Bulova Moon Watch

On July 26 1971, Commander Dave Scott carried his Bulova Chronograph to the surface of the moon. The Crystal of his NASA issued Omega Speedmaster had popped off (common) and his personal watch was the backup. This fact was uncovered at mybulova.com back in March of 2014. Up until this time, the watch had been misremembered as a Waltham. My friend Stephen Ollman, the owner of the myBulova site spoke with Commander Scott and was given permission to publish the picture of the watch at that time. What followed was the unprecedented auction of the watch, the only moon worn watch in private hands, selling for $1.3 million. The watch was a prototype, never went into production, and was based on the Universal Geneve model, Bulova having recently acquired UG. Bulova subsequently decided to issue a commemorative piece in honour of the watch's place in Space history, and the result was the Bulova Moon watch, reference 96B251. 

Ultra High Frequency

The engine inside this watch is the Bulova high frequency quartz, the only production quartz movement to be significantly improved upon since the quartz' introduction. It runs at a staggering 262,144 Hz. In comparison, the average quartz movement operates at a frequency of 32,728 Hz. Bulova uses this movement in its Precisionist line, and is accurate to within a few seconds per year.


​Blades on the side of the watch are the Chronograph pushers, which work well with the astronaut's gloved hand. Below is the new Commemorative watch, next to the original, and Commander Scott himself. 
See the original panel discussion at:
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Bulova Moon watch