SuperRare Beta21 Driver: Bulova AlienHead, Heavy

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WHY WE LOVE IT? It is the heaviest Beta21, it is the rarest Beta21 and it is the quirkiest Beta21 -- ah, and it is a Beta21, the first Swiss Quartz, 1970.

Yes, heavy with more than 250g all solid 18K yellowgold. The case and the below-case folding clasp with the integrated Milanaise bracelet -- made by the star of the scene Jean-Pierre Ecoffey for Bulova. The flawless two-tone face of the watch bows to the wearer like a driver-watch, and it does so because of its alien-head-like curved shape.

It is a unique watch in many aspects: with its weight we can expect that most of these were smelted in the last 50+ years. We know of two others, but not in such unpolished condition and not with the characteristic folding-clasp and both without the original bracelet as well. Interestingly the battery-compartment is visible on the case-back and there is a whole crafted in the folding-clasp for it. The milanaise-bracelet is removable, so the watch could be worn with a custom-made leather strap -- green ostrich for now, but there are endless options -- and the click, when the below-case clasp closes tight, is just amazing.

Its setting-crown is placed on the left side of the case -- because otherwise the dial would bend away from the wearer. A strange design-mistake by the engineers of the first swiss quartz-movement.

Another interesting horological aspect: it is the first quartz-watch (1970, Bulova-code N0) from the brand that invented the first electronic (!not electric) watch ten years before -- the Bulova Accutron (1961) -- and it is one in a line that shows the progress of miniaturisation with the AccuQuartz becoming smaller in 1972.

The watch is unpolished, the caliber Beta21 serviced and guaranteed, the crystal and dial flawless and the clasp closing tight and secure and the bracelet without defects or warp. And guaranteed original, of course as well.