In response to the Korean War mobilization, the Bulova Watch Company in December 1950 established the Bulova Research and Development Laboratories, BRDL at their overcrowded Valley Stream facility.
Concurrently, Arde Bulova worked with New York City officials toward building a permanent home for the BRDL on the site of the former Holmes Airport. At the request of New York City Construction Coordinator, Robert Moses, the City Planning Commission amended the zoning law to permit light industrial plants in Jackson Heights. Meanwhile the New York City Housing Authority relocated 154 veterans who occupied temporary housing on the proposed site. In January 1952, the Bulova Watch Company began construction.
Grand Central Parkway bounded the site on the north. Boody Street, service road of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, marked the western extent of the spacious grounds. Twenty-fifth Avenue on the south and Seventy-seventh Street to the east enclosed the 25-acre plot. The site included lawns, a parking lot for five hundred cars, athletic fields for playing baseball, football or softball, handball and basketball courts, a pool and a playground for children. Andre Bulova picked the architectural style of the new 3.7-acre plant. His ten-million-dollar facility resembled the Federal Reserve Bank.
In 1952, the Bulova Watch Company reported record-high sales of $49.2 million with sixty percent coming from defense contracts. They had 5,000 employees in ten plants. Following completion of this facility in late 1952, the Bulova Watch Company gradually moved 2,000 defense-related employees to Jackson Heights.
Throughout 1953, employees from various Bulova plants moved to Jackson Heights. Some employees moved for the lifetime of a contract and looked for rental housing. In a neighborhood of private homes, Garden Bay Manor located across the street was a good choice for temporary workers and a better decision for the Bulova Watch Company. In 1937, Arde Bulova cosponsored the Garden Bay Manor development.
The Bulova Watch Company enlisted an unassigned army officer as chairman of the board of directors of the BRDL. This enlistee was the commanding officer of Harry D. Henshel, the current vice president of the Bulova Watch Company. As the former head of the Veterans Administration, the new chairman was a honorary speaker at the graduation of the first class of veterans from the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking. This enlistee was General of the Army, Omar N. Bradley.
General Omar N. Bradley served as chairman of the BRDL until the death of Arde Bulova in 1958. Four days later, the Board of Directors of the parent organization promoted Omar N. Bradley to the Chairmanship of the Bulova Watch Company.
