Bulova 1961 Accutron

Submitted by polarbear1990 on
Manufacture Year
1961
Movement Model
214
Case Serial No.
D71984
Case shape
CornerCut
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Watch Description

Hello MyBulova moderators,

     I am trying to determine if this Accutron was retailed by Tiffany & Co in 1961, and if so, is the printed Tiffany & Co signature on the dial authentic (as well as Accutron and Swiss)?  Thanks very much.

Kind regards,

--Chris

dial
case back
JimDon5822
Posted January 15, 2021 - 9:02pm

I find this watch intriguing.  I recall recently I saw a vintage ad for Tiffany & Co advertising Accutron watches.   I could not find the ad again but am quite certain they retailed these.   I will dig some more and maybe I can find it.

JimDon5822
Posted January 15, 2021 - 9:11pm

Found the ad that Tiffany retailed Accutron.  The photo does not show a Tiffany dial but it is a little to hard to see.  The ad is for an 18Kt gold watch.  I see yours is 14kt.  Still a possibility.  

Tiffany Ad

polarbear1990
Posted January 15, 2021 - 9:45pm

Thank you for your research thus far.  The Tiffany & Co signature just seems a little "off" to me... I haven't seen another like it, so it makes me pause.  For other Tiffany dials, the O in Co is lowercase.

neetstuf-4-u
Posted January 16, 2021 - 9:44am

I did a quick search of ebay and found a couple examples of  Accutrons with "Tiffany" on the dial. One was a 1960  gold filled and had an upper case "O", the other I could access (Astronaut in white case ) had a lower case "o" with no case date or case material given in ad.  Pure speculation, but maybe gold (solid or filled) had upper case and other case materials had lower case? Were the other examples you have encountered gold with lower case "o"? I could also be something as simple as "print batch variation"

JimDon5822
Posted January 16, 2021 - 10:41am

It is my understanding Tiffany only retailed solid gold watches.   I also think the Tiffany mark is suspect.  It seems they used a Times Roman font as shown on this documented Rolex as well a sa different & symbol.. 

Tiffany

Kathy L.
Posted January 19, 2021 - 9:54am

They did stainless and electroplate later.  I have a couple and collect the sales books for that era but it is later than this watch, 80s and 90s.

polarbear1990
Posted January 16, 2021 - 3:08pm

Thank you all for your feedback.  I have an inquiry submitted to the Tiffany archives department.  I will share any findings.

polarbear1990
Posted January 16, 2021 - 8:48pm

I heard back from Accutron support.  Essentially, they recommended contacting mybulova.com   : )

Hello ******,



Thank you for your message.



We're sorry, but due to the age of the watch, we no longer have access to its information. It's possible they may have but we do not have any information on older vintage watches to verify that. 



However, there is a website dedicated to information on older Bulova product.



This website may be found at the following link:



mybulova.com



As far as authenticity, the numbers on the back of the watch may be valid. However, the only way to determine if a watch is genuine is to perform a physical examination of the watch (counterfeited watches many times carry 'authentic' case numbers).

polarbear1990
Posted January 16, 2021 - 8:56pm

I heard back from Tiffany & Co as well.  Alas, not much help to be found here.  I'll keep researching, but I think my initial gut reaction is correct (i.e. fake Tiffany & Co signature).

  Dear Mr. ******,

Thank you for the inquiry into the watch in your possession. 

The mission of the Tiffany Archives is to support the research needs of our own Company.  The majority of our staff resources are dedicated to supporting the needs of departments such as Design, Product Development, Public Relations and Marketing.  Consequently, we are unable to devote the staff time necessary to fully investigate each customer request.

The Archives is unable to provide appraisals, valuations, or authenticate objects.

Reverend Rob
Posted January 16, 2021 - 9:23pm

Tiffany did not only do precious metal watches, I have had several in stainless. This could possibly be a re-dial.