I've got a handful of tourbillon open heart / skeleton watches and this one is the most handsome and interesting looking by far. It gets plenty of glances when I wear it in public. I'm not sure what the deal is with sizing issues others have had in regards to the first link attached to the case extending over their wrists, because it wraps around my wrist nicely and I'm an average sized guy. My singular disappointment with it, which isn't a big deal for me though, is that it gains about 5 seconds per day (it runs fast). I'd say that nothing but a quartz / battery powered watch is going to be ultra accurate, but over the course of about two weeks you might feel like adjusting this one by one minute to stay precise. The piece is worth every penny on a sale! I'll likely be buying another open heart Bulova in the near future. I have a nice macro product shot I took of this watch but the review submission form doesn't seem to allow me to attach it. Perhaps another time, so to speak.
Very nice looking watch. I expected better accuracy though. It gains about 15 seconds per day. I was expecting ±10s max per day. The glow isn't great, have to charge it directly under a light source for it glow well, my Citizen does better there. The butterfly clasp isn't super comfortable, since it sticks up into the wrist, but it's ok if it's not too tight. I still really like the watch, but it could be improved.
I bought this watch without any regard to its size. While awaiting delivery I went watch detail crazy and learned a lot and became worried when I read the 46mm size was inaccurate because of the fixed links to the dial. It is not as big as an issue for me since my wrist width is 55mm but for those with more petite wrists it may be an issue. So measure those wrists. It keeps time perfectly. No stutter when fully wound and works as intended and is a beautiful watch. I wish there was a manual in the box or website that explained how to use the crown properly and what to expect when fully wound, like different clicking or disengagement or hard resistance in the crowns movement. Very happy with bulova, very happy with my purchase.
Overall, a very good mechanical watch with some good features, but it's definitely larger than it should be. I was initially attracted to this watch because of the chamfers and angular case design which reminded me of Grand Seiko's angular cases, but I think this Bulova Maquina case actually looks a little sleeker than theirs. I was also impressed by the features that it has, namely the rated 100mm water resistance and sapphire glass. Aesthetically, I love this watch. Maquina of course means machine, and every part of this watches design comes off relating to the word. The overall sharp and angular design of the case makes it really stand out among most other watches and gives a sort of sci-fi inspired look to it. A small detail that I didn't notice until I saw it in person is that each link on the bracelet actually has small chamfers cut into the top and sides of the central piece, with those chamfers being mirror polished to contrast with the satin finish of the rest of the bracelet. The face of the watch is also a joy to look at. When viewed from an angle, there is actually quite a bit of depth to the face. The visible mechanical movement is fun to watch and unlike some other skeleton watches, doesn't make the watch hard to read (and it of course strongly ties back into the machine aesthetic). The gold in the dial nicely contrasts the black and makes it easy to read without having so much gold that it seems tacky. Then the red seconds hand nicely contrasts against both the black dial rim and the gold hour markers and makes it easy to read the seconds. But it's not a perfect watch. The biggest problem is that is is very big. 46mm is too wide for a lot of people, but the biggest size issue is that because the first bracelet link on each side is inflexible, the effective length of the case is over 60mm, which is massive. The 8N26 mechanical movement that the watch uses isn't terrible and it did come well adjusted and regulated, but it's definitely not the best movement. It's not a hacking movement, so the time cannot be precisely set and it is an indirect drive movement, so the seconds hand can stop and stutter, which doesn't affect timekeeping but is unpleasant to look at.
