Bulova Precisionist -- Pretty cool HEQ!!

According to what I have read, this high end quartz is claimed to have an accuracy of +/- 10 secs a year and a SMOOTH SWEEPING HAND!!!

I found this information and photos at http://www.bestofwatch.com/?p=3

a. Precisionist family at launch :

b. Close up 1

b2. Close up 2

c. Champlain Titanium (46.5mm/14.4mm – 96B131)

d. Diamond studded Tanglewood model (32mm/9.2mm – 98R141)


a. There are two Precisionist movements at this time : P102.12 (12.5 ligne) for men’s watches and the P112.10 (10 ligne) for women’s watches. No chronographs at launch but they said they were working on the next generation that would include multi-function models.

b. As seen in the video above the “sweeping” is quite “smooth” so I was surprised to find it only moves 16 times per second, i.e. 16hz, not that much more than the 10hz of a 36000bph movement. They said they felt it was a good compromise between achieving smoothness and battery life. About battery life, it’s rated at a decent 3 years.

c. Apparently the Precisionist came about after Citizen bought Bulova in 2008 from Lowes who had owned the company since 1979 and Bulova became a subsidiary of Citizen Japan not of Citizen USA. The idea was to bring some innovation back to Bulova using their history with accuracy and the tuning fork’s breakthrough in the early 60s. The Precisionist was specced out in the US with high accuracy in mind and a sweeping seconds hand and the engineering part was done by Citizen in Japan. I asked if they were using an existing design but apparently not and there are no plans to use that movement in Citizen watches. Citizen focuses on Ecodrive watches and that doesn’t fit in well with high frequency quartz.

d. Quartz frequency is 262144Hz (versus 32768 Hz on a standard quartz, i.e. 8x more here) and there is no thermal compensation. When I mentioned that the 196khz Seiko in the 8Fxx caliber didn’t have the stability of thermocompensated watches like the Breitling Superquartz (ETA Thermoline) or Citizen Exceed (E510), they said that frequency wasn’t everything and seem to be confident that the “third prong that creates a torsional resonator” helped a lot with stability…That’s what their testing tells them, so I guess we’ll have to do ours

e. I asked about the presence of a “trimmer” but apparently there will be no way to perform adjustments directly on the watch. If a watch is out of specs it will have to be sent back.

f. The Mens models are rather large, with the Champlain Titanium 96B131 clocking in at 46.5mm (14.4mm thickness) but the 96B128 from the Claremont collection (bottom right of close up 1) is a more reasonable 44mm (12.2mm thickness) and the 96B130 Longwood (left in close up 2) is 43.5mm (11.6mm thickness)

g. Availability is set for September in the US and the pricing will range for from $299 to $1000 (for the model with diamonds) so that seems pretty reasonable given the features on offer.

I'm already saving for one of these...a must have for me....does anyone know if it is possible to pre-order one? I'd be interested in being the first on my block to have one...LOL

Wow, you are on an Accutron/Bulova roll

I'll also get one.The sweeping secong hand is killer.
But accutron already has an heq.the eta 251.232 is rated at 10 seconds a year.Of course its ticks like any other quartz,but if the accuracy is what you want,
accutron already has made it.I wonder why accutron didn't use it as a selling point?I didn't even know until I was changing the battery in my
buzz aldrin edition.

Bulova is taking it up a few notches here ! Yowza !!!
Honestly don't think I've seen a quartz move like this. I mean
it looks just like an automatic would move !..Pretty terrific
stuff !..They look good also !..There is one in b Close up 1
to the left side of the picture, with what looks like a gray
dial, and blue hands, which is extra sharp imo ! They're
all really great though !..Thanks for the info, video, and
link here !

However nice the new Bulova will be with its 10sec/year accuracy, I was lucky to find and win this pre-Bond Seamaster quartz with the rare HEQ caliber 1441 twin quartz TC in it, rated +-10secs/year....for $500usd. Plus it is the 18ct gold bezel and sapphire crystal and champagne dial version.....gotta love it!....

Those two are something special as well Thian ! First you have
the whole Omega aura around them, along with OUTSTANDING quality, and
looks ! Then you ALSO get that super smooth quartz movement too !!!
Terrific watches sir !..Excellent photo by the way also !!!

I 1st saw this timepiece about 6mo. ago in Watch time Mag. saying it would be out sometime mid year. I was called by a local jeweler & I along with watchdaddy1 went to check it out up close & personal! I was hooked right away after having read several articles about this beauty. I just purchased mine last Friday & as soon as I got home set it to my Atomic Clock 3 days later it hasn't missed a tick but I will keep everyone posted as to its realiability! I'm pretty confident that it will do as advertised after all I have read on this movement but we will see how it does with everyday use & temperature changes etc. I'm also on a motorcycle everyday which will put it through another element to contend with!

I have gone to see these now 2-3 times at different stores. I have looked at them, tried them on, taken pictures of them, and researched them everywhere online I could.

While I think the technology is very cool and I love the smooth moving second hand and accuracy of the watch - I just can not get by the current look and style of the first set of models they put out. The curved watch crystal on each side and some of the overall designs do not appeal to me. JMHO

What is exciting to me is this technology eventually getting into OTHER watches, watch brands, and models. I would love to see this sweeping quartz movement in all quartz watches out there and the end of the tick tick tick we are currently used to.

I've been looking for the all black model but can't find it...

Ah, looks like someone enjoyed my original article on bestofwatch ;-)

Got mine at Macy's the day it came out (09/26) and have been putting it to the test, not bad at +1.1spy when worn 14 hours a day, but not as thermoinsensitive as the thermo-compensated watches by ETA, Citizen or Seiko, here is a link to the article : http://www.bestofwatch.com/?p=150 ;-)