Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
Sold to me as "new in the box." With a big crack right on the front, and the wrong box!
Well, it was years before I realized this was the wrong box. It says Bulova on it, and the model is the Alert-Mk II, which I suppose they mean for me to pronounce as alert-mark-2. But THIS, I found out later, is the Alert Mk II, the radio model that's supposed to go in this box. It's also a watch-radio, but one designed especially for the traveller. It folds open and closed for taking from place to place. But the radio I got in this box is this shirt-pocket model, the Alert-Mk I. All this would have been much easier to figure out if Bulova had cared to indicate the name, or the model number, on either of the radios somewhere, even on the inside. But no.
Bulova wasn't always so cagey with their model numbers. When they were selling radios made in the US, such as this model 250, the number was plainly marked inside the radio. It's when they started outsourcing their radio production to the far east that their model numbers got vague, as with this Jupiter model, which they refer to as the '690 Series.'
On the back it says "6-transistor, Made under Bulova engineering supervision in Japan." It's not certain just who the lucky Japanese company was that had Bulova "engineers" strutting around their factory, "supervising." But I'd say that that honor probably either went to NEC or to Matsushita, maker of the Panasonic and National brands. The easel stand on the back is helpful for setting this little radio up on your nightstand so you can easily swat it away when morning comes too soon and the alarm goes off. This, I'm going to guess, is how that big crack got here on the clear window over the dial. A dark and cold morning, perhaps following a late night, and this presumptuous little noisemaker springs to life.. oh, it's not a pretty sight. And how is this little watch-radio supposed to work? Well, the switch on the top has three positions. Off and On, for normal use of the radio, and Auto for setting the alarm. And don't forget to wind it.
A radio with a watch in it was a natural for a watch company and that IS what Bulova was primarily. Since they were a watchmaker, you'd naturally assume that the watch in this radio would be made by Bulova, even if the radio wasn't. But no, it's a Citizen watch.
A transistor radio with a watch built into it was uncommon, but not unique to Bulova. We saw watch radios from other brands back in the transistor radio's golden age and we've looked at a couple of those on this channel already. We've looked at one of Sony's entries into the field, this TRW-621 model from 1960. And we looked at a couple of Truetones, horizontal models sold through Western Auto stores.
It's a thin, very nice carrying case on this Bulova, perhaps pigskin. As with all Bulova radios, this one was sold primarily in jewelry stores, where everything around it was all glittery and expensive, so it needed to look like it belonged. And it did.
What happened to Bulova? I mentioned the watch in this radio was not a Bulova, but was made by the Japanese watchmaker Citizen. Just as this watch is a Citizen, so since 2008 is Bulova, having been acquired in that year by Citizen.
Just to be as clear as I can, the folding Alert-Mk II is in what Bulova calls the "840 series." The shirt-pocket size Alert-Mk I is in the "830 series." If this sounds to you to be gratuitously.. unnecessarily.. confusing, well, then.. we agree.
Sold to me as "new in the box." With a big crack right on the front, and the wrong box!
Well, it was years before I realized this was the wrong box. It says Bulova on it, and the model is the Alert-Mk II, which I suppose they mean for me to pronounce as alert-mark-2. But THIS, I found out later, is the Alert Mk II, the radio model that's supposed to go in this box. It's also a watch-radio, but one designed especially for the traveller. It folds open and closed for taking from place to place. But the radio I got in this box is this shirt-pocket model, the Alert-Mk I. All this would have been much easier to figure out if Bulova had cared to indicate the name, or the model number, on either of the radios somewhere, even on the inside. But no.
Bulova wasn't always so cagey with their model numbers. When they were selling radios made in the US, such as this model 250, the number was plainly marked inside the radio. It's when they started outsourcing their radio production to the far east that their model numbers got vague, as with this Jupiter model, which they refer to as the '690 Series.'
On the back it says "6-transistor, Made under Bulova engineering supervision in Japan." It's not certain just who the lucky Japanese company was that had Bulova "engineers" strutting around their factory, "supervising." But I'd say that that honor probably either went to NEC or to Matsushita, maker of the Panasonic and National brands. The easel stand on the back is helpful for setting this little radio up on your nightstand so you can easily swat it away when morning comes too soon and the alarm goes off. This, I'm going to guess, is how that big crack got here on the clear window over the dial. A dark and cold morning, perhaps following a late night, and this presumptuous little noisemaker springs to life.. oh, it's not a pretty sight. And how is this little watch-radio supposed to work? Well, the switch on the top has three positions. Off and On, for normal use of the radio, and Auto for setting the alarm. And don't forget to wind it.
A radio with a watch in it was a natural for a watch company and that IS what Bulova was primarily. Since they were a watchmaker, you'd naturally assume that the watch in this radio would be made by Bulova, even if the radio wasn't. But no, it's a Citizen watch.
A transistor radio with a watch built into it was uncommon, but not unique to Bulova. We saw watch radios from other brands back in the transistor radio's golden age and we've looked at a couple of those on this channel already. We've looked at one of Sony's entries into the field, this TRW-621 model from 1960. And we looked at a couple of Truetones, horizontal models sold through Western Auto stores.
It's a thin, very nice carrying case on this Bulova, perhaps pigskin. As with all Bulova radios, this one was sold primarily in jewelry stores, where everything around it was all glittery and expensive, so it needed to look like it belonged. And it did.
What happened to Bulova? I mentioned the watch in this radio was not a Bulova, but was made by the Japanese watchmaker Citizen. Just as this watch is a Citizen, so since 2008 is Bulova, having been acquired in that year by Citizen.
Just to be as clear as I can, the folding Alert-Mk II is in what Bulova calls the "840 series." The shirt-pocket size Alert-Mk I is in the "830 series." If this sounds to you to be gratuitously.. unnecessarily.. confusing, well, then.. we agree.
