Bulova GRAMMY Awards Watch

The best part of reading Ariel Adams’ everything is beautiful “review” of the Bulova GRAMMY Awards watch? The comments beneath it. “Awful,” Mikita opines. “I don’t understand what Bulova is doing. They are capable of much more than those ghastly Aliexpress watches.” Now that’s what I call a watch review. Mikita is right is so many ways, just as Mr. Adams wrong is so many ways. For example . . .

Grammy watches are important not just for their commercial value but also because Bulova supplies many of them to the Grammy Awards in order to hand out to winners. Watches are some of the most popular items given as rewards to accomplished people, so it makes sense that Bulova wants Grammy Award winners to wear a Grammy watch.

Citizen may want Grammy Award winners to sport their horological spin on the musical math known as the Circle of Fifths, but unless the Japanese watchmaker slips many thousand dollars in cash in the nominee’s swag bags, #itainthappening. As aBtW commentator Patrick Koch points out, “So they are handing out these watches to a demographic who wear Rolex or equivalent as daily beaters. …LOL”

The celebrity gimme is a music-themed watch with a picture window on an automatic movement so unremittingly bland looking it makes Andy Williams sound like Joey Ramone. For some reason ($), Mr. Adams sees it as a feature, not a bug.

The movement is the Miyota caliber 8N24 automatic, which is made more interesting by its skeletonized design. The Grammy watch dial is mostly translucent in the middle (but not distractingly so), offering a handsome view of the movement in its skeletonized glory. 

The Bulova GRAMMY Awards watch’s undecorated movement isn’t interesting. It is distracting. And putting its metal bits on display accords the Japanese watch no more “glory” than a bottomless stripper standing on her head and waggling her legs inches away from a VIP room customer sitting in a recently sanitized pleather wingback chair.

Still, some people like that sort of thing. They may even be the same sort of people who’d pay $850 for a 44.5mm X 12mm thick watch with a Grammium dial.

While Greek scholars wonder when Bulova found the lost city of Crete by that name, Mr. Adams’ celebrates the metal’s “gold tone.” It’s actually a zinc alloy developed to increase the Grammy Award’s gilded gramaphone’s ability to withstand drugged winners’ eventual and inevitable “I was a star!” temper tantrum.

You can see the record player in question on the Bulova GRAMMY Awards watch’s caseback. Notice something odd about the picture from Bulova’s website? A little perspective problem perhaps? It doesn’t give one much confidence in Bulova’s attention to detail – although I really dig that guitar tuning peg crown. I can’t say the same for Mr. Adams’ reliably milquetoast summary.

I suppose what I admire most about the Bulova Grammy watch is how traditionally easy it is to live with, while also not having a traditional look. The interesting case, deep and colorful dial, as well as colors that match the Grammy Awards theme, are all pretty nicely done. 

“Pretty nicely done.” Heh. I’d accuse Mr. Adams of damning the Bulova with faint praise, but the “reviewer” is no more capable of biting the hand that feeds than a goldfish. But I give him max props for not censoring his commentariot – the Greek chorus reminding readers of the truth about watches. Welcome here anytime, of course.