Where do the watches get their names

Bulova have produced a few books over the last few years with a focus on the companies history, but nothing that really looks into the watches themselves, more the impacts the company has made over the last 100 years on various fronts. Bulova made it a practice from the outset of selling watches in the early 1920s to associate many of their watches with certain famous people or events of the time, and particular positions that someone of note might hold, examples include; Banker, Treasurer, Ambassador, Senator, President etc. There is no history to my knowledge that explains how they came up with their names and quite often names were recycled from decade to decade.

I personally believe it's what helped set Bulova apart from many other manufactures that just used reference numbers for their watches. It's something Bulova utilised well to help boost sales. Sinse starting myBulova.com, we have cataloged over 450 model names that Bulova used sinse the early 1920s, and that's not including the vast number of model variations and those that just have a model number.

It's a great question, but one with no simple answer.

I do know that their marketing departments had a big job to name so many watches each model year.    It should be noted that they not only had to name all Bulova watches but had to come up with names for the Caravelle line as well as Westfield.  They also all probably had to clear copyrights so they did not duplicate the names of other watch companies used complicating this even further.   I think the gaol was to create an image or aura around a watch based on its purpose or style.  Such as using "classy" names for higher end dress watches while using "lifestyle" names for tool watches like Snorkel, Sea King etc.   Some watch names were tied to certain events.   For example:  Mercury, Gemini, Astronaut etc for the space program.    Another great example is the name Perisphere which was named after the perisphere structure at the 1933 NY World's Fair.  Many ladies watches just used ladies first names of the day but some were named after real people like the Corrigan, Empress Eugenie and others in the Empress series.   Some locations were used like Lexington, Cambridge, Providence, Park Lane, Tuxedo, Palm Beach etc which were historical, popular vacation spots, or location of Bulova offices. Some were made up by their marketing departments like Computron or Accutron.  Needless to say at some point they were probably grabbing for straws to find names and just pulled names out of a book.  

I do know that their marketing departments had a big job to name so many watches each model year.    It should be noted that they not only had to name all Bulova watches but had to come up with names for the Caravelle line as well as Westfield.  They also all probably had to clear copyrights so they did not duplicate the names of other watch companies used complicating this even further.   I think the gaol was to create an image or aura around a watch based on its purpose or style.  Such as using "classy" names for higher end dress watches while using "lifestyle" names for tool watches like Snorkel, Sea King etc.   Some watch names were tied to certain events.   For example:  Mercury, Gemini, Astronaut etc for the space program.    Another great example is the name Perisphere which was named after the perisphere structure at the 1933 NY World's Fair.  Many ladies watches just used ladies first names of the day but some were named after real people like the Corrigan, Empress Eugenie and others in the Empress series.   Some locations were used like Lexington, Cambridge, Providence, Park Lane, Tuxedo, Palm Beach etc which were historical, popular vacation spots, or location of Bulova offices. Some were made up by their marketing departments like Computron or Accutron.  Needless to say at some point they were probably grabbing for straws to find names and just pulled names out of a book.