The VWI Watchmaking School Is Now a Bulova Service Center

New York—Bulova has expanded its partnership with the Veterans Watchmaker Initiative, announcing the initiative’s school as the newest authorized service center for the brand.

Opened in September 2017 through the vision of retired Baltimore police officer and Swiss-trained master watchmaker Sam Cannan, the VWI school in Odessa, Delaware teaches disabled veterans watchmaking skills for free.

Cannan designed the school to mirror the one Bulova opened in 1945 with the same mission. That school closed in the late 1990s.

The watch brand has supported the new school since its opening three years ago.

Now, Bulova has donated tools, machinery, spare parts, watches and more so VWI can properly service and repair all its timepieces.

It is also launching a new special edition VWI hack watch inspired by the 3818-A military model, which was produced in the 1950s and 1960s for the Air Force, Army and Navy.

The watch contains a Miyota 82S0 automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve, a domed mineral crystal to showcase its super-luminous hands and markers, and the VWI logo painted on a glass insert on the screw case back.

The 38 mm watch is priced at $395. A portion of all sales from the timepiece will go to the VWI school.

Other initiatives overseen by Bulova since VWI opened included hosting the first graduating class at its headquarters in the Empire State Building in 2019 and a GoFundMe launched that same year—in which the brand matched all donations—to help raise funds for a new campus on four acres of donated land.

“The Veterans Watchmaker Initiative is a program that Bulova holds near and dear to our hearts,” said Michael Benavente, U.S. managing director at Bulova.

“The school draws inspiration from the 1945 Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking that began to support disabled veterans. We are thrilled to pay homage to our partnership through the unveiling of this new timepiece and with the expansion of our relationship with VWI as an official Bulova authorized service center.”