nylon with a nubuck leather patch that indicates the date of mission (DOM) as 08021971.

This watch was never worn and comes in factory condition, with its  full set and stickers, as shown in the pictures.

This timepiece allows you to have a beautiful and reliable watch linked with the space exploration history, within almost everyone’s budget. It’s a perfect daily piece with which you can make your statement while adding a piece of heritage to your watch collection.

The post Bulova Lunar Pilot first appeared on RF Timepieces.