Bulova Jet Star 97B214 1973 Leather Strap Watch - W09321

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Bulova Jet Star 97B214 1973 Leather Strap Watch - W09321

Name: Bulova Jet Star 97B214 1973 Leather Strap Watch - W09321
Brand: Bulova
SKU: 97B214
Price: 449 GBP
Availability: InStock

Ref. 97B214

Among our 120 Bulova watchesThis watch£449

Premium

Sits in Bulova’s upper tier here — more premium than three quarters of the Bulova watches we list, which start at £100.

The original Jet Star "F" was a product of early-1970s watch design at its most adventurous — angular cushion cases, warm dials, a confidence in ornament that the decade wore without apology. This reissue draws directly from the 1973 archive, keeping the broadly faceted gold PVD case and reproducing the butterscotch fumé dial with its deep brown chapter ring and a red seconds hand that reads as a deliberate period detail rather than an afterthought. The movement beneath it, however, is not a concession to modernity: the Precisionist calibre runs at 262kHz — far above the 32kHz standard for quartz — which is what produces the genuinely fluid sweep of the seconds hand and holds accuracy to ±5 seconds per month. At 40mm across and 11.5mm thick, the cushion shape wears with a smaller footprint than a round case of the same diameter, and the proportions sit well on an average wrist without pressing for attention. The perforated brown leather strap with contrast stitching suits the retro register of the dial, and quick-release spring bars mean changing it takes seconds rather than tools.

Reference: 97B214
Brand: Bulova
Collection: Jet Star
Case size: 40mm
Case thickness: 11.5mm
Lug width: 20mm
Case material: Gold PVD
Case shape: Cushion
Dial: Gold
Crystal: Sapphire
Movement: Spring Drive
Calibre: NN50-YAT
Functions: Date
Water resistance: 50m
Bracelet / strap: Leather strap
Strap colour: Brown
Clasp: Buckle
Lume: Luminous
Retailer: F.Hinds

Additional specifications

Strap: Interchangeable

Learn more about Bulova

Joseph Bulova, a Bohemian immigrant, opened a jewellery shop on Maiden Lane in New York in 1875 and moved into watch manufacturing in the early twentieth century, building a plant in Sag Harbor and later a substantial operation in Queens.

Bulova's instinct for firsts was commercial as much as technical. It ran the first national advertisement for a watch brand in 1926, broadcast the first radio commercial in American history — a time announcement — in 1926, and aired the first television commercial ever broadcast in 1941, paying nine dollars for the slot.

The engineering came too. The Accutron of 1960 replaced the balance wheel with a tuning fork vibrating at 360 Hz, driven electronically. It was accurate to within a minute a month, far beyond mechanical watches, and it hummed rather than ticked. NASA used Accutron timing mechanisms in spacecraft, and one was left on the Moon in the equipment package of Apollo 11.

Bulova also made an enormous contribution to American war production, supplying military timing devices, and founded a school of watchmaking for disabled veterans.

The company was acquired by Citizen in 2008. Modern collections include the Precisionist, with a high-frequency quartz movement producing a smooth sweeping seconds hand, and reissues of the Accutron and the 1970s Computron.

1875: Joseph Bulova opens his New York shop.
1941: Airs the first television commercial in history.
1960: The Accutron tuning fork movement is released.
1969: An Accutron timer is left on the Moon by Apollo 11.
2008: Acquired by Citizen.

All Bulova watches

Also in 5 collections

This watch appears in Back in Stock (3,629), Leather Strap Watches (1,191), Gold Watches (784), Dress Watches (618) and Tonneau & Cushion Watches (146).