In reply to I like this model, it's a by Geoff Baker
[quote=Geoff Baker]
While the speculation regarding case backs and gold content is interesting I don't think we'll ever know exactly what transpired.
To my eye the only real differences between the Academy Award ZZ and the His Excellency LL are the dial shading and the words "His Excellency" on one and "Bulova" on the other.
I think this watch should be labeled a 1951 His Excellency LL
[/quote]
Agreed. I spent literally hours researching and did indeed read Lisa's lawsuit piece prior to posting. I'm not saying my speculations are correct, I'm just putting it out there that there are other possible explanations to the perceived inconsistencies. We will never know what happened "on the floor" at Bulova regarding the lawsuit. A middle level manager could have made a knee jerk decision regarding production the day the story broke without adequate information from the front office. It's possible but not probable. Gold backs could have been used on both models after the ad came out saying "stainless" due to a vendor or production problem. "Use AA backs, keep the line moving", and they just continued as such. Perhaps the ad was wrong and SS backed examples don't even exist. If Bulova first released the HE LL, then spun the AA model off the design as a upgraded model, the first AA's could be assembled with what were originally intended to be LL backs (gold); just a different face.
I guess the main point to my rambling is that there is more evidence and probability that this is a HE LL, than evidence it's not, unless of course someone produces one of these watches with a steel back.