Thrift Store Watch Find: A Vintage Buler Automatic

 Classic Buler 25 Jewel Automatic Watch Found While Thrifting

When I went thrift store shopping with my wife, I didn't expect to find anything great. Usually, I'm lucky to find a book, or a clock, or an old pair of binoculars.  However, at the Furrkids Thrift Store in Marietta, Georgia, I came across a vintage Buler 25 Jewel Automatic wristwatch that originally had water resistance and shock resistance. Best of all, the watch was only $10.

Buler 25 Jewel Automatic Watch

Vintage Watch Condition

While this watch was marked at just $10. It's not a long lost Picasso. There were good reasons to mark this watch at $10. The watch has a few issues. The crystal and case have plenty of scratches. The old Buler also seems to be powered by movement and not conventional winding. For a non-watch collector, they might try winding it and fail to get it to run. The date is at six-o'clock and, while the crown does have a pull stop that might indicate that you would independently flip the date, I encountered strong resistance. Fortunately, I was able to set the date correctly by cranking the hands forward around the dial about 58 times to get to the right date. Fortunately, the watch runs, keeps decent time, and the date flips to the next day nicely at midnight. I was also relieved not to see any funkiness. It has a relatively short power reserve as it stopped shortly after I took it off my wrist.  The movement seems a bit loose and noisy when shaken.

A Vintage Buler 25 Jewel Automatic Watch shows some crystal scratches

Buler Watch Origin

I've been researching this watch and I've only learned a little so far. According to the Grok AI engine:

The Buler watch company was founded in 1945 by the SSIH group (Société Suisse de l’Industrie Horlogère) in Lengnau, Switzerland, with Charles and Albert Buhler as key figures in its early years. The company was headquartered in Lengnau, at a modern factory established in 1956 at Solothurnstrasse, near the Jura Mountains. It later moved operations to La Chaux-de-Fonds after being acquired by Renley Watch Manufacturing in 1991.

Buler was once a very popular watch maker. In the late 60s, they sold up to a million watches per year and had customers in 65 different countries. The Buler brand made relatively inexpensive watches. They often used pin-lever movements similar to the ones found in vintage Timex models. Grok suggests that the watch could well be from the late 60s or early 70s and might use a 25-jewel BF158 Baumgartner movement.

Vintage Buler Watch Caseback

Buler Next Steps

I've been researching this watch and Grok suggests that if I wanted to open the watch up and photograph the movement, it might help in the search. However, it is running and I'm reluctant to change that. That's where human wisdom has to override artificial intelligence. I may go ahead and get this watch serviced at some point.

The kind folks at Watchfreeks.com forum had some kind words and found this interesting post on MasterHorologer.com about Buler Watches History and Watches of Buler.  Apparently, the brand may still be active and making watches in Switzerland, but they are owned by Freetown Watch Products, Ltd, which is a company based in Hong Kong. I haven't found any of them on the internet.

It looks like this vintage watch is going to be a project for awhile. It was a fun find!

TGIF: Passing the Time with Watches

If I were a perfectly rational consumer in the watch market, I would buy no watches for 12 years and put $50 per month in the bank or investments until I could buy a really nice watch like a Rolex Explorer. Of course, I'd be about 70 and I might not want to explore very much. Alternatively, I could have fun with lots of less expensive watches and have something to blog about. I think I'll choose the latter and have fun with watches I can easily afford.

If I'm not going to worry about the prestige of a Rolex, then I'll focus on value, variety, and fun. With those three criteria, the watch brands that bubble to the surface for me most often are Timex, Bulova, Orient, and Invicta. 

Why do I like these four watch brands? 

Timex, Bulova, and Orient all provide that connection to history and heritage that I crave, but can't really afford with the prestigious European brands. Bulova and Timex have long histories as American brands and their older models are still affordable as collectibles. Orient has a mystique and a reputation for making quality mechanical watches at good prices.

Circa 2007 Bulova Marine Star

Timex, Bulova, and Orient all provide great collectible value and much variety in their offerings. Timex aims directly at the enthusiast market with their Waterbury Collection. Bulova hits us with great watches in their Aerojet and Sinatra series. It's interesting to track down the stories behind watches and post about finds like my circa 2007 Bulova Marine Star. Orient has beautiful watches with mechanical design magic built in. You can also find vintage Orient models like my vintage Orient Tri Star online for very low prices to add to the fun of collecting.

1970s vintage Orient TriStar

Finally for pure fun, I like Invicta. Invicta watches are boldly styled and always make a statement on my wrist. The designers at Invicta just seem to go for it with their designs. Plus, the deals you can get on Invicta watches online are just insanely good. 

