History behind the Rubaiyat and Marine Star watches?

Submitted by bulovaboy on April 23, 2020 - 12:23pm

I own a Bulova Marine Star and I purchased a Rubaiyat for my mother. I've looked online but can't find too much info about both lines of watches.

Anyone have any history on where they started? Especially Rubaiyat as they likely have a much longer lineage and history than the marine star line.

mybulova_admin
Posted April 24, 2020 - 10:08pm

From what I've seen there is a possibility that the Bulova Marine Star goes back to the 1970s, but we mainly see them from the 80's onwards.

The Rubaiyat however is a totally different story, with it going back to 1916 and is part of the first line of watches sold by Bulova.

Here is probably one of their oldest Rubaiyat watches (note the red 12) and a watch I own, and is currently on display in the Bulova museum in New York.

https://mybulova.com/watches/1917-rubaiyat-8041

As the Marine Star is mainly post 1980 we haven't had much discussion about it, but on the other hand there is plenty of discussion on site about the original Rubaiyat series, which included ladies wrist watches and mens pocket watches.

https://mybulova.com/bulova-models?model=1355

Andersok
Posted April 25, 2020 - 6:51am

I've always been a fan of the Marine Star line, and my own inquiries of searching advertisements has shown me that this line started around 1986, at least that is the earliest ad I could find. I have this 1986 (P6 dated) model, and a 1999 (T9) model.

1986 - 91C14

AndersoK_MarineStar91C14

1999 - 96B30

AndersoK_MarineStar96B30

JimDon5822
Posted April 25, 2020 - 9:17am

Now I was fine collecting pre 1980 Bulova's then you HAD to put these on here.   Thanks a lot!

bulovaboy
Posted April 26, 2020 - 1:12pm

Wow! Thanks for the information guys. I own 4x Bulova's, although mine are not vintage. I purchased 2 for my mum. I have the Moonview, Spaceview, Curv and a Marine Star (98A225). Although my Marine Star is much newer, it looks like the 1999 model in a sense. Nice to see that the designs do look somewhat similar over the ages.