Most watch aficionados have come across the Precisionist line at one time or another, and talking to people in the industry I get nothing but positive feedback about these timepieces. There are a few different subcategories in this collection, each with their own personality. I chose the 98B210 for review because I thought it was very sporty, and was sufficiently different from most others that you may have seen around the web or in your local jewelry store.

For those of you who haven't come across these watches, I'll give you a little background on why Bulova decided to give these watches the lofty moniker of “Precisionist”. To say that these watches are precise is maybe a trite of an understatement. The Precisionist watches give an average yearly variance of +/- 10 seconds… I'll just let that sink in. That's 0.833 seconds a month or 0.027 seconds per day. If you need me to put that into perspective – the average quartz watch gains or loses around 180 seconds a year.

Breitling watches carry a line of quartz watches (ingeniously called SuperQuartz™) that comes close to matching the Precisionist but falls just a little shy with a yearly variance of +/- 15 seconds. They accomplish this by maintaining an almost constant temperature around the quartz crystal. It has been long known that dust, changes in temperature, and shocks from impacts affect the vibrations of the quartz crystal. Breitling did well to solve this problem. Breitling even petitioned the COSC to allow their SuperQuartz™ watches to have the coveted certification.

Precisionist watches don't qualify for COSC certification as chronometers, not because they're not accurate but simply because the movement used is not of Swiss origin. The point I am trying to make here is that of all the quartz watches on the market today – the Bulova Precisionist is the most precise and accurate – at least in my expert opinion.
Bulova does indeed control the internal temperature like Breitling, but they do a bit more – they have to if they want to create a watch like the Precisionist. Get ready for just a little more nerdery, then I'll review the watch… I promise.

tandard quartz watches use a double pronged, tuning fork shaped quartz crystal. If that seems familiar, well that's because it's Bulova's logo. In any case, these quartz crystals vibrate at 32.768 kilohertz or about 2 beats per second. Bulova added a third prong to their quartz crystals, allowing them to oscillate at 262.144 kilohertz – eight times as much. This allows for the super smooth sweep of the seconds hand. Many people compare the sweep seconds of mechanical watches to that of the Precisionist, but the fact is that the average mechanical watch features around 4 beats per second – enough to appear smooth but just not as smooth as a Precisionist.

Now that we have a comparative understanding of the Precisionist line, I think we can review the Bulova 98B210.
The Bulova 98B210 is a decidedly rugged watch with its finely brushed and polished stainless steel case. At first glance, I am impressed by the black unidirectional bezel. The white, oversized Arabic numerals and index markers stand out wonderfully. A tachometric scale can be found on a stationary ring on the inside of the bezel. The main crown is textured allowing for easy manipulation of the date and time when setting this watch. The main crown, and the caseback are also screw locked, which helps in maintaining the water resistance at 200 meters (20 ATM) – perfect for daily wear and light scuba. The chronograph pushers are black ion plated stainless steel, which is in keeping with the theme of the watch. The pushpiece at 4 carries a red ring around the barrel; I think mainly for aesthetic purposes. When I wore the 98B210 I was blown away by just how comfortable the black rubber strap was. It was really thick, and surprisingly easy to take off and put on. Securing the watch is an ardillon buckle crafted from stainless steel. The case diameter of this watch is large at 46mm, and it stands tall on the wrist with a case thickness of 16mm. Even though the watch is clearly robust, I could still pull it off on my 7 inch wrist. At the 8 position on the case is another pusher. This one is used to ready the chronograph for use. When the chronograph is not activated, the seconds hand sweeps along the dial.

The dial on the Bulova 98B210 is matte finished silver toned with skeletonized, gunmetal toned hands. The tips of the hands and the hour markers are coated with lume for exceptional nighttime readability. The name Precisionist takes on a different meaning when it comes to the chronograph. The red central chronograph seconds hand, counterweighted with the emblem of the Precisionist line – the infinity symbol, contrasts well with the dial. This watch also gives indications for one tenth of a second and one hundredths of a second, which can be found at the subdial at the 12 position. The Precisionist watch takes it even further with a one thousandths of a second display at 6 o'clock. It is through the higher vibration count of the quartz crystal that the Precisionist chronograph is able to achieve this. The counters at the 9 and 3 positions give readings for the chronograph minutes and seconds respectively. One thing to note though about the chronograph – when in operation the central chronograph seconds hand ticks like a conventional quartz watch. This is done to differentiate between the chrono function and the regular continuous seconds when the watch is not in chrono mode. Coming in at the 4:30 position is a date aperture.

From my review I guess you can tell that I like this watch. Like it enough to buy it? Yes. I guess what I like is that it is essentially a dive watch – tough and rugged, but also super accurate. What do you think of this watch? And do you prefer the dive watch style to the other iterations like the Champlain or even the Wilton Precisionists? Let me know in the comments below. vedere di piu imitazioni rolex e Chopard Happy Spirit
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