Invicta Multifunction Watch with Day, Date, and 24 Hour Time

While they have a few understated models in their catalog, most Invicta watches get noticed. They invite conversations about watches. That's a good thing.

What is a Dive Watch?

A Deep Dive into Dive Watches

Dive watches are a subset of tool watches. Dive watches were originally designed for diving--and particularly--SCUBA diving. 

Hamilton Khaki Navy Frogman Automatic Dive Watch (Amazon photo)

Dive Watch Properties

Dive watches are made of robust materials like stainless steel or titanium to resist corrosion, they have high degrees of water resistance (typically above 100-meters with 200 or 300 meters water resistance for professional models). They have unidirectional rotating bezels to help with timing a dive. They usually have screw-down crowns to increase water resistance. Professional models might also have helium release valves to help professional divers using underwater diving bells decompress their watch without damage.

Dive Watch Examples

Watches like the Rolex Submariner, Rolex Sea Dweller, and Omega Seamaster Diver 300M are well known dive watch examples. The titanium Hamilton Khaki Navy Frogman Automatic Dive Watch here on Amazon is a very good example of a solid dive watch.

Dive Watches versus Diver-style Watches

Over the years on this blog, I've evolved into reserving the label "dive watch" for watches that had more than 100-meters of water resistance, rotating bezels, and screw-down crowns. Watches that have the look, but don't deliver the performance features, get the "diver-style" watch label. They can still be beautiful, but I don't want to call them dive watches.

While I love it dearly, my old Pulsar PS9319 (reviewed here on this blog) is just a diver-style watch. Even though it has 100-meters of water resistance, it doesn't have a rotating bezel and it is clearly made for beauty and not SCUBA diving.

If you are realistic about your likelihood of SCUBA diving, you can save lots of money by choosing a diver-style watch over a proper dive watch. But, it's also nice to know that you could go SCUBA  diving anytime if you had the time.

Watch Deal Alert: Timex Men's Southview Quartz Watch at 42% off.

If you are looking for a nice Timex, there are plenty of beautiful watches in the Timex Waterbury Collection, but sometimes Timex offers similar features in their regular watch collections.  For example, the Timex Men's Southview Quartz Watch has lines that are very similar to some of the watches in the Waterbury Collection.  It has a 41mm diameter brass case, a crown with a golden tone, and a nice genuine leather strap. The Roman number font has a simpler modern font and the dial is one color. Where the Waterbury collection embraces traditional and decorative details, this Southview embraces modernity and minimalism.

Timex Men's Southview Quartz Watch

The Timex Southview is a very respectable and functional watch that normally retails for around $70. But, now in August 2025, it's on sale for 42% off! That brings the price down to $40! That's a price from over a decade ago. You can get this price on the Timex Southview for a limited time at --

Timex Southview watch on Amazon!

Watches A to Z: Peugeot Watches

Over the years, I've stumbled across the Peugeot watch company on Amazon several times. I always gave them a passing glance and wondered if they were related to the French Peugeot car company. It turns out that they aren't and their real story is far more interesting. 

Peugeot Men's Rectangular Watch (Amazon Photo)
Get This Peugeot Watch on Amazon

I did a bit of digging into this company. Apparently, it was founded by a watchmaker named Paul Peugeot back in 1957. For 25 years, they made traditional luxury watches with mechanical movements, but having weathered the quartz watch revolution, they pivoted to affordable, quartz, fashion watches. 

Peugeot Men's Non-Rotating Sport Bezel Watch
Get this Peugeot watch here on Amazon

Why? Originally, they made many watches with 18K gold. But, when gold prices rose with inflation and geopolitical issues in the late 70s and early 80s, the watches became unaffordable to lower and middle class markets where they had a strong reputation for quality and good prices.

Today, the Peugeot brand offers a wide variety of watches at affordable price points. The brand also backs their watches with a limited lifetime warranty, free battery replacement for life, and free link removal for resizing.

Peugeot Men's 14K Gold-Plated Moon Phase Dress Watch (Amazon Photo)
Get this Peugeot Watch Here on Amazon

Peugeot offers an interesting mix of watches and draws inspiration from traditional European watch designs. You'll find lots of tanker-style watches, moon-phase watches, and some homages to famous watches. I like this gold-plated homage to the Rolex Datejust. 

Peugeot 14K Gold Plated Luxury Big Face Watch (Amazon Photo)
Get this Peugeot Watch here on Amazon

Some of the other Peugeot watches resemble the Rolex Submariner  and Cartier tankers. At price points under $100, buyers should definitely read the reviews before making a purchase. But, Peugeot offers a good warranty and has some very attractive timepieces.

