Big Block: Bulova quartz solid state

[simone]

Is this a cheapo module?

[azimuth_pl]

Swiss made :)
example from real life....you order a product in China worth 1$, it arrives to Europe....you add local handling and packaging for 2$.
end product = Made in Europe.

[dutchsiberia]

My Nepro has exactly the same module :) (I like your watch more)

[simone]

[quote="dutchsiberia"]My Nepro has exactly the same module :) (I like your watch more)



Incredible...is the same....well we have a low cost watch dutchsiberia....
Anyway i love this bulova too....

[767Geoff]

Depending on the country, the code 'made in xxxxxxxx' can be misleading. For example Bulova chronographs were in competition with Omega for NASA as the recognized official excursion watch.

Bulova's complaint (General Omar Bradley was the CEO at the time) was that NASA should buy USA and not foreign watches. Turns out the "USA sold" Omega speedmasters, labelled 'Swiss Made' were timed, assembled and cased in the USA. The 'value' of the watch was calculated to be 55% USA and 45% Swiss. To Bulova's chagrine, when the same math was applied to their Valjoux powered chronograph it failed the test and was more 'Swiss' then

So you can see the terms "Swiss made" or "made itn he USA" can be fuzzy at best.

Cheers, Geoff

[peachykeen]

Is this a cheapo module?

I wouldn't say so. After all it lasted 35 years, perhaps more than that, so it must have been made to fulfill some quality demands. I'm still curious whether it's MSA made or MSA licensed but made in Hong Kong. Anyways... the watch is very nice and if you like it and it works, why bother if it has a cheap-and-nasty Hong Kong module or some not-so-cheap but still nasty Swiss one? My favorite Ibico watch for example claims "Ibico of Switzerland" on the face but runs with a Hong Kong clone of some Hughes Aircraft movement. Doesn't prevent me from wearing it a lot.

[peachykeen]

My Nepro has exactly the same module :)

What does it say below the LCD? I mean... on the module, not on the face.

[charger105]

Interestingly the first one has the trimmer accessed from the battery side.
The 2nd (Nepro one) has it accessed from the LCD side. Otherwise they look very similar.

A general rule of thumb I use is if it's got a trimmer, then it's at least reasonable quality.
Rgds.

[azimuth_pl]

The module has a Swiss Made stamp in the plastic.

There is no general rule for the quality of Chinese products.
In the 70's Hong Kong was a different world than Inland China today and there were many quality items made.
full production lines were moved to Asia to reduce costs.
so you will never know if your 2000$ watch is by any chance not made in China...but rephrased later on to be "Swiss Made".
who would expect that the Zenith Futur LED modules were made in Korea by AMI?
I doubt that anybody would buy a high-end Zenith if it was branded Made in Korea ;)
still the quality was high so no issue.

[simone]

The module has a Swiss Made stamp in the plastic.

There is no general rule for the quality of Chinese products.
In the 70's Hong Kong was a different world than Inland China today and there were many quality items made.
full production lines were moved to Asia to reduce costs.
so you will never know if your 2000$ watch is by any chance not made in China...but rephrased later on to be "Swiss Made".
who would expect that the Zenith Futur LED modules were made in Korea by AMI?
I doubt that anybody would buy a high-end Zenith if it was branded Made in Korea ;)
still the quality was high so no issue.

Ok,now i'm quiet....

[dutchsiberia]

My Nepro has exactly the same module :)

What does it say below the LCD? I mean... on the module, not on the face.

87 swiss made.
I can't find the photo's but on the edge of the lcd is "BBC" engraved.

[peachykeen]

My Nepro has exactly the same module :)

What does it say below the LCD? I mean... on the module, not on the face.

87 swiss made.
I can't find the photo's but on the edge of the lcd is "BBC" engraved.

Then it's for sure a genuine MSA module. BBC is "Brown, Boveri & Cie.", the company who manufactured the LCD panels for MSA.

[quietman]

I've seen these unbranded ones a lot, even in "swiss made" LCDs, particularly in Nepro watches. Whether these modules were made by MSA or whether they sourced out or licensed production to some Hong Kong based company I don't know. I wonder if someone of the 7 people who are still left in the company knows something about it, but I doubt so. They've long gone out of the LCD business: http://www.soc-metrologie-msa.ch/

I read somewhere that MSA was actually set up (and presumably controlled) by Nepro to develop and make LC Movements for themselves and OEMs - presumably after they were let down by Microma. So its unlikely that the Nepro watches have MSA clones in them. More likely they just cost cut their own MSA module when they switched on volume production.