Customer Reviews

Bulova Men's 96A110 Mechanical Hand-Wind Automatic White Dial Watch

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this day and age of digital integrated circuits we tend to take miniaturization for granted. And yet... you can't really see the microscopic inner workings of your smart phone or your quartz digital watch. By contrast, the precisely manufactured gears, springs and bearings of this watch come to life before your eyes and are wonderful to behold.The bearings and the pawls on the escapement are actually tiny man-made rubies! After opening the package, I spent the first hour staring in awe at the internals with a hastings triplet magnifier. I believe the Japanese movement is made by Miyota (a subsidiary of Citizen) and the quality of the finish is very high. So far it is keeping excellent time.

The watch is aesthetically pleasing on multiple levels. I like the art nouveau style roman numerals; the photos don't do justice to the fact that they are slightly raised from the white background for a very nice effect. Hold it to your ear--it actually ticks! Seeing the self-winding movement in operation is quite entertaining--truly a mechanical marvel!

This is by far one of the most unique and enigmatically beautiful time pieces that I've seen in a long Time. Every thing about reeks elegance and fine craftsmanship. From the meticulously perfect 21 jewel motion, to the singularly impressive double glass bezels this watch is the definition of swank. If you get one of these you will not be disappointed in the aesthetics nor crafted elegance of this watch.

Preface: I've only owned this watch for a few days, so this is an "initial impressions" review. I'll update in the future as needed.

This watch is quite attractive to look at. I spent hours at the mall hopping between jewelry and department stores looking for a skeleton watch such as this one. I have feminine sized wrists, so a lot of watches are simply too big for me. While this one measures in at a fairly hefty 41.5 mm diameter, the balance of polished (chrome) and unpolished stainless steel makes the face standout more than the casing itself, giving the watch a smaller appearance. This watch looks just as good with a suit+jacket as it does with a tshirt.

It is a true see-through skeleton watch (you can see your skin through it if it is on your wrist) The second hand is semi-continuous so it ticks 5 or so times per second rather than once every second...this leads to one of the problems I mention below. The price of this watch on Amazon is much better than retail stores, and about equal if the retail store has a 40% discount...but you'd have to still pay tax. I believe this watch contains the Miyota 8N24 movement, but don't quote me on that. This watch does have a faintly audible tick to it, but I can not hear it at all if the watch is more than 12 inches from my ear.

Comments regarding Amazon's pictures of this watch: They aren't very accurate because they aren't at the proper aspect ratio and have bad coloring. The first image you see makes the face look as though it is oval shaped and almost in-line with the band. In reality the face is circular and is clearly bigger than the band. You also don't see that the bezel is polished stainless steel and super shiny (collects finger prints like crazy). Furthermore the white face is a pearl white, not bluish gray. The roman numerals and other black notches on the face are raised from the white bit, not painted on. The edges of the band are polished/chrome as well as the sides of the middle portion of the links (it's hard to describe). I suggest calling around and finding a store that sells this watch to see it in person. Even Bulova's images on their website don't correctly capture the looks of this watch.

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Why do I take away one star you might be asking? Well there's a few reasons. I still love the watch, but I'm being nitpicky here.

First, the hands are very narrow and glossy-black with the exception of the white glow-in-the-dark part near the base. So even though my eyesight is fine they have a tendency to get lost in the skeleton gears and the tips are invisible if over one of the black roman numerals which are the exact same color and gloss. The second hand is also needle thin as well, making it difficult to see for the same reason. I'd like to see the hands perhaps rounded a bit more and not triangle-ly, as well as widened a bit, but there probably is an elegance vs function tradeoff.

Second, the glow in the dark bit of the hands is pretty much useless. Unless they get charged up in direct sunlight, they're extremely dim in a pitch black room (being charged by standard ceiling lights). Furthermore, the glow in the dark portion is so small that it is difficult to tell the precise time using glow alone. I'd say this is strictly a daylight watch.

Third, you *can not* stop the second hand on this watch meaning you can't calibrate it to exact atomic time. The Bulova manual you get implies you can stop the second hand by pulling the crown out at the 60 second mark...nope. This might be ok if this watch were super accurate, but mine *loses 8 seconds per 24 hours* which is OK for an automatic watch, but could probably be brought down to +/- 2 seconds with some regulation. Not being able to stop the second hand means this watch is "non-hacking" which is somewhat common for automatic watches from my reading; even more expensive ones. I've tried a few tricks like rotating the crown backwards to slow down the second hand, but nothing works.

Fourth, I'm not quite believing the automatic movement being able to keep this watch wound (you *can* manually wind this watch and can not over wind). The weight in the back of the watch which swings to move the rotor only moves fluidly in the clockwise direction (and let me tell you it moves like greased silk). It will go counter clockwise and move the rotor the same way as though it were going clockwise, but it really doesn't want to move counter clockwise. So really if you swing your arm like a pendulum, you only "capture" half the motion in winding this watch.

This is a well made watch that wears well and at any occasion. The Roman numbers make it unique and the details are well crafted. It is a weighty watch, but not too heavy to wear all day.

I agonized over the perfect watch to buy my fiance for Christmas... I researched watch manufactuers, watch specifications, everything. After a lot of debate (and a lot of department store hopping), I finally settled on this model. Truthfully, I was still nervous after ordering it because I wasn't sure if I'd like it in person. It arrived on time and when I opened the box, I was absolutley blown away! To me, this watch was breathtaking in person (the pictures absolutely do it no justice). My finance loved it--and I was thrilled with the craftsmanship, the condition and the sheer elegance of it. Great buy.

Watch was exactly as described. Timely shipping. Bought as Christmas present and the person LOVED it!! Beautiful movement that you can see!

I have experience working at a jewelry store where we sold bulova pieces.This came in the same professional packaging untouched unopened. Fantastic value for the price I got it. beautiful watch I am so happy !!

He sent me the wrong watch. I paid for the more expensive one. I'd like to return it, but locating the information is difficult. I even checked my order and it was not user error, I ordered a different watch. If you or anybody can help me find the information again on how to return and exchange it, ie contact him, I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
April