TGIF: Ten Watch Details That Make You Feel Rich

When it comes to watches, the smallest of details can really make you feel good about your watch purchase. In my years of collecting, I've found that little things can come together to make a timepiece satisfying. Here are ten details that make a watch feel like a luxury and that I am richer for having made the purchase.

1. A Mechanical Movement - When I buy a watch with a mechanical movement, I feel connected to the magic and mechanical wizardry of watches. It doesn't matter if the watch came from Switzerland, the far east, or a workshop in India, if it winds or shakes and ticks, then I feel like I have something special.

My refurbished HMT Pilot is powered by a manually wound movement

 I think a mechanical watch is one of the closest things we have to a magic item in this world today.

2. Well-Designed Bezels - When it comes to watch bezels that bring something to the party that is my watch. If a bezel has diver-style markings, I like the bezel to be rotating with clicks and unidirectional. It's one of the things that separates "real dive watches" from "diver-style watches." If the bezel doesn't rotate, I like when bezel on a dress or sport watch has some design features like a coin-edge or an engraved design.

3. Fancy Hands - I like when there is something a little special about the hands of a watch. For example, I like the W-shaped design of the back part of the second hand on my Timex Waterbury watches. It looks like craftsmanship. Similarly, if the watch is a tool watch, it's nice to see some lume on the hands so that the watch can be read in the dark.

This Timex Waterbury Standard Watch has a great bezel

4. Stainless Steel Cases - A stainless steel case feels substantial. It has weight and substance. It's real metal. Titanium feels real, too. Cases made from lesser base metals like brass, copper, tin, or zinc or from various plastics and resins just don't feel as luxurious. They also may not last as long. I've got plenty of inexpensive watches with base metal cases, but stainless steel or titanium just feel like richer materials and better purchases.

5. Working Subdials - I blow hot and cold with subdials. I can barely read them even with reading glasses. But, when subdials don't work, a watch can feel like a mere facade of a watch. I wish companies that use non-functional subdials would replace them with other design elements like shields or sailing ships or compass roses or meaningful logos.

The Invicta Sub Aqua Noma III 

6. Engraved Casebacks - An engraved caseback is a way for a company to share heritage and communicate watch capabilities with the watch wearer.

The Engraved Caseback of a Timex Waterbury Watch

I like an engraved caseback much more than a plain one. Some engraved casebacks are practically works of fine art. I like having art. Art enriches the soul.

The Engraved Caseback of an Invicta Sub Aqua Noma III

7. Engraved Buckles - If you have a watch with an engrave buckle (usually with the name or logo of the watchmaker), you feel like you are getting something that isn't generic. You feel like the watch company invested a little more in the design and detail of your watch.

The Engraved Buckle of the Sub Aqua Noma III

8. Crowns with Designs - A crown with a design engraved in it or a jewel embedded in it, feels a little more finished and a little more polished, than a plain generic crown.

The Engraved Crown of my Timex Waterbury

9. Genuine Leather Straps - In this synthetic world, it's nice to have something genuine.

The Leather Strap of my Timex Waterbury

10. Improved Dials - A dial design with interesting materials or a textured surface or a sunray dial is more interesting than a plain dial.

The sunburst dial of my Caribbean Joe watch

I may not want to have each and every one of these elements incorporated into one watch, but when a design incorporates several of these features, my purchase makes me feel pretty rich.

If you are looking for a watch that brings many of these details together, check out the Timex Waterbury Men's Standard 3 Hand Quartz Watch (above) with a Silver-Tone on Silver-Tone case and dial and a brown leather strap.  It's a real bargain at less than $60. You can get this Timex here on Amazon.

Art Watches - Swatch Unisex Casual Bioceramic Watch Black Art Journey Leger's Two Women Holding Flowers

If you are an artist or art enthusiast, you might really like the art watch collection from Swatch. These watches are quite different from what we normally see. As unusual watches, they might be great additions to any watch collection. Best of all, they are attainably priced. The watch below is a Swatch Bioceramic Watch from their Black Art Journey collection and it incorporates elements of a 1954 painting by Fernand Léger titled Two Women Holding Flowers.

Swatch Bioceramic Watch Black Art Journey - Leger's Two Women Holding Flowers (Amazon Photo)

This watch is 41mm in diameter and is 9.85mm thick. It has 100 meters of water resistance.  The case is made from bioceramic material which is 2/3 zirconium oxide and 1/3 bio-sourced plastic made from castor oil. It has a durable, scratch resistant finish, and is lightweight for comfortable daily wear. If you are interested in taking a closer look, check out this Swatch Black Art Journey watch here on Amazon.