Does anyone know who the manufacturer(s) were for the early Bulova transistor radios. I know it wasn't Sony but I don't know who it was.

Thank you
Ron

Sorry I can't help you out re the manufacturer but I will say that I'm a big Bulova fan and I think they are undervalued and underrated radios!

They are beautiful, well crafted and made to last! In their day they were aimed at the high end market being sold exclusively in jewelery stores. They also have very classy stylish magazine ads which are still available on Ebay. I recently received a Bulova Hercules with the diamond cut grill. I paid about $10 on Ebay for this immaculate radio. It cleaned up exceptionally well and sounds great! I'm glad they are not so popular, it certainly makes for some great deals!

Cheers

-james-

I really don't know squat about a lot of transistor radios, but I have always been under the impression that the early Bulova transistorized sets were made right here in the U.S. by a division of the same company that made watches. Please correct me if I am wrong, because I have been under this impression for many years.

I know they were very expensive as compared to most other similiar sets, but in my opinion, they were the top of the line. I know when I was growing up, there were people who had transistor radios, and there were prople who had Bulova sets. And the latter usually drove Cadillacs and the former drove Chevy and Fords.
Curt

Bulova had several manafacturers in the US and Japan make their radios for them. National (Panasonic) was one Japanese company that made radios for them and Regency US used their TR1 chassis in a clone with the Bulova name on it.

I had two Bulovas growing up as a teen. My dad got them from Wilkens Jewelry on Liberty Street downtown Pittsburgh. One dark case, one lighter. The grills were hard plastic but seemed to gleam like polished crystal. The only drawbacks were that they ran on 9V batteries, and the case snap closed in back, and the leather in time weakened so the snap flap could / did break off.

I felt rich just holding them, playing them. Used to listen in the evening to Ed and Wendy King on KDKA

Of course the Bulova 250 (a TR-1 clone) was made by Regency. Some of their other late 50's radios sure look like they were made by Sylvania.....? I also believe that when production of Bulova radios moved to Japan it was Matsushita who made them.

I have a small Bulova that has NEC on the chassis, guessing it's early 60s...

Tom

Is that NEC-made Bulova this one?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/transistor ... 167211509/

and here's a Bulova that I'm pretty sure was made by Matsushita

http://www.flickr.com/photos/transistor ... 150130484/

So it seems that Bulova solid state radios were made by MANY companies.

Hi Michael

Mine is similar but not as fancy as yours, seems to have had a tough life(actually looks better in person)... Model sticker is missing from inside, so I don't know the actual model number...

BTW you have some outstanding examples in your collection... I enjoyed the presentation... I have a few really nice ones, one day I need to shoot some pictures...

http://members.cox.net/35z5/bulova.jpg

Tom

Bulova made good stuff. The crystal ovens in Tektronix time-mark generators and some HP stuff were made by Bulova. In fact, I have been looking for years for another 115/230 volt Bulova crystal oven for a Tektronix time mark generator. It was well made, but still managed to burn itself up...

-Matthew D'Asaro

I need help, I have a Bulova series 1570 and I cant seem to find any info on it, does anybody know anything about this model?

Can't help with a positive identification on the maker of a couple Bulova Japan made "watch radios" (Model 830) I have, but all transistors are marked "Matsushita".

To follow up on earlier comments on the watch movement used, The Japanese "Citizen" movement is a tamed down version of their 17 jewel wrist watch movement. Presumably as a cost saving measure, 10 of the jewels are "missing" in the radio watches (they just use the brass plates without bushings).
Until recently, I understood that Citizen was a competitor to Bulova, but they made parts in Japan for Bulova, starting in 1960. Citizen is the newest owner of Bulova (March, 2008)?
Haggis.