Buler Grand Prix watch - Andrew Noakes - Motoring Writer

Came from Germany via an eBay auction auction which attracted remarkably little interest, I suspect because the photo was blurry and the description sparse.

The result, for me, was a bargain. The postage cost more than my bid on the watch - and gave me an attractive Swiss mechanical watch for less than the price of a cheap modern quartz affair.

On receipt the Buler would tick for a couple of seconds then stop, and I expected a service would be needed before it would run properly. But I wore it for a day to see how long it would run, and noticed that it would start up again with a little shake. By then end of the day it was running strongly, and hasn't missed a beat since.

This 1970s watch was one of the first with a plastic case. The material is a black glass fibre reinforced plastic which is identified on the caseback as 'Noryl'.

I've had a couple of emails about the Buler. One suggested that its styling was based on a Porsche design watch and that it was removed from sale when Porsche objected... Tonatiuh in Mexico emailed to say he had a similar watch, but with the name 'San Marino' instead of 'Grand Prix'.

I'd still be interested to find out more about the Buler, and about the 1970s Cimier 'Hot Driver' watch I've seen which looks almost identical.

2017 Update: The Buler ran well for several years and I wore it a lot, but has since stopped running and needs some attention.

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