Bulova Precisionist: Newly Vintage

In the days before the proliferation of smart and fashion watches, the quartz crisis and the industrial might of Seiko, most Americans bought their timepieces from two countries: the US or Switzerland. And if you bought American, there were a couple big players in the industry, such as Hamilton, Benrus, Timex, Elgin and Bulova. Bulova in particular has always had a soft spot in my heart, given that they’re still putting out half decent stuff today (like the Devil Diver, Mil-Ships, Lunar Pilot and Hack) which you can get for pretty alright prices on the gray market; I own the green “Limited Edition” Oceanographer and in spite of the middle-of-the-road Miyota 821A that powers it, I just love how unique it looks. I also own a Accutron dress watch from 1996 that has a 5-jewel Ronda quartz movement that used to belong to my late grandpa.

But as much as I love those watches, I’m examining another Bulova this time around: the 96b252. It’s from Bulova’s Precisionist sub-brand, which was launched in 2010 as a spiritual successor to Bulova’s famous Accutron watches, which, along with Hamilton’s Ventura, were the first electric (not quartz, mind you) watches made. They were known for their superb accuracy, with Bulova claiming that an Accutron would be accurate to about +1 minute a month, which is still pretty impressive today. Even though Bulova relaunched Accutron as a luxury-oriented brand not too long ago-which mostly produces vintage-style dress watches with MECHANICAL Swiss movements, ironically-they still produce Precisionists for the lower end of the market.

The Precisionists in particular are technically impressive; they’re quartz watches which have a three-prong quartz crystal, as opposed to a traditional two-prong resonator found in most quartz watches. This allows the watch to beat at around 16 times a second, resulting in a buttery smooth second hand and a claimed accuracy rating of +-10 seconds a year. However, this smoothness does have a price: it requires a new 90 mAh 3.0 Volt battery every 2 or 3 years, as opposed to other quartz watches, whose battery lives are usually longer. There’s also two main types of Precisionist movements: a 4-indicie, zero-jewel chronograph movement with a date complication (which allows you to measure 1/1000th of a second for some reason) and a more conventional three-hand movement with a date function, which has 8 jewels. The Precisionist I have uses the latter movement.

To start off this isn’t the Precisionist I was hoping to get when I initially bought it on eBay; it sounds odd but I have a damn good reason for not buying it. Originally I was hoping to get a 96b230, commonly referred to as the “Precisionist Military”. It has a rugged yet classic design, with a steel cushion case and sword hands. But since Bulova only made them in 2018, and because scalpers and watch collectors alike love scarcity, they’re essentially impossible to find online. And when you do find one with a scratched crystal on eBay, they’re $300+, which, while not exorbitantly expensive, is considerably more than what I’d pay for any Precisionist. For just a few dollars more I could buy a pretty nice Seiko, not to mention that my Tissot PR100-a fully Swiss made watch with a kitted-out ETA 2824-2 from a well-established brand-cost me about $50 less.

This Precisionist, which Bulova hasn’t given a bona fide name, is the next best thing I could get. It was refurbished from an authorized Bulova service center in Texas, and it cost me around half the average asking price of the 96b230, although similar models are now closer to the full MSRP, so your mileage may vary. Measuring in at 42.6mm in diameter (without the crown) with a 10.5mm thickness, 22mm lug width and a monstrous effective lug-to-lug length of 55.4mm, this watch certainly follows the recent, dying trend of big, meaty watches that announce their presence. Given that this watch was originally made in 2016, I can clearly see why Bulova gave it these dimensions. Although this watch fits on my 7.5 inch wrist, those with smaller-than-average wrists (and people who prefer more modestly sized watches in general) may not like the dimensions of this watch, and most modern-styled Bulovas for that matter. It has a stainless steel case and bracelet and, rather disappointingly, a mineral crystal, which I actually like less than acrylic. I have thought about switching it out with a sapphire crystal, although I have yet to measure the dimensions of the stock crystal.

