Fashion & Accessories 1980
Caravelle by Bulova
Is this the year they graduate from a Timex to a Caravelle?
FROM THE PRINTED PAGEOriginal ad copy
OCR transcription from the archived page. Scanning and reading-order errors may remain.
IS THIS THE YEAR THEY GRADUATE FROM A TIMEX TO A CARAVELLE? A lot of kids get a Timex watch in grade school. So when they graduate from high school or college, why not give them something more special? Like a Caravelle by Bulova. A Caravelle costs a little more than Timex, but it's worth it. It's a fine timepiece with a precision 17 jewel movement; and it's backed by Bulova's 100 year tradition of fine watch making. Most importantly, a Caravelle is a watch that people prefer to receive as a gift over a Timex. Independent research has proven that. This year, when your graduate steps down from that podium, he or she will be well on the way to becoming an adult. Give them a watch that proves it. Model Shown #42570 Automatic, Day and Date, Suggested Retail Price $69.95. CARAVELLE BY BULOVA
Commentary
The watch enters the picture before the argument does. Two adults shake hands, one holds a rolled diploma, and a Caravelle sits squarely on the wrist between them. It is a graduation scene, but the face and wearer are largely absent. The object is the social signal. The headline makes “graduate” do double duty: a student leaves school while a gift leaves Timex behind.
The body copy is unusually candid about the competitor. Timex is the watch “a lot of kids get” in grade school; Caravelle “costs a little more.” The pitch depends on a hierarchy the reader is expected to recognize, then tries to justify the step with a 17-jewel movement, Bulova’s tradition, and a claimed gift-preference study. The scan provides no details about that research, so it remains an advertiser claim. The suggested $69.95 price makes the upgrade concrete. It also makes the gift decision feel like a manageable act of recognition rather than a leap into luxury.
I read the ad as much as advice to the giver as to the graduate. “Give them a watch that proves it” turns adulthood into something another person can acknowledge. Today, a graduation gift might be a device whose software changes quickly; this mechanical watch offered a more durable marker of arrival. The photograph’s formal handshake and diploma make that assumption visible.
For a new copywriter, the headline shows how a single verb can join occasion and product comparison. “Graduate from a Timex to a Caravelle” needs no long explanation because the photograph supplies the ceremony. The short standalone sentence, “Like a Caravelle by Bulova,” then names the proposed answer after the question has made it desirable. The device works because the metaphor is supported by the exact moment pictured.
Bulova’s current site describes Caravelle as a watch line dating from 1962, and still offers it today. The ad’s appeal rests on that relationship: a watch positioned above a familiar school-age gift while retaining an accessible price.
The wish to mark a threshold with a lasting gift survives. The implied ranking of brands, the formal rite in the photograph, and the unsupported research claim belong to this execution; a modern version would have to earn those comparisons in a different way.