Brand/Model: Bulova ‘Accu-Swiss’ Tellaro Automatic
Chronograph
Movement: Swiss automatic
chronograph
Material: black-coated stainless
steel case and bracelet
Complications: day/date display, chronograph timing up to 12
hours in 1/5 second increments
Price: watch has been discontinued, can be found in
the $500 USD range as a NOS (new old stock) item
Plenty of photos follow the review.
Click on the pictures to enlarge. Please
note! The photos may show up fairly
dark, this was a hard watch to photograph due to the black color.
Even though the
watch being reviewed here is brand new and was purchased recently, it was
discontinued a few years ago, so if you’re interested in finding one, it is
possible, but you may have to hunt around.
Since Citizen’s
purchase of the Bulova watch company, Citizen has been putting mostly their own
(Miyota/Citizen) automatic movements in Bulova branded watches, with a few
exceptions.
Citizen also
discontinued the ‘Accu-Swiss’ brand after their acquisition of Bulova, but
still sells some select Bulova watches with Swiss movements. The most current Bulova models can be seen on
Bulova’s web site.
Now that we have all
that out of the way, if you can find an Accu-Swiss Tellaro chronograph like the
one being reviewed here, grab it, as it is a very nice piece for the price. Accu-Swiss watches were meant to be on the
affordable side for a Swiss timepiece and the Tellaro chronograph certainly
demonstrates this edict in spades.
The Tellaro
chronograph was available in the all-black livery as seen here, as well as a
blue dialed, standard (silver tone) stainless steel combo as well as a few
versions I’m probably not familiar with.
Also, please don’t
confuse this Accu-Swiss chronograph which sports the Valjoux 7750 automatic
movement with current Bulova models such as the Lunar Pilot quartz chronograph
which looks remarkably similar and has the sweep-second 262kHz ‘Precisionist’
movement inside.
I tend to have a so-so
relationship with all black watches.
While I generally love the look of many all-black watches, I have only
two in my collection and other all-black pieces I have owned never seemed to
get enough wrist time. Why this is so, I
cannot say, but for an all-black piece, Bulova did it right with this model.
The overall look of
this Accu-Swiss Tellaro is superb and I am so glad Bulova made everything black on this watch (case,
crown, pushers, caseback, bracelet and clasp).
Even the screws that secure the caseback are black! Too many times a watch company brings out a
black watch, only to have the caseback in standard stainless steel or the clasp
still in silvertone stainless, which only distracts from the reason you want a
black watch in the first place, because it’s black!
The Accu-Swiss
Tellaro has a classic, Omega Speedmaster look about it, with an oval-ish case
that has just about the perfect proportions.
The all-black stainless steel case has both gloss and brushed (satin)
black finishes, which is a very nice touch.
The case measures 41.2mm across the bezel and 45.6mm with the crown
included. I’m not sure of the exact
technology that was employed to coat the stainless steel black, but it appears
to be a sort of ion-plating.
The crown is signed
with the Bulova tuning fork logo, has a concave shape with large knurls and a
thoughtful cutout on the case under the crown that makes pulling out the crown
much easier.
Lug width is 22mm
and case thickness is an appropriate 14.7mm for a Caliber 7750-based watch. Lug tip to lug tip is 49.5mm, with the lugs
curving down somewhat at the ends, to make for a more comfortable fit.
The caseback is
quite interesting, as it is black with small white lettering with information
about the watch (sapphire crystal, water resist, etc.). The caseback is secured with six proprietary
style screws (see photo closeup), meaning the screwheads are not your normal
flat-blade or Phillips head. If you need
service on this watch, Bulova obviously wanted you to send it to them, but
check with your independent watchmaker first to see if he or she can source the
correct driver head to remove the screws.
The chronograph
pushers are asymmetrically shaped rectangles which look great and fit rather
flush with the case side. The case has
nice beveled edges leading to the lugs and a center indent on the left side
which adds interest and a quality look to the watch.
The Accu-Swiss
Tellaro is marked only as ‘water resist’ on the case back and Bulova says this
means no swimming with this piece. So
best not to get this watch wet.
Overall fit and
finish is very good, with no imperfections of note, good hand alignment and a
smooth, even and beautiful black finish over all the components of the
watch. Again, superb quality at this
pricepoint. The watch has a good heft to
it and does fit comfortably on the wrist.
