Subsidiary of Citizen Watch | |
Industry | Watch and clockmaking |
Predecessor | J. Bulova Company |
Founded | New York City, U.S. (1875 ) |
Founder | Joseph Bulova |
Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Jeffrey Cohen, President John Wille, Chief Financial Officer |
Products | Bulova, Bulova Accu•Swiss, Caravelle New York, Wittnauer, Clocks |
Revenue | US$ 164 million (2013) |
Parent | Citizen Watch |
Website | Bulova.com |
Bulova is an American manufacturer of watches and clocks. Its headquarters is located in New York City. Bulova's Swiss-Made line is known as Bulova Accu•Swiss or formerly, Bulova Accutron. It is owned by the Citizen Watch Co.
Bulova was founded and incorporated as the J. Bulova Company in 1875 by Bohemian immigrant Joseph Bulova (b. Joseph Bulowa, son of Anton and Barbara Bulowa, probably of Polish origin, 1851 – November 18, 1936),. It was reincorporated under the name Bulova Watch Company in 1923, and became part of the Loews Corporation in 1979 and sold to Citizen at the end of 2007.
In 1912, Joseph Bulova launched his first plant dedicated entirely to the production of watches. Manufacturing watches at their factory in Biel (Switzerland), he began a standardized mass production new to watchmaking. In 1919, Bulova offered the first complete range of watches for men. The iconic visual style of his first popular advertising made its watches popular with the American public. But beyond the original style, precision and technological research also became imperative for Bulova. In 1927, he set up an observatory on the roof of a skyscraper located at 580 5th Avenue to determine universal time precisely.
Bulova established its operations in Woodside, New York, and Flushing, New York, where it made innovations in watchmaking, and developed a number of watchmaking tools. Its horological innovations included the Accutron watch, which used a resonating tuning fork as a means of regulating the time-keeping function.
Bulova became a renowned watch company in 1923. Bulova produced the first advertisement broadcast on radio in 1926, announcing the first beep of history: ‘At the tone, it’s eight o’clock, Bulova Watch Time’, an announcement heard by millions of Americans. In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh became the first solo pilot to cross the Atlantic nonstop. His crossing earned him a Bulova Watch and a check for $1000, and it became an emblem for the brand that created the model "Lone Eagle" in his likeness. Bulova claims to have been the first manufacturer to offer electric clocks beginning in 1931, but the Warren Telechron Company began selling electric clocks in 1912, 19 years prior to Bulova. In the 1930s and 1940s, the brand was a huge success with its rectangular plated watches whose case was strongly curved to better fit the curve of the wrist.