At Baselworld 2017, Bulova reintroduced a watch model from its past with the Bulova Special Edition Chronograph C, whose vintage ancestor was nicknamed the Bulova Stars & Stripes (given the red, white, and, blue color scheme). This is part of a now regular “Archive Series Collection” set of watches that Bulova will continue to produce for its consumers who are also enthusiasts of its history. Bulova, a company with a rich history, is keen to bank in on the success of other “retro reissue watches,” and has seen success in other models such as the Bulova Moon Watch Chronograph.

This is especially true when Bulova—who recently had a healthy number of mechanical watches in their collection—is again seemingly rethinking their product strategy. I think the brand is going to be solidly focused on sub-$1,000 products, but as many of them as possible need to have a sense of built-in emotional appeal. That is exactly what you get with a vintage reissue such as the Special Edition Chronograph C Stars & Stripes. This is one of an increasing number of “accessible” vintage re-issue timepieces for collectors who aren’t able to spend several thousand dollars on products such as this.

Our friends at Fratello took a nice look at the original Bulova Chronograph C watch here. Visually, the 2017 and 1970s original are strikingly similar. Size-wise they are different, and of course the original had a manually-wound mechanical movement while the new one has a high-frequency Bulova 262kHz quartz chronograph movement. The original Chronograph C was 43mm wide, whereas the modern interpretation has grown to a larger 46mm wide. This is big, but not massive really given the total lack of lugs. The watch comes with a decent, thick steel mesh metal bracelet. To size it properly there are some removable links in the bottom. Bulova also kindly offers a blue leather strap with the Special Edition Chronograph C watch.

What helped make the original Bulova Chronograph C memorable wasn’t just the bright-colors and “edgy” (literally) dial design. Instead, the Chronograph C stood out because it was unlike pretty much anything else Bulova was making at the time. One can look at the dial design and ask themselves what Bulova was thinking. Are those hands supposed to be rockets? Are the hour markers supposed to be subtle reminders of the large office buildings in New York City? Or is this just an era-appropriate 1970s quirky sport watch that played with visual elements to focus on bold looks and legibility. At this time especially, timepieces were being inspired by gauges on a range of vehicles and industrial equipment. As a result, designers were not shy about using bright colors to promote legibility and contrast. Looking back on such designs we can imagine what those designers must have been thinking. However, in reality I think it was just an attempt to take some designs that came before it, adapt them a bit for Bulova use, and try to produce a product that seemed to fit customer expectations.

Breitling was one of the companies in the 1970s making a lot of the watches that Bulova might have been inspired by—or it might have been the other away around (although I doubt it given Breitling’s rather prolific volume of brightly colored chronographs with blocky dial elements). You can see some elements of that in the case as well, even though Bulova is simply replicating what the company may have previously replicated years ago. The 46mm wide steel case has an attractive bezel—albeit one that doesn’t rotate as the design seems to imply. The original’s bezel didn’t move either. Collectors will really like the use of the era-appropriate Bulova brand logo.

The case is water resistant to 50m (it might be 100m, the Bulova website at the time of writing wrote both and I’m guessing it is the former water resistance measure) and 13.8mm thick. Over the colorful dial is a domed and AR-coated sapphire crystal. It appears to be a single dome design, so that when you look at the dial from an angle there is some distortion—but this is common at this price point.

A clean dial without a date window and an emphasis on the original quirky design of the Chronograph C is why people are going to like this watch. The chronograph is modern and measures down to 1/100th of a second, but it’s contained in a charming vintage-themed (as opposed to modern) package. For that reason alone, I think a lot of newer watch lovers not interested in actually getting a finicky vintage watch, will appreciate what Bulova is doing with the 2017 Special Edition Chronograph C Stars & Stripes. More so, it shows that even though Bulova is regularly changing its product focus, it is listening to collectors of its vintage models, and paying close attention to what they feel might be in their best interest to reissue next. The Bulova Special Edition Chronograph C Stars & Stripes has a retail price of $750 USD. bulova.com