Bulova 1944 Military Issue

Submitted by pierre chaton on
ORD DEPT
Manufacture Year
1944
Movement Model
10AK
Movement Date Code
Circle
Movement Jewels
16
Case Serial No.
-
Case shape
Round
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

I bought this described as an A-11, but learned that the caseback appears to be from an ORD watch. I believe the date code is a circle, so I've taken the date to be 1944. The movement model is hard to read as it's obscured by the wheel driving the centre second pinion, but it looks like it may be 10AK.

Front
Back
Movement
Movement Model Stamp
Service Marks on Inner Caseback
Geoff Baker
Posted August 10, 2025 - 9:09pm

Military Issued watches that do not contain further classification on the case back (such as A-11,  A-17A,  1917-H,  3818-A) and only are marked as ORD- XXXXXX(X), have been classified up to this point as "Military Issued".  Regardless of the movement, in that it may be a swap, This should be classified as  1944 Bulova "Military Issued" like THIS watch -  we do not use the classification ORD on myBulova.  Military type watches that have no marking on the case back have been classified as "Military Non-Issued"

FifthAvenueRes…
Posted August 11, 2025 - 6:58am

At one time the 10AK was classified as 'ORD DEPT', it's unclear to Me as to when that changed.  

The subject watch is not a Military issued piece. 

mybulova_admin
Posted August 11, 2025 - 5:19am

Great video Merc.

So a quick summary:

A11 (intended for aviation and maritime operations)

  • Hack movement
  • Black dial
  • White hands with center second hand
  • White Arabic indices
  • 10-minute demarcations
  • 30-32mm case size
  • Brass or steel case

 

ORD (general purpose, issued to US Army soldiers)

  • Non-Hack movement
  • White dial
  • Radium hands with sub second hand
  • Nickel plated brass case
JimDon5822
Posted August 10, 2025 - 10:28pm

This does appear to be a case back swap.  It could have been done during WWII or after but definitely before 1957 which is the service date etched on the case back.  1944 Bulova Military Issue is a good ID. 

mybulova_admin
Posted August 11, 2025 - 5:21am

Based on the information from the video, the dial, hands are certainly from the A11 and the case (at least the back case) from the ORD, so a marriage of parts.

mybulova_admin
Posted August 12, 2025 - 4:49am

So a marriage of 'Military issue' parts whilst could be considered as non-conforming, for the sake of this ID I believe we can still ID as such 'Issued'.

We can note the high chance that the case back has been swapped and is not correct for an A-11.

Thus keeping as a generic 'Military Issue' seems the best ID in my mind.