By Lauren Martinez
Bulova ’ s Fascinating
History
There are more than a few iconic American companies that can trace their success to one product in particular . There ’ s Ford ’ s Model T , The Coca-Cola Company ’ s Coke , and Kellogg ’ s Corn Flakes .
In the watch world , there ’ s Accutron , which was a revolutionary electronic watch with a tuning fork that Bulova debuted in 1960 . Accutron today operates as its own brand . Before writing this article , my knowledge about Joseph Bulova was limited . However , after diving deep into researching him , I have come to realize that Joseph Bulova was an innovative entrepreneur who not only loved to invent and visualize the future but also was guided by a strong sense of ethics and values .
Joseph Bulova emigrated from Bohemia ( known today as the Czech Republic ) to New York in 1870 . As a fully trained watchmaker , he landed a job at Tiffany & Co . but left five years later to open a small jewelry store on Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan . It ’ s interesting to note that before dedicating his life to wristwatches , Joseph Bulova
already had a few inventions under his belt , including making jewelry improvements to earrings , bracelets and rings .
Joseph Bulova understood time better than most and was always one step ahead . During his time in America the country was in its golden age of industry and progress thanks to railroads , manufacturing , electricity and light . It was the perfect era for Joseph Bulova to make his mark on timekeeping design and production .
By 1912 , Bulova established a plant in Bienne , Switzerland , dedicated to the production of watch components and their assembly into jeweled movements . Although he was driven by the values of quality before quantity and perfection before production , Joseph Bulova was an early pioneer of mass and standardized production of watches , which he sought to fulfill his vision of putting an affordable watch on every wrist in the United States .
Bulova was one of the first brands to recognize the shift from pocket watches to wristwatches even before World War I . This was in large part due to Joseph ’ s 17-year-old office assistant , John Ballard ,
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