The crystal is a
flat sapphire with anti-reflective coating which caps a black dial with white
lettering and arabics. The hour and
minute hands are silvertone with inset lume, which are the only thing that is
luminous on this watch, with the lume being average to below average in
intensity.
All the subdials
have silver tone hands, while the chronograph center seconds hand is
white. I do wish that Bulova made all
the chrono hands white, as it makes is easier to read the chrono timing
measurements when the chrono is running.
A small nit to pick, but important in my book.
The chronograph
subdials are ever so slightly recessed on the dial, while the subseconds dial
is flat and has just simple crosshair markings, just enough to see the movement
of the seconds hand.
The dial has
minimal printing (thank you!) with ‘Bulova’ in silver and ‘Accu-Swiss’ (in
white) above the day and date windows and ‘automatic’ in white below the
windows. The dot between the words
‘Accu-Swiss’ is red. A very small ‘Swiss
Made’ is at the very bottom of the dial.
The day and date
wheels are white on black (which look great with the black dial) and are
properly centered in their respective windows.
The chapter ring is
a tachymeter for speed measurements and is moderately dished outwards to the
edge of the dial. Just inside the
tachymeter are a combination of hash marks and arabics for the seconds counting
on the chronograph, with the arabics every five seconds (5, 10, 15, etc.) and
the hash marks in-between the arabics.
The dial may sound
busy, but in reality it is not. The
chronograph functions are easy to read and there’s enough breathing room on the
dial to have everything work as intended.
Nicely done!
What makes the
Accu-Swiss Tellaro such a great value these days is the workhorse Swiss made
Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph movement that Bulova used. This is the gold-standard, tried and true
automatic chronograph that shows up in myriad different watches at many
different pricepoints. This is a robust,
accurate, dependable movement that can be serviced easily by an independent
watchmaker. Running in 25 jewels and
beating at 28,800 vph, the 7750 is known for its wobble that can be felt at
times as the rotor spins to wind the watch.
The 7750 in my
Accu-Swiss Tellaro runs at +9 seconds per day in the crown up position and
turned in a fine 53.25 hour power reserve.
The watch winds, sets and runs properly, with the chronograph starting,
stopping and resetting perfectly, as is expected with this caliber. The chrono pushers have a nice, positive
click to them. Overall, the watch has a
solid quality to it.
The bracelet is a
solid link, multilink (five separate links) affair that measures 22mm at the
lugs and tapers to 20mm at the pushbutton butterfly clasp. The center links are gloss black, the outer
links are brushed (satin) and the edges of the links are gloss.
The clasp carries
the Bulova tuning fork logo on the inside.
The pins that secure the links are the nifty kind that are solid pins
(vs. cheaper split pins) and which definitively ‘click’ into place, so you know
they are secure. This design also helps
to prevent marring the edges of the links during sizing because the pins click
into place at the proper depth.
I would prefer a
standard fold-over machined deployant as butterfly clasps can be hard to get a
good fit with, due to their lack of micro-adjustability. Also, there were no half-links included, but
fortunately, I was able to achieve an acceptable fit on my 6-3/4 inch
wrist. Manufacturers please note! Start including half-links (two per bracelet)
with your watches. You’ll make a lot of
people happy.
Presentation is
pretty standard fair, a plastic gloss black signed hinged box with inner
padding along with a basic instruction manual.
The Bulova
Accu-Swiss Tellaro chronograph does make some concessions to fit it into the
more affordable pricepoint that it occupies, with minimal water resistance and
minimal lume being the main points of cost cutting. But the crown doesn’t screw down (no need to
with minimal water resistance) which is fine with me, as I think too many
watches these days have screwdown crowns when they’re not needed.
Having a tried and
true Swiss chronograph movement makes this watch a no-brainer, along with
stunning good looks and overall great quality.
If you can find an Accu-Swiss Tellaro, buy it, because you won’t be
disappointed. Bulova, if only you still
made this one!
Pros: reliable and well-known automatic Swiss
chronograph movement, beautiful all-black finish, lots of nice little details
Cons: needs
more water resistance and more lume, no half links in the bracelet, proprietary
screwheads on case back could present problems for future service, finding one
for sale
Verdict: a very
good looking watch that is a steal at current prices with functionality and
quality worthy of the old-line Bulova name
Thanks for reading
and enjoy the pics.
Excelsior!
-Marc
