O boy! The dial/hands. The AAI mvent Bulova W. Co. The great AS case w/ globe.
Does this meet the new constraints / ideas on second digit of case SN's correlation for possible dating? ... Wheeee What fun!! Nice early Bulova watch Jabs!!
Similar in many ways to Rev Rob's Lady Maxim w/ AAI ...including similar case serial numbers.
Subject case SN 1069107 Rob's LM case SN 1087567
Subject Mvnt SN 33372 Rob's LM Mvnt SN 31279
Note the slightly different font on both example movements. I dont know if subject watch is exact match to ads we have, but I'd not lean too heavy on 1922 date of Lady Maxim ad vs the movement/case info for possible production date. That '22 ad looks to be engraved case.
Tentative Lady Maxim from me. Now for the production date.....??? 1920? 1921? ..and what was the date of the first ad???? Was this one ever named by a Number before a Name (Lady Maxim). ...and was the unengraved octoganol unengraved ad from 1921?
This is were we still have some mystery. Bulova Watch Company didn't exist until 1923 I believe, maybe earlier.
I say this because we have an official Bulova advert from April 1923 that lists the company still as J. Bulova Company. We then see Bulova Watch Company adverts later in 1923. So following this the movement must come from 1923 at the earliest. My case theory for 1920 would still hold if we assumed a case manufacture stockpile in 1920/21. Just because the movement had the Bulova W. Co stamp doesn't mean it was manufactured in this year, just stamped and cased by Bulova in this year. Both case and movement could have been 'manufactured' in 1920/21 and then finally assembled and sold in one of the many many jewelers stores across the country in 1923.
In reply to This is were we still have by mybulova_admin
In reply to This 1921 advert that by mybulova_admin
[quote=mybulova_admin]
This 1921 advert that Bobbee found may help strengthen my idea that watches were stockpiled or produced in large numbers in 1920 with the expectation that sales would be high with this new 'wristwatch' design and standardization.
[/quote]
The above image is probably not a Bulova watch, but if it is, it will be a Rubaiyat model, as the advert is from April 1921, a month before we see any named Lady Maxim ads that show it as the "introduction".
Many of the early jeweler adverts say 'come and see our extensive range', or 'many models on offer' which indicates to me that all if not most of Bulova's official jeweler outlets each had a full if not extensive range of models right there in the store ready for sale. For me this means a hell of a lot of watches in the stores ready for sale. Again something that would have required per-manufacture of a great many components, something you can't do overnight.
I've always struggled with this era, just so few facts to go on. It doesn't seem likely that there would have been stockpiles based on today's standards but I think it was very possible in the era we're discussing. At the same time, I consider that a 90 year old watch may have had a movement update VERY likely, in fact in this case I submit that's exactly what happened.
I also think we should tag this one Lady Maxim although I doubt we'll really ever know for certain.
In reply to I've always struggled with by Geoff Baker
None of the LM ads show an unengraved octagon case, all are engraved. All ads with the octagonal LM use the same image, and are from 1921.
I would say Rubaiyat, as it is a 1920 case, and all LM ads are from 1921-23.
We have a Rubaiyat ad from 1919 with a plain octagonal case.
