Just a few days ago in New York City at the New York City Paley Center for Media, Bulova celebrated its rich American history by releasing the first premiere of the movie America Telling Time: 150 years of Bulova. Next year the brand celebrates its 150th anniversary and while most companies would create a book in honor of that milestone, this pioneering brand created a 10-chapter movie filled with so many firsts it made along the way that highlight its ongoing innovation not only in the world of watchmaking, but also in America and the world at large.
The movie was more than a year and a half in the making and focuses on so many of the highlights of Bulova’s long and storied past – including its rich involvement in the early space missions, being one of the first brands to create an entire ladies’ collection of wrist watches in the early 1920’s, its support of equal rights and equal pay for women, its establishment of the Joseph Bulova Watchmaking school for veterans and the fact that while that school is defunct, the brand continues to support veterans via the Veterans Watchmaking School.
The documentary is chock-full of historical references.
All of this and more of how Bulova was intertwined in the fabric of America was highlighted in the movie. Along with the brand’s pioneering position in marketing and advertising. In fact, Bulova was the first watch brand to advertise on radio (it even created the first clock radio in 1928), and, more importantly, it was the first brand – in any field – to advertise on television.
Bulova played a role in the space program.
Its groundbreaking TV commercials began in 1941 and revolved around a theme it had developed during the era of radio advertising: America runs on Bulova Time. This foray into the world of television advertising, along with its savvy marketing and it’s affordable yet consistently cutting-edge watches, opened so many doors for the brand – forever intertwining it with art, music, culture and geo-political events.
In just 60 minutes, the movie captures so many of the significant realms of Bulova’s history. It is filled with historical clips that make reference to many important moments and movements in American history.
In the 1950’s Bulova presented the Frank Sinatra show for years.
In the world of music, we witness a historical clip of the Bulova clock above the stage where the Beatles performed. Another black-and-white clip is shown of Frank Sinatra outside of a theater with the marquee also referring to Bulova. In fact, in the 1950’s Bulova sponsored the Frank Sinatra television show and developed a deep and meaningful relationship with him. That relationship translates today to an entire collection of Frank Sinatra Bulova watches approved by the Frank Sinatra Foundation.
The brand’s involvement in music continues today with a host of partnerships and activations that run the gamut from involvements with the Latin Grammys and the Apollo Theater. It also has strong relationships with Marc Anthony and Nile Rodgers, in addition to others. In fact, both celebrities were involved in the filming of the movie and both make a host of important appearances throughout it.
One of the new Lunar Pilot watches by Bulova in anticipation of the 150th anniversary.
Today, Bulova is owned by Citizen Watch Group, and the technologically advanced timepieces are built in Japan. In fact, the film production crew traveled to Japan and features a host of watchmaking scenes in the movie. Today, too, as Bulova embraces its roots, it remains headquartered in New York’s famed Empire State Building – also featured in the film.
In celebration of the 150th anniversary next year, this movie premiere – which will be reenacted in several cities over the coming months – kicks off a roll out of events. In fact, we anticipate seeing vignettes and other smaller outtakes from the larger one-hour movie as the firm moves ahead with promoting the different chapters throughout history.
Celebratory timepieces have also begun their roll out, with new women’s Rubiyat watches and the first in a line of new Lunar Pilot watches.
The America Telling Time movie outlines Bulova’s involvement in social, economic and cultural events … [+]
The movie was directed by Michael Culyba, who also produced the Keeper of Time movie in 2022, along with several other non-watch-related TV miniseries works. Co-producers were Ippolito Leotta of Freedom View and Venanzio Ciampa. Many of the key Bulova executives had vignettes and spoke about the brand and its presence in the world throughout the movie.
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