Introduction

Today I’m writing about one of my favorite watches in my collection. The Bulova Accutron Snorkel. It’s a watch so nice, I bought it twice. Bulova is doing a great job lately of putting out a bunch of vintage inspired pieces with upgraded tech inside. They have these snorkel watches and the moon watch as well as a handful of other vintage inspected pieces.

For those who don’t know, Bulova has an ultra-high accuracy quartz movement that they use for their watches. While most mechanical watches lose and gain several seconds per day, the Bulova watches gain or lose a handful of seconds a year. You might think that’s just par for the course with quartz watches, but a “normal” quartz watch will still gain or lose a few minutes a year. The watches housing this Bulova tech are truly some of the most accurate watches money can buy.

What I Love

In this article, I’m going to write about one of my favorite Bulova watches; the Bulova Snorkel ii 96B209. Let’s start off with what I love about this watch.

The Looks

I absolutely love the way this watch looks. It’s a vintage inspired compressor-style dive watch in bright 70s colors. This watch pairs well with a variety of straps, but I honestly love these watches on the included “coffin” style bracelet. It gives a dressy hint to an otherwise sporty watch.

The dive bezel is located inside the case rather than outside. This is pretty common for compressor style divers. There is another crown that operates the bidirectional bezel, so you can use that dive timing feature. I don’t think many people are going to use this watch for diving because there’s no lock on the timer, but it works great for timing steaks on the grill.

The markers are applied, and the text printing is crisp and bright white against the blue sunray watch dial. The contrast is great and looks beautiful and legible on the wrist.

The Movement

Normally, a quartz watch comes equipped with the oh-so-annoying tick-tock seconds hand. I hate that. It honestly ruins quartz watches for me. I would rather not have a seconds hand than the tick tock seconds hand. The Bulova is wonderful in this regard.

The Bulova Snorkel has an ultra-high frequency quartz movement inside. This movement is incredibly accurate, even by quartz standards. Additionally, the Bulova watches with their high frequency quartz movements have a sweeping seconds hand. This doesn’t seem all that impressive until you dive into exactly how accurate and how complicated this movement is.

The only problem with this is that Bulova does a horrible job of marketing their ultra-high accuracy movements to watch nerds like me and you. I honestly think that there should be a differentiation between regular quartz and the kind of movement keeping time in the snorkel. Regardless, the movement gives a pleasing sweep of the seconds hand as well as featuring ultra-high accuracy and the typical durability of quartz watches.

The Versatility

I really love how versatile this watch is. Normal watches can not, I repeat CAN NOT work with a suit and tie. Every single time I see an attorney wearing a submariner with a suit, I visibly cringe. The interior dive bezel is what changes things for me. It creates a smooth and sleek profile that slips effortlessly under your shirt cuff.

The steel bracelet on this watch isn’t as tool-esque as a submariner or other dive watch. The profile of the watch is relatively slender, and the funky 70s colors provide a pop of color on the wrist that works well in a variety of situations. Additionally, the 200m water resistance means you can swim with no issues. This watch certainly passes the boardroom to beach test.

The Price

I bought this watch for $114.00 on ebay. I love the fact that this beautiful watch full of cutting-edge technology can be had for a song. This watch doesn’t look or feel cheap. It doesn’t operate in a cheap way. It feels and looks like a watch that costs about ten times as much. In my opinion, Bulova offers some of the best bang for buck on the market.

What I Hate

Unfortunately, as is the case with nearly every watch, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are some things that aren’t so great about this watch.

Brand Name

I actually love watches made by Bulova, but they have a branding problem. I see on watch forums that Bulova is thought of as a department store brand. I do not think that this fair, but I think it is the perception of this brand. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand why some brands have a good reputation while others don’t. I think that Bulova is an undervalued brand by watch enthusiasts, but that is the truth of the matter. The nice part of this is that Bulova watches are relatively inexpensive compared to other brands.

Quartz

I don’t exactly know why I feel this way, but I do. Quartz watches suck. I feel like quartz watches are only a step away from simply (gasp) checking your phone for the time. It sucks the soul out of timekeeping.

For whatever reason, I don’t feel the same way about the Bulova High Frequency Quartz. I don’t know if it’s the sweeping seconds hand or the fact that it’s one of the highest accuracy timepieces you can buy for the money, but I actually like these movements. I like the novelty of them. If these watches were automatic, it would just be a Japanese or Swiss stock movement stuck inside the case with a corresponding price increase. I love the fact that these watches have a unique movement, but they are still quartz at the end of the day.

Marketing

I really think that Bulova has a marketing problem. I think they produce some really interesting pieces that don’t get near the attention they deserve. When I wear my Bulova around my other watch nerd friends, they’re always surprised at the variety and quality of the watches they produce. The problem for Bulova is that they make these wonderful pieces, but they don’t market them appropriately, so they end up in the bargain bin of eBay. I think they are one of the best value propositions out there, but there’s is certainly a perception problem, right now.

Closing

To close it all out, I’m a huge fan of Bulova watches in general and this watch in particular. It’s a versatile, inexpensive and accurate watch from an underrated brand that has a lot of history and horological importance in its own right. If you want a classy dive watch that looks as good in the boardroom as it does on the beach, you might want to check out the Bulova Snorkel.