Bulova tested a watch during WW2 for flight navigators. At that time, flight navigation was by dead reckoning. Flight paths were calculated based on time and speed. You flew for x-time at y-speed (with a wind correction as well!) and then made a maneuver and did it again.
Chronographs were expensive and delicate. Bulova came up with the idea of having two internal bezels: one for minutes and other for hours. That way you could use a regular movement. Cheap, cheerful, and it worked. It wasn’t, however, taken up by the War Dept so 500 trial samples were all that was made.
They re-issued some in 2014, and again last year. I bought the latest version but have my eye out for the earlier re-issues.
Chronographs were expensive and delicate. Bulova came up with the idea of having two internal bezels: one for minutes and other for hours. That way you could use a regular movement. Cheap, cheerful, and it worked. It wasn’t, however, taken up by the War Dept so 500 trial samples were all that was made.
They re-issued some in 2014, and again last year. I bought the latest version but have my eye out for the earlier re-issues.
