Watch Review: 150th anniversary Bullova Marine Star Heritage Chronograph

As part of the 150th anniversary of the American brand BullovaIn my opinion, the company published a special edition clock that came out pretty well. The new clock is known as the one Bullova Marine Star Heritage 98B451. One goal of the watch was that Bullova celebrated his legacy (a term that I am that he is absolutely overlooked at the moment in the period) by digging into the impressive archives of the brand and trying to look something older, but for today. The secondary goal (which I find more interesting) was to try again to build a portable, comfortable watch with the rather large, high accuracy quartz-precisionist chronograph movements of the company. Let's see how Bullova did it on both fronts.

I remember that I was very excited about the precision family of movements when they came out for the first time. Bullova did something that no one else could do at a fair price: it produced a much higher frequency, a higher accuracy quartz movement that had a second pointer and that had no really short battery life. The first precision movements were three hands, and soon afterwards a chronograph model was debuted. The chronograph model has a subsidiary of seconds that ticks (to save the battery life), but a central chronograph hand that sweeps (more like a mechanical chronograph). It measures 60 minutes, with one of the subdials used as 1/20 second -chronograph indicator. The movement also has time and date.

Bullova seems to propose an approximately two -year battery life, which I feel acceptable. Note that early high frequency quartzers from the 1970s went through batteries very quickly and needed a battery change every few months. The only way to achieve a higher frequency is more power. Bullova achieves this through the use of a larger battery, similar to the most important fob of your car. The main reason why this watch is big is the movement that is big enough to absorb a battery that is large enough to deliver electricity. Bullova has done many interesting case design work over the years to take up the movement, and the Bullova Marine Star Heritage is actually one of the better executions.

An original Bullova Marine star of the 1970s

The movement used in the Marine Star Heritage is Bullova's caliber NP20. The electronic movement uses a three -time quartz crystal (instead of the typical two -track) and works at 262,000 kHz. For comparison, most mechanical standard movements work at 4 Hz and most standard quartz movements at 32,768 Hz. The precision movement will be about eight times as precise as most quartz movements out there. With regard to performance, this leads to an accuracy of seconds a year. However, what is most important to me is that the use and operation of the mechanism is uncomplicated and other movements are similar. There is no learning curve here, only additional performance.

Apart from the moon pilot, it is apparently long ago that Bullova tried to make a classic clock with this movement with this movement. What today's enthusiasts will enjoy about the Bullova Marine Star Heritage is the merger of a modern watch package with a classic sports observation form. While the watch is not a direct copy of an older Bullova clock, it is strongly influenced by the design of a mechanical marine chronograph from the 1970s. The most visually striking part of this watch was a ring with 10 red stars, which celebrates a comeback and is placed under the Bullova logo near the 12 clock position on the face.

In the 1970s, the watch design was a kind of mash-up between a diving clock and an avoniation chronograph in military style. This was apparently as popular as it is today. The good news about this is that the resulting modern marine star -herb tachhone is very “tool guard” and the functionality more than decor emphasizes. I was also very impressed by the small details, such as general readability and dial quality. I was unable to determine this from looking at Bullova's marketing images. This is another example that you have to see a watch personally because the marketing pictures of a brand can be mastered in order to be revealing.

In mostly polished steel (which fits well with the design), the Bullova Marine Star Heritage is a chunky watch, which is about 43 mm wide, 15 mm thick and has a distance of about 50 mm lug to LUG. For this size you will receive a good amount of durability, including 200 meters of water resistance with a screwed crown and a beautiful, coated curved sapphire crystal. The crystal makes the watch very difficult to photograph due to the glare, but personally the effect is not nearly as pronounced, and I find the readability and readability of readability under most lighting conditions very good. The hour and the minute hands together with the 60-minute PIP in the bezel are painted in Superluminova bright material.

Bullova does not expressly mentions the material use of bezel. In contrast to the original bezel in the 1970s, the marine herb has a ceramic bezel use, and the unidirectionally rotating bezel is mainly black with a red section that adds the personality and complements the red color on the clock. While the classic and cultural topic may not be trendy, but it is good-looking and timeless for a sports style clock.

Bullova combines the marine star heritage with a three-link steel bracelet that is comfortable and attractive. It uses a fold-over-lock-lock de-ployant closure that contains a comfort extension (which is beautiful, even if it is not a complete micro-adjusting system). I like that Bullova decided to use quick publication spring rods for the bracelet. That means you can easily remove it and choose a 22 mm wide strap. Bullova does not contain belt options, but I can see such a watch that is very appealing on a strap. A strap would not only help to wear the wrist and reduce the total weight of this larger clock, but also visually reduces the mass and (depending on the belt), a nice driving experience in vintage style enables.

Bullova described the Marine star Heritage as the “special edition” hue in contrast to a limited edition. This means roughly that it is produced for a short time, the production figures correlate somewhat with the sales service. It is also the most classic of the precisionist chronograph that Bullova is currently selling on his website. My instinct is that Bullova will return to traditional designs like this, since their more futuristic icons and the series X-Watches with a similar, but a little more than more featured NN50 precision movement on the market do not seem to be well tailored to the enthusiast market.

With luck, Bullova can have a new generation of watch lovers with this heritage style, weakened HAQ precisionist chronograph-chron-watch watches watch-precision-precisionist romantic. The design is there, the price is fair and Fortunately, Bullova has focused on visual classicism and comfort with this model of the archive series. Congratulations to Bullova for 150 years! Price for the Bullova Marine Star Heritage 98B451 Clock is $ 995 USD. Find out more on the Bullova website.

Necessary information:
> Brand: Bullova
>Model: Marine Star Heritage Reference 98B451
>Price: $ 995 USD (as discussed)
>Size: ~ 43 mm wide, ~ 15 mm thick, ~ 50 mm long distance to lug to lug
>When The reviewer would wear it personally: Good general conservative sports watch when accuracy and classicism are valued.
>Friend, we would recommend it first: Fans of larger sports watches with interest in classic design and university movements.
>Best feature of the clock: Overall design and concept came together well. Probably the best integration of the precisionist chronograph movement. Good looking and readable dial.
>Worst feature of the clock: Large and chunky for many carriers. It requires a learning curve to understand why this movement is worth paying more for a standard quartz chronograph.