For its latest release of 2025, Bulova has created a thematic version of its Marine Star chronograph to commemorate its role as the official timekeeping partner of E1 Team Miami. Rather than simply being an existing model dressed up in a vibrant blue and orange colorway, the new Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B appears to be a tangibly different watch than the various other chronographs currently available within the brand’s Marine Star collection. For those who are not avid boat racing enthusiasts (including myself), a bit of context will be required. However, both the E1 World Championship and Bulova’s new watch are far more interesting than they initially may appear.

Prior to receiving the press release about the Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B, the E1 World Championship was entirely a foreign concept to me, so before we get into the details of the watch itself, I feel like it might be worth going over the E1 Series and why Bulova is making this watch in the first place. The E1 World Championship is the first electric boat racing series sanctioned by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), which is the global governing body for powerboating. The E1 Series places an emphasis on innovation and sustainability, and one of its primary goals is to pioneer eco-friendly technologies that can be used to reduce the environmental impact of marine vehicles. E1 could almost be seen as a water-based equivalent of the Formula E automotive racing series, and E1 teams race high-tech boats, which look like spaceships and ride above the surface of the water on giant wing-like foils.

Boat racing naturally attracts wealthy individuals, but when you see the list of E1 team owners, you’d be forgiven for thinking you are looking at the guest list of some A-list celebrity party. At the time of writing, the E1 Series consists of nine teams, and the owners of those teams are Steve Aoki, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Virat Kohli, Marcelo Claure, Didier Drogba, Marc Anthony, Rafael Nadal, and Will Smith. Aside from billionaire entrepreneur Marcelo Claure, every other E1 team owner is a mega-famous musician or professional athlete, and having your own E1 racing team seems to be the new “it” thing for celebrities who are not content with just putting their name behind some beauty brand or beverage company. Along with being the owner of E1 Team Miami (formally known as Team Miami Powered by Magnus), Marc Anthony is also a Bulova brand ambassador, and it therefore only makes sense for the brand that he endorses to also be the official timekeeping partner for his E1 racing team.

As for the watch itself, the overall appearance of the Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B (ref. 96B460) is rather similar to the brand’s existing Marine Star Series B chronographs, although a closer inspection reveals several key differences. Both models are crafted from stainless steel with a 43mm diameter and 100 meters of water resistance; however, the new E1 Team Miami Racing version reduces the gap between its lugs down to 20mm, and it also omits the internal rotating timing bezel (along with the additional crown at 10 o’clock) in favor of a more traditional chronograph layout. Taking the place of the internal timing bezel is a tachymeter scale printed along an angled chapter ring, and the E1 Team Miami version also benefits from the upgrade to an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, rather than being fitted with a mineral glass crystal like the standard Marine Star Series B chronographs.

The dial of the Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B fully embraces the colors of Marc Anthony’s E1 team, with a bright blue surface, orange rings surrounding the trio chronograph registers, and crisp white accents supplied by the 4:30 date window and the Super-LumiNova that fills the hands and applied hour markers. The three hands dedicated to the chronograph receive bright green accents for increased legibility, and (rather curiously) three of the indices along the right-hand side of the dial are finished bright orange, rather than being filled with white Super-LumiNova like the other hour markers. Additionally, instead of being fitted with a standard solid screw-down caseback like Bulova’s normal Marine Star chronographs, the screw-down caseback on the new E1 Team Miami version is adorned with a dark blue medallion that depicts the three logos of Bulova, Team Miami, and the E1 Series.

Powering the Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B is the same Miyota Caliber 6S20 quartz chronograph movement that you will find inside other six-handed models from the current Marine Star collection, which runs on a single SR927W that provides it with a battery life of approximately four years. Accuracy for the Cal. 6S20 is listed as being +/-15 seconds per month, and its 60-minute chronograph is capable of measuring times down to 1/20th of a second, with the partial seconds displayed by the register at the 3 o’clock position on the dial. To further lean into its vibrant blue and orange colorway, the E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B is fitted with a two-piece strap that is constructed from light blue silicone wrapped in dark blue leather, and it is completed by bright orange contrast stitching and a signed stainless steel buckle.

I personally find the entire concept of the E1 World Championship both fascinating and slightly hilarious. On one hand, you cannot help but be impressed by the futuristic electronic boats flying at high speeds above the surface of the water like something out of a Star Wars film. However, the fact that all the teams are owned by billionaires and A-list celebrities adds a certain comical element, simply because you would never otherwise see these same individuals all competing for the same trophy. Celebrity boat-racing associations aside, part of why I find the new Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B to be an interesting release is because it isn’t just a thematic version of an existing model, and when you look past its vibrant colorway, the physical changes to the watch allude to a noticeably more pared back expression of what we usually see among Bulova’s Marine Star chronographs.

In many industries, it’s common for new designs to first debut as thematic models or limited editions before later being expanded to a general release, and I could easily see the blueprint of the new E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B serving as the foundation for core-collection models with conventional colorways that lean into the slightly more refined aesthetic provided by their narrower lug width and lack of rotating timing bezel. With an official retail price of $495 USD, the Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B (ref. 96B460) is positioned right in line with its chronograph siblings from the greater Marine Star collection, and while this vibrant timepiece is obviously intended for fans of E1 and Team Miami, I could also see it appealing to those who simply want a colorful and affordable chronograph from a reputable big-name brand. For more information on the Bulova E1 Team Miami Racing Marine Star B, please visit the brand’s website.