The bracelet is actually pretty good for such a low-cost watch. It has all solid links and a butterfly deployant clasp which feels solid. The end links integrate pretty well with the case, but they’re inflexible, essentially making the Precisionist’s lug-to-lug shoot up. A good strap change can make the watch wear far better, though, and considering the relatively plain-jane looks of the watch, it’s a good candidate for any of your 22mm straps that you have lying around.

The lume on the Precisionist is serviceable, though nothing spectacular. If you shine a flashlight onto the dial the hour and minute hands will glow for a bit, then die out; it doesn’t last nearly as long as my Tissot PR100, Seiko Recraft or even the Devil Diver. Yet again I think Bulova thinks that its core audience-old people and Macy’s shoppers-wouldn’t be as anal about their lume as bona fide watch collectors.

Although the specs of the Precisionist aren't that bad, I just can’t find myself wearing it on a regular basis. I found it hard to write about it, given that it's pretty unremarkable in every way, apart from the movement and bracelet. I find its styling to be outdated and cheap-looking; it’s very much of the 2010s. Even my PR100 (I'm admittedly getting tired of referencing it), which is stylistically similar to the Precisionist, looks far better due to its case size and finishing, subdued yet sporty handset and black sunburst dial. If it wasn't for the movement I'd have no good reason to acquire this watch. While Bulova does (or at least did) make more classically-styled watches with the Precisionist movement under their "Accutron II" line, most of them are either hard to find in good condition or very expensive-or sometimes both.

Given that lots of people are starting to go back to smaller watches after 20 years of 42mm+ timepieces being the norm for both genders, the Precisionist is in a weird purgatory where it’s old, but not attractively vintage. It’s in the same situation that DVDs are in right now; it's old stuff, but not nearly old enough for people to be universally nostalgic about, in the way people fawn over vinyl and VHS tapes. Sure, in about 15-20 years people might look back on this period and start collecting Thierry Nataf-era Zeniths, Richard Milles, Hublot Big Bangs (gasp) and even Bulova Precisionists similarly to how the collectors and enthusiasts of today eat up Genta-style steel sports watches with integrated bracelets, but that day hasn't come yet, and it won't for a while.

The Precisionist is really a watch for two kinds of people: one, a middle-age to elderly relative of yours who remembers Bulova from their childhood and trusts their watches over Invictas (which is actually quite a smart move) and two, a late Gen-Xer or early Millennial who has a weird obsession with "American Science"; he has a NASA sticker on his MacBook Pro, drives a Chevy Volt (or a Telsa Model X if he uses Reddit and trades crypto), and reads Popular Mechanics instead of hanging out with "the boys". He bought his Precisionist because he was bored with his eighth consecutive Apple watch, or because his 13-year-old brass-cased Timex he bought from Walmart finally crapped out.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Precisionist owners belong to either group; I've seen quite a few bona fide watch enthusiasts wear them in their YouTube videos or wrist shots. I just get the feeling that when Bulova were designing most of the Precisionists, they didn’t really consider what hardcore watch collectors want visually, which, ironically, is a huge untapped market for them. Think about it: when you see popular watch collectors and influencers, are they buying stuff like the 96b252? No, they’re buying Devil Divers, Lunar Pilots, Surfboard Chronographs, Mil-Ships; people who are watch hobbyists are by and large buying Bulova’s reissues, not their modern timepieces. Even Teddy Baldassare-who, mind you, IS an authorized dealer for Bulova-only really features their reissues, not Precisionists like this. Although Bulova is making a substantial profit from these watches, they could be making a lot more if they incorporated such styling into their main catalogue.

This is also a part of a bigger problem: lots of watch companies don’t know what the hell their customers want. Even though countless people have complained that they get Hardlex on their $750 Prospex, Seiko sticks their head in the sand and refuses to listen. Orient releases a so-ugly-its-good-looking reissue of their Super King diver and only gives it 50m of water resistance. Timex puts a Miyota 8200 series in a majority of their automatics instead of a more modern movement that they could easily sell for $250. Rolex, Tudor, Omega and so many other watch companies only use rich and/or famous people as their brand ambassadors, not celebrities who “The Youth™” like. And Bulova took a great movement and put it inside a timepiece that already looks like your Floridian, Ron DeSantis-worshiping uncle’s watch a mere six years after it came out.