VINTAGE BULOVA chronographe & divers

Surprising considering how much better the original Maranne Duchess bracelets fit. But this bracelet does seem to have been attached for many years. After taking the above photos I removed it, which was a challenge. The lug pins were corroded and seized into both the end lugs and lug holes. They could only be removed by force, and came completely apart. The end links required an ultrasonic cleaning to clear the rust.

out and about with ...

OMG, this looks amazing! This is on my list

Yeah- they really don’t get better than that one- our friend cornered the market and left the dregs for the rest of us. 😉

mustard yellow tritium lume ... check
chocolate brown black dial ... check

THE MORE U KNOW ...

Bulova UDT prototype mymnt: 10 BPCHN - It would seem there were 14 Bulova prototypes - 3 known examples and 11 others documented in the US Navy Experimental Diving Unit’s reports.

In 1958 the U.S. Navy decided to replace its aging stock of "canteen" diving watches. Retired General Omar N. Bradley, CEO of the Bulova Reseach and Development Laboratory came up with this design based upon the Blancpain 50 fathoms. There were supposedly five prototypes produced, and three of them failed the Navy tests when the moisture indicators read that the watch had water contamination. Bulova abandoned the project, as it is speculated that their efforts were fully committed towards the development of the Accutron model. Bulova wanted their Accutron to be accepted as the NASA watch of choice (Omega won this distinction with the Speedmaster).

In 1961, the U.S. Navy changed the diver specifications to the MIL-W-22176A which reflected several improvements from the Bulova. Several companies competed for the contract, including Longines, but Blancpain won the contract for about 1000 TR-900 watches which were subsequently issued to Navy UDT frogmen and also U.S. Marine Force Recon units in during 1965-1966.

These watches were labeled "Tornek-Rayville" after the U.S. distributor. The majority is said to have been issued to the Marines who were expanding the size of their recon units for Vietnam deployment and who, during 1966, received $1M to purchase "carte blanche" all their specialized SCUBA and Parachute equipment. They conducted training in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands (submarine insertions), and Panama Jungle Warfare training Center in preparation before shipping out for Vietnam.

Information and images borrowed from cyberspace

THE GODESS OF TIME some refer to as the BULOVA dancing girl ...

Portrait painted to illustrate a design to represent "time," in flight, text from 1922 September 6 printed in The Jeweler's Circular
artist: Coles Phillips

BULOVA DEEP SEA 666FEET CHRONOGRAPHE variant "B"

Case diameter @37MM minus crown, Lug width @19MM, Case thickness @15MM with a double high dome acrylic divers crystal, reverse (two sub dials) panda dial, tritium lume, tritium batons (hands), applied hour indices, pump pushers, 30-minute counting chronograph, friction mounted bidirectional rotating black and red (Coke) bezel with 20-minute red zone and a luminous tritium dot at 60 to assess decompression time with a safety red seconds pylon, also offers tachymeter function.

Bulova movement caliber # 14EB (modified Valjoux 7733) electroplated with copper beryllium to minimize galling of the moving parts, this also reduces oxidation / discolouration / rust / and also has anti magnetic properties.

Parts Information -

PARTS INFORMATION ...

BLUE DEEP SEA 666FEET CHRONOGRAPHE
Bezel

not for sale
watch image borrowed from cyberspace

PARTS INFORMATION ...

CARAVELLE SEAHUNTER 666FEET DIVER (japan)
Bezel ....

not for sale
watch image borrowed from cyberspace

BULOVA Snorkel Oceanographer G

Mustard Yellow lume

take care of her, u are now her custodian