Bulova 1959 Bulova 23

EAW

Manufacture Year

1959

Movement Model

10BZAC

Movement Jewels

Movement Serial No.

Case Serial No.

E248368

Case shape

Round

Case color

Yellow

Case Manufacturer

Bulova

Gender

Mens

Watch Description

Hello- Thanks for all your knowledge and help in advance. This watch was my grandfather's and has probably not been touched since the early 1980's. When I picked it up it started working right away. It is 14K gold and the caseback says E248368. On the outer case back it says shockresistant, anti magnetic, water proof, self winding. I found the date codes on the site here and it says L9. I will take it to my local watch guy and get pictures of the movement soon. I have found it on this site and it was called a 1959 Mystery Dial. It is a beautiful watch and it is in great condition. Any information would be great. It is not for sale. Thank you. Conrad Vanderlely

DarHin

Posted December 22, 2012 - 10:29am

Unknown. I wouldn't name it a 23 without movement info.

William Smith

Posted December 24, 2012 - 3:23pm

PM sent to owner for confirmation of movement information. If this watch has the 23 jewel movement we see in "other period Bulova 23's" I would vote for: Bulova 23, unknown variant, but I think we could use the variant field to enter the nick-name "mystery dial".
This would convey the most info about the model ID, and the use of variant field for nick-name is consistent with what we have done for the Accutron Day/Date "Woody", the "Set-O-Matic" series/catch-all, and other similar grouped "unknown variants" while awaiting information showing the advertised model name/variant designation. This would also help ID the other three "mystery dial" watches in the database in a fairly consistent method.

What do ya think gang?

DarHin

Posted December 24, 2012 - 10:17pm

Bulova 23 Mystery Dial sounds good to me if we can confirm the movement.

CVanderlely

Posted December 26, 2012 - 11:06am

The movement is a 10BZAC. I had my local watch guy open it up today before he started service on it. I took a picture with my Iphone but it is very blurry. I hope this helps.

William Smith

Posted December 26, 2012 - 1:27pm

Dr Ranfft lists the 10BZAC as available from 1959 through 1963, in both 23 and 30 jewel versions. These start/end dates have changed as new info or examples are found- they are tentative based on examples he has encountered moreso than production tables. See http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk

Is your movement one of the 23 jewel versions?

CVanderlely

Posted December 26, 2012 - 1:47pm

Yes it is a 23 jewel version.

dennis-waden

Posted December 27, 2012 - 3:43pm

This watch is a beauty... my vote is 9.5/10 ;)

William Smith

Posted December 27, 2012 - 3:53pm

A beautiful watch indeed!

I vote for ID of 1959 Bulova 23 "Mystery Dial" (with the nick-name Mystery Dial simply added to the variant field). Other charactoristics suggest this is one of the many Bulova 23 variants, and for now, the actual advertised variant designation is "unknown", but Mystry Dial sure works IMO.