This is a customer's Bulova Rite Angle, 1938 by the date symbol. It had suffered a sudden mainspring break at full power, which backlashed the train and bent the 4th wheel pivot, among others. The spring had shattered into three pieces, which is not that unusual if a spring is old and brittle or has been cleaned ultrasonically. What you see here is the watch before any repairs- the customer does not want it done. The 8AL is derived from an AS 970 ebauche, with Bulova escapement/balance mods. By kind permission of the owner.
Thanks, Geoff. One other thing I should mention- The movement shroud is not original to this watch. You can spot this usually by the cutouts for the daily screws or the case screws. In this case, there are no cutouts for the case screws, which are empty here. As well, although not visible in the photos, there are holes in the side of the shroud (ring) that are clearly for a later movement. This one uses the dial foot screws mounted to the plate, that turn and cut into the dial feet slightly, pulling it tight. They are perpendicular to the plate like all the other bridge screws. Later movements have horizontal screws coming in from the sides of the main plate.
Basically the watch was in for assessment, no repairs or alterations have been done.
