Found this interesting newspaper article from June 1960 regarding a man losing a $60K Bulova battery operated prototype. I assume this was an early Accutron that would be released later in the year. Funny how they used mine detectors to find it. The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) · 6 Jun 1960
I have seen a few of these, I believe they were in house practice watches for service trainees to practice on, But I'm not sure about that.... That's why the battery contact is so scratched up from the many times a test box was connected to it to check the work done... def not worth $20,000 dollars...
Reviving this old thread because I think I have a related piece. Recently acquired a prototype myself. It’s movement stamped BULOVA WATCH CO. / 114P / U.S.A. / 18 JEWELS (not the 114 shown above, which has the 17 jewels) with the same F|S engraving but teal bridges as opposed to blue. It's housed in a 1962 stainless case, M2 / F9235 case back stampings. Posted a forum thread about the case theory..There's also a serial number under the ground strap I haven't fully read yet.
Astronaut M2, curious if you ever found out more about the seller who claimed to have 24 more of these back in 2019? That would be really helpful context. Trying to get a realistic sense of how many of these actually survive and in what form (114 vs 114P, training pieces vs executive test pieces, etc). Mainly just want to learn as much as I can.
Also connected with another 114P owner whose example is gilt brass, 16 jewels, serial 0121, so there appear to be at least a couple of distinct variants out there, that do align with information online. Would love to compare notes with anyone else who has come across one of these or just continue discussion since survivors are out there. Also love this newspaper article…
Darold Hanson is going to be your guy on the 114s. His new book covers them extensively.
This page has Darold's email address. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you: Complete Guide to Bulova Accutron watches Book 2 | myBulova.com
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Was able to connect with Darold. Had a great conversation with him this morning on the phone. A wonderful gentleman with insane knowledge who seemed ecstatic about the find. Happy to have learned just a small % of what there is to be uncovered about these. Will be headed to the bulova museum tomorrow! Thank you for sending me on over to him.
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