As an avid vintage watch collector, I have always been a fan of Bulova. The brand has had a long and rich horological history (which they explored in a recent book, and which we reviewed here). But like many brands reeling in the aftermath of the Quartz Crisis, Bulova lost its way for a while. However, in recent years, Bulova has had a bit of a renaissance.
Part of that renaissance comes from Bulova’s wholehearted embrace of its storied past. In 2015, Bulova unveiled the Archive Series, a collection intended to house reissues of some of Bulova’s most iconic vintage models. There was, of course, the awesome Lunar Chronograph, which is now available in two versions. And last year, Bulova released the Stars and Stripes Chronograph C, which was based on a rare, ’70s-era piece with a now-iconic red, white, and blue dial (hence the name). The “Devil Diver” moniker came from the fact that Bulova famously put the depth rating on the dial as “666 feet” instead of “200 meters.”
For 2018, Bulova teamed up with Analog/Shift to have fans and collectors vote for the next watch in the Archive Series. There were three possibilities on the ballot: a 1970s Bullhead Chronograph, a 1970s Surfboard Chronograph (it was my favorite of the bunch, to be honest), and a 1972 Oceanographer Devil Diver. The winner, as you may have guessed, was the Devil Diver, and Bulova?s delivery was on point with the release of not one, but two versions of thi...