Wind or Grind: Bulova revives another old name...

[Watch Carefully]

Aerojet isn't the most well known of Bulova model lines, but they included some cool pieces in the 1960s.
Bulova revived the line with quartz movements (I'm still trying to determine if it is high-frequency quartz like Precisionist and Accutron...)

Wind or Grind?:

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Ref. 96B313 - 39mm x 6.1mm

[TKite]

Anything battery is automatically a grind for me.

[Tim.]

Anything battery is automatically a grind for me.

In general I would agree........but.......umm...

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Also, I think not all batteries are created equal. I bought this cheapy Casio quartz more than 12 years ago while the Seiko diver I had at the time was away being repaired. I wore it on and off for a number of years until the straps broke and I put it in a draw. I set it once after I bought it and it's been a source of amazement over the years as it's kept going, it's currently running just 2.5 minutes fast after 12+ years. Exceptionally good service, if only they'd used more durable material in the straps.

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There's some pretty cool vintage battery powered movements out there too, a couple of which I've managed to collect.

The ESA 9162 300 Hz twin tuning fork, which were made under license to Bulova but were actually an improvement designed for ESA by an ex-Bulova engineer that worked for them. I believe these were the only tuning fork movement to attain chronometer status. Below that, the ESA 9154 Dynotron that powers 2 of my watches. Photos courtesy of Brad.




As to the wind or grind, it's a nice looking watch and if you discover it's an HF quartz movement and they have a 10 year battery like my old Casio, I say wind.

[Mike D]

I don't have issues with quartz watches and own a bunch of them. I can understand that a professional diver would want an automatic watch when diving as a battery failure would be bad while using the watch for diving - although most would be using a dive computer I'm guessing as a primary device.

That said, I like the grab and go aspect of quartz watches, but I do prefer autos. If I like a watch, I'll get it even if not auto. This one I'd grind just because of the small size, 39mm, which is good for most, but I know it would be too small for me. As for looks, it looks good otherwise.

[TKite]

Well the Citizen is a solar with a capacitor and a lifespan of around 20 years - as far as I know, nobody yet knows the real lifespan yet, as nobody has owned one long enough.
The regular quartz watch for me is a grind - batteries usually lasting 1-2 years at best, requiring me to take them in for service. The only exception I would have for a regular quartz watch would be a real Accutron with tuning fork.

As to diving - commercial divers use their watches all the time for timing dives, decompression etc, however for your everyday scuba diver computers have basically taken over. Would I trust the solar powered watch for diving? I would trust the citizen as they are proven to be robust. Otherwise, it's a good automatic.

[Chris]

Actually, I quite like the blued hands and indices.

[George W. Olney]

Nice enough, and no problem with quartz, but it's simply not the style of watch that interests me.

[S.L.Dickinson]

Not something I would tend to wear every day, but for a dressier option, heck ya. I don't worry these days about movements. If it makes me smile and look fondly at it, that's enough for me in my older age.

[Tim.]

Well the Citizen is a solar with a capacitor.

The Electricity Storage Unit or ESU, as Seiko referred to them, that so many people including those who sell the replacement cells call capacitors, are in fact, titanium lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, chemically similar to what you have in a mobile phone only a lot smaller. Capacitors were used by a number of manufacturers including Seiko for the ESU in their early kinetic movements,(hence the hang-over of still referring to them as such) but they were found to be problematic as they couldn't store a lot of charge (about 7 days) and worse, were prone to leak and damage the movement. They now mostly use Panasonic MTxxx rechargeable batteries, that you'll see being incorrectly referred to as capacitors. A capacitor is both structurally and chemically quite different to the ESU in your watch.

[earloffarnborough]

I find this watch quite attractive, the size is good for me, and if it has the high frequency quartz I would buy it (depending on the Price ofcourse).

[Watch Carefully]

I find this watch quite attractive, the size is good for me, and if it has the high frequency quartz I would buy it (depending on the Price of course).

Likewise, Peter.
I quite like it but would probably only buy if it operates at 262kHz, like my Accutron.
One nit with my Accutron is there is not enough luminous material. It glows on the hands only, not hour makers; this watch seems to be the reverse.
Also, I would prefer the minute hand to be a bit longer.
Prices are MSRP $350, I think, but they seem to be available for $160 on-line.

[TKite]

Ok, so it’s an awesome rechargeable battery that’s constantly being trickle charged by solar

It’s still almost zero maintenance.

[Tim.]

Ok, so it’s an awesome rechargeable battery that’s constantly being trickle charged by solar

It’s still almost zero maintenance.

Agreed, both solar and kinetic watches are an awesome concept. To have a super accurate time piece that doesn't require maintenance for as long as 20 years is something quite miraculous.

[Watch Carefully]

As much as I find the Bulova Aerojet 3-handers appealing, I have to object to the design of the Chronograph version..
To my eye, this is clearly an instance of a movement being too small for the case...the sub-dials and date window all appear to be too far inboard.
'Tis a pity--if the subdials were larger and more spaced apart, and the date window tucked in between a couple hour markers, I would find it quite attractive.

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[kurt48]

+1