So here I am with my third Bulova Sea King UHF 262khz. My Dad had one in the 70’s, and I wanted one like his, I just loved that little Whale on the dial. Sadly it looked tiny on my elephant trunk wrist! So I decided to do a bit of research on what larger Sea Kings might exist. I found the current type of Bulova Sea King on eBay and settled on a Steel, regular dial version. I bought a pre-owned near new one. I didn’t realise just how big it was! It has a 48mm case, but it looks like 58mm when you open the box! I didn’t like it, and put it up for sale. In the meantime, I had a short vacation planned and decided to take it with me to Orange Beach, Alabama. It is a very water resistant watch, rated at a decent 300m. So I wore it on my daily trips to the beach, and for general poolside laziness. The thing is…it grew on me. I never took it off, even though I’d brought 4 other watches with me, I enjoyed the Sea King daily.

The smooth 262hz UHF movement is mesmerising to look at (or maybe it was the Margaritas?), the nice soft strap cleans up easily, and it looked awesome on the 26mm leather NATO I’d brought with me. And after days out in the Sun, the lume glows brightly. So I’m sure that’s very useful for scuba diving. The only thing I didn’t like, was the rubber divers strap, which has a chunk at the end. A safety feature that stops it from being pulled off your wrist, but also makes it difficult to put it on and take it off. We aren’t all divers after all, right? However we watch people, usually fix strap issues ourselves, with the vast array of straps available these days.

I sold my Bulova Sea King UHF 262khz, regretted it, and broke down and bought another. Definitely my vacation piece. It’s a chunk of a watch, but I like it. A bit rough around the edges, but that gives it some character! But then at this price point, it’s good value for money and a great alternative to a Seiko.