In the opening months of 1941, Jimmy Stewart moved between two worlds that could hardly have been further apart. In February, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story. The following month, he entered the U.S. Army as a private. Before long, one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men had become a military pilot with the U.S. Army Air Corps, embarking on a second career that would eventually take him over occupied Europe at the controls of a B-24 Liberator.

Brig. Gen. James M. Stewart, USAF Reserve (Image: U.S. Air Force)

A small object connects those worlds in JIMMY, the forthcoming major motion picture about Stewart’s transformation from screen star to combat aviator and his return to Hollywood. Original period watches from Bulova’s museum were loaned to the production and worn on screen. One of them, the A-11 Hack Watch, has now inspired the Bulova A-11 JIMMY, a modern interpretation of the wartime original.

Bulova A-11 “Jimmy”

A Watch Built for War

Bulova was one of the principal American manufacturers, alongside Elgin and Waltham, that produced watches to the A-11 standard during World War II. Surviving examples vary in their finer details, but the specification created a recognizable formula: a robust case and a black dial with highly legible white Arabic numerals, a clear minute track and a central seconds hand.

Bulova A-11 American Issued WW2 Military Watch Hacking Seconds, circa 1940s (Image: Vintage Watch Specialist)

Every part served a purpose. A pilot navigating through flak, cloudcover or darkness did not need decoration. They needed information that could be read quickly. With no date display or any other distractions, the dial was an exercise in stripping a watch back to what mattered.

The feature that gave the A-11 its familiar “Hack Watch” nickname was less visible but just as important. Pulling out the crown stopped, or “hacked,” the seconds hand. Several people could pause their watches at the same moment, wait for a precisely communicated time signal and restart them together. Synchronized watches allowed personnel to coordinate missions to the second.

Bulova A-11 American Issued WW2 Military Watch Hacking Seconds, circa 1940s (Image: Vintage Watch Specialist)

The A-11 has been called “the watch that won the war.” That is obviously too big a claim for a wristwatch. But what the A-11 did provide was accurate, synchronized timekeeping in a simple, durable, and highly legible form. In doing so, it helped establish the template for generations of field watches.

It also belonged to an extraordinary period in Bulova’s history. As well as supplying wristwatches during the war, Bulova made navigation instruments, aviation equipment and other precision timing devices. The A-11 was one instrument in a much broader industrial effort, but it was the most personal one – that could be carried at all times.

From Hollywood to the Eighth Air Force

Stewart was already an experienced civilian pilot when he entered the Army, but celebrity did not carry him directly into combat. After serving as an instructor, he deployed to England in 1943 and flew B-24 Liberators with the Eighth Air Force. He completed 20 combat missions, rose from private to colonel during the war and was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for his courage and heroism

Maj. Jimmy Stewart confers with a B-24 crew member (Image: U.S. Air Force)

Stewart served in the world these watches were designed for, where flawless timekeeping and synchronization were practical requirements rather than nostalgic selling points. He remained in the Air Force Reserve after the war and ultimately retired as a brigadier general. His military career was not a publicity interlude between movies. He devoted to himself to both our country and his audience in that decades that followed World War II.

JIMMY, starring KJ Apa, follows the Stewart’s story from Oscar win and wartime service to It’s a Wonderful Life. Released in 1946, Frank Capra’s film was Stewart’s first feature after the war and revealed a more emotionally exposed side of the actor. It would eventually become inseparable from his image.

That history gives the watches supplied by Bulova unusual weight as props. They are not approximations selected to look right on camera, but genuine period watches.

“The watches featured in JIMMY are more than period details,” says Kelly Stewart Harcourt, Stewart’s daughter and executive producer of the movie. “They are original pieces from the Bulova museum, worn on screen, and they help bring authenticity to my father’s extraordinary story and the era in which he served.”

Bulova A-11 “Jimmy”

Reworking the A-11 for Today

The new A-11 JIMMY retains the distinction the original while using 2026 technology. Its stainless steel case measures a restrained 37mm across, making it compact and accessible. The matte-black dial uses white Arabic numerals, hands and a minute track, with BGW9 Super-LumiNova providing modern low-light visibility. A coin-edge bezel and double-domed sapphire crystal reinforce the period character, while the caseback has acid-etched markings inspired by its military predecessor.

Bulova A-11 “Jimmy”

Inside the A-11 JIMMY is the automatic Miyota Caliber 9039, with hand-winding capability, hacking seconds and a 42-hour power reserve. The choice preserves the original watch’s defining ability to stop the seconds hand, while the movement’s slim profile makes the watch considerably thinner.

At 3.9mm thick, the movement enables a total case height of 11.2mm, compared with 14.2mm for the brand’s previous A-11 model. That reduction of three millimeters, or just over 21 percent, transforms how the watch sits on the wrist. It makes the new version feel closer to the spirit of the WWII era archetype than its modern day oversized tributes.

Bulova A-11 “Jimmy”

The sapphire crystal, automatic winding, BGW9 Super-LumiNova and 50 meters of water resistance belong firmly to the present. The appeal of the original A-11 lay in the fact everything in the design had a purpose. At 37mm, with no date window and no unnecessary dial furniture, the A-11 JIMMY preserves its simplicity.

Bulova A-11 “Jimmy”

Priced at $795, with delivery scheduled to begin in October 2026, the Bulova A-11 JIMMY arrives ahead of JIMMY’s theatrical release on November 6. The movie and Stewart’s dedication to our nation inspired the new timepiece bringing the Greatest Generation to today’s generation.

That passage from military equipment to museum object, from movie prop to modern reissue, is what gives the A-11 JIMMY its meaning. The A-11 JIMMY brings together Bulova’s history, Stewart’s service and a design that defined the modern field watch.