myBulova.com, Cleaning out my mothers home after her passing, I came across this non-functioning Bulova Watch in her closet. I have never seen this watch before, nor I have never seen her wear it (possibly because it is non-functioning). I would like to get it repaired since this is the only heirloom I have from her, especially if it will justify the cost in doing so. I do not have the proper tools to remove the backing on the watch, so my information may be a bit lacking on jewel numbers and so on. Here is the information on the back of the watch: Watch Navig. Type A17A Spec. MIL-W-6433A MFR. Bulova Part No. 10BNCH MFR. Bulova Ser. No. AF-59-13612 Order No. DA-36-038-ORD-20792M Stock No. 6645-557-5596 US. PROPERTY Any help would be greatly appreciated in finding out some history on this watch from the community.
Sincerely, Ken N.
Hello Ken, welcome to myBulova, thanks for sharing the heirloom watch you found. This is a man's watch produced for the US military in the 1950's and early 1960's. The earliest one we have in our dB is dated 1950 the latest one 1961. Bulova, along with several other watch companies produced watches for the US government under several specifications, this one being Spec MIL-6433A and was classified, as you can see, as a navigation watch. While the market is flush with these watches (think of how many men served in the US armed forces over that period) the ones that can be attributed to a family member (father, uncle etc) can be special family heirlooms. I hope you can tie this one to a close relative. To properly assign a a year of manufacture it would be nice to see a crisp photo of the movement but if you can't get it to a jeweler to open it we would probably pick a late 1950's year to date it. If you choose to get it serviced and cleaned up we might recommend someone depending on where you live. I would not do anything but service it and have it gently cleaned. A nice black or brown leather strap would be a perfect fit.
We will classify your watch as a 195X Bulova Military Issued A-17A
The case back shows AF-59, so I believe it's a 1959 issue, although I could be wrong.
The other A17A models we have list the movement as a 10BNCH - 17 jewels which looks like this:
The "C" indicates a center sweep second hand and the "H" indicates a 'hack' movement.
Please note that I am not an expert on these military models, but some research that I have done indicates that the A17A models should have the outer seconds track with the 5 second indicators (like this one). This dial may be specific to the 3818A variant. I imagine these were quite interchangeable, for all parts of the watch. Most A17A models also show different hands. Anyway, just going on observations and information I've found. If you can access the movement, there should be a datestamp on it, which will help identify the year (assuming originality of all parts).
Military Issue
