Joseph Bulova opened shop in New York City’s Maiden Lane in the year 1875. He was only 23 years old at the time and decided to set up a jewelry shop in the area. By 1911, the Czech immigrant began making boudoir clocks, table clocks and pocket watches. A year later, Joseph Bulova had his first watch factory built. This was not in New York though but in Bienne, Switzerland. The factory was dedicated to the manufacturing of watch components.
Photo Via Bulova.com
Seven years later, war broke out and the market demanded more convenient timekeeping hence the rise in popularity of wristwatches at the time. It was also in 1919 when Bulova introduced his very first jeweled wristwatches for men.
By 1923, Bulova’s business was officially called the Bulova Watch Company, Inc. During this time, Bulova made sure that every part of every Bulova watch is standard Bulova making it possible for parts of a Bulova watch to be interchangeable with other Bulova watches. This revolutionized the watch repair industry as well as the servicing industry at the time. This also made the Bulova Watch Company, Inc. one of the most precise watchmakers in the United States.
In the year 1924, Bulova introduced his very first ladies’ watches. This included watches that had diamond accents. The first ever advertisement heard on radio is that of Bulova –first heard in 1926. The spot commercial went like this: At the tone, it’s 8 PM, B U L O V A Bulova watch time. A few years later, Bulova launched a rather rigorous advertising campaign worth a million dollars.
Joseph Bulova died in 1935 but his legacy lived on and still lives on.
Today, Bulova is known for its accutron watches that were first commissioned by NASA for their space program.
For Bulova watches, you may go to Bulova.com.