Super Seville 96B444 Bulova's 1970s TV-case revival in plain steel

What is new about the Super Seville 96B444?

The Super Seville is a revival. The original was a 1970s Bulova day-date with a fluted bezel and a three-row bracelet, sold in both round and square cases. Bulova has brought back the square version, which it describes as a retro TV-shaped case, and dropped the day window to leave a cleaner dial with just a date at three o'clock.

Bulova's own product data gives the model an introduction date of 24 June 2024, and Mr Stateless covered the launch on 20 June 2024, when the first versions arrived with green and blue dials and a gold-tone model with a white dial. The 96B444 is the plainer steel option: a silver-tone case and bracelet with a vertically brushed silver-white dial, polished hands and applied indices. It is the quietest Super Seville, and the easiest to wear with a suit.

How big is it, and how will it wear?

Bulova lists the case at 37.5 mm wide, 42.5 mm from lug to lug and 10.33 mm thick. Those are modest numbers. A cushion or TV-shaped case tends to look larger than a round case of the same width, because the corners fill more of the wrist, so 37.5 mm here wears closer to a 39 mm round watch.

The integrated bracelet matters more than the case. The case flows straight into a tapering three-link bracelet with polished centre links, and Bulova quotes the bracelet width at the case as 26 mm. That gives the watch a broad, flat look on the wrist, closer to a 1970s sports-chic piece than a slim leather-strapped dress watch. It closes with a push-button deployant clasp. Because the bracelet is integrated, you cannot easily swap it for a leather strap, so buy it only if you like it on steel.

What movement does it use, and how accurate is it?

Inside is Bulova's Precisionist quartz, calibre NM10 in Bulova's data. Where a normal quartz watch runs at 32 kHz, Precisionist runs at 262 kHz, and Bulova says it is accurate to seconds per year with better resistance to temperature changes. The higher frequency also drives a smooth sweeping seconds hand rather than the one-second tick of ordinary quartz, which suits a dressy dial.

The trade-off is that this is still a battery watch. If you want a mechanical movement to look at through a caseback, the Super Seville has a solid back and none to show. If you want a watch that is always right and needs nothing but a battery every few years, it is hard to beat at this price.

How well is it built?

The specification is sound. The crystal is flat sapphire with an anti-reflective coating and a magnifier over the date, which is a nice period detail. The bezel has a grooved coin edge rather than the full flutes of the original, and the hands and markers are luminous. Bulova's data shows a Japanese movement with assembly in China, which is normal for the brand at this level.

Water resistance is the weak point. Bulova's UK page lists it only as splash resistant, while its data gives 30 m. Either way, this is not a watch to swim in: treat it as fine for rain and hand washing and nothing more.

Is it good value against its rivals?

The RRP on Bulova's UK site is £479. The obvious rival is Tissot's PRX, the watch that made integrated steel bracelets fashionable again. The quartz PRX 40 mm (T137.410.11.041.00) is £335 on Tissot's UK site, with sapphire and 100 m of water resistance. It is cheaper and more practical, but it uses an ordinary ticking quartz movement and a round case.

Inside our own coverage, the Tissot Ballade 34mm is a closer match for dressier tastes at £365, though it is a smaller, more traditional watch. The Bulova sits between them: more distinctive in shape than the PRX, more accurate and smoother running thanks to the Precisionist movement, but dearer and much less water resistant. Value depends on how much you want the 1970s case shape and the sweeping seconds hand.

What is the catch?

There are three. First, water resistance: splash resistant is low for a steel watch on a bracelet at £479. Second, the bracelet is integrated, so the look is fixed, and if steel does not suit you there is no simple strap change. Third, feedback is thin. We found no owner forums or long-term reviews of the 96B444 that we could cite, so how the brushed bracelet finish holds up over years is not yet known.

If none of those bothers you, the Super Seville offers something few watches at this price do: a genuinely period-correct 1970s shape with a movement far more accurate than the original ever was.

“A genuinely 1970s shape with a movement far more accurate than the original ever was.”