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!