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In any case, it’s mesmerizing to watch, and far, far smoother than any high-beat mechanical, even the 36,000 A/h über-mechanicals. If you look really close you can discern the 16 Hz steps, but you may have to use a loupe to do so. Is it worth it? HECK yeah! At a glance, you can easily take the sweep as being truly step-less à la Seiko Spring Drive.
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I’m actually not certain that Bulova has stated an Official battery life spec, but the 2-year figure seems to be a realistic expectation given other owner’s results. The caliber P102 uses a 3.0V CR2016 Lithium coin cell and, while these can last up to 10 years in conventional movements, Bulova rates it at 2 or 3 years in this application. The downside of this is, of course, increased battery draw. Rather than being a 2-pole design like conventional crystals (in effect an A/B switch), the proprietary crystals add a third pole – effectively an A/B/C switch. But even though this is eight times that of a normal quartz crystal’s 32,768 Hz, the sweep requires one further gimmick. Beyond that, it’s my understanding (But don’t quote me, please) that Bulova achieved both the 16 Hz sweep and the ± 10 sec/year accuracy by the brute-force expedient of running a 262,144 Hz oscillator crystal.
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I can say with confidence that the Caliber P102 is a 12 ligne (27mm) round movement with 8 jewels, and is marked “BULOVA / EIGHT JEWELS / JAPAN”. Now, I won’t pretend to be Electronic Engineer enough to fully understand the nuts & bolts of it. The result is a watch that is extraordinarily precise, yet so easy to operate.” And, the innovative design of the Precisionist movement reduces the effects of temperature variation without using a high maintenance thermo-regulating integrated circuit. The key is Precisionist’s unique three-prong quartz crystal, which produces a vibration frequency of 262.144 kilohertz (kHz), eight times greater than the usual two-prong crystal and the highest of any watch available today. “Most quartz watches are accurate to 15 seconds a month – Bulova Precisionist is accurate to 10 seconds a year. The additional text may be hard to read, so here is what it says: In this ad, Bulova claims that the Precisionist is the most accurate watch with a continuously sweeping second hand. Recent marketing does not seem to talk much about this. The confusion may have roots in Bulova marketing materials of the past where they mention thermo regulating. There is often question as to whether the Bulova Precisionist caliber P102 movement is thermo-compensated or not. Please add your battery life experience in the comments below… Thermo-compensation? It takes a CR2016 size battery which is almost as big in diameter (20mm) as the movement itself (about 27mm).īulova does not list an expected battery life for the Precisionist models with the caliber P102. If you know anything about the differences between these variations, please share with the community in the comments below… Battery Cell: Supposedly there is also a ladies watch version of this movement which is caliber P112.10, so perhaps people are just mixing them up. There appear to be several variations of the Bulova caliber P102 including the P102.10 and the P102.12. They do not even officially list the caliber numbers on their website. Video of the Bulova caliber P102 and Smooth Sweeping Seconds:īulova does not provide much information on the movements in their watches.Some of the topics covered in the caliber listing: The result? A reduction in the effect of temperature variation and superior accuracy. This unique construction generates 8 times more vibrations than traditional quartz. Precisionist has the highest number of vibrations (262.144kHz) of any quartz watch. Standard quartz crystals have only two prongs. The innovative Precisionist crystal has three prongs, creating a torsional resonator – the prongs not only move back and forth, but twist. Most quartz watches are accurate to within 15 seconds per month… Precisionist is accurate to within 10 seconds per year. Bulova is owned by Citizen and the P102 movement is made in Japan. It is considered to be one of the most accurate quartz movements in the world. The Bulova caliber P102 is a high accuracy quartz (HAQ) movement with 8 jewels. Hours, minutes, sweeping central seconds, date at 3:00