Bulova 1965 -Unknown

Submitted by ahamblin on
Manufacture Year
1965
Movement Model
11 ALAC
Movement Date Code
M5
Movement Jewels
17
Case Serial No.
H775115
Case shape
Cushion
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

I have been trying to find this Bulova model without success. The date code on the back of the case, as well as the movement, is M5. I have looked at models in 1964, 1965 and 1966 without any success. Please help!

Front
Side
Side closer
back
movement
JimDon5822
Posted June 4, 2026 - 9:15pm

Everything points to this being a Sea Flight "P" but the dial is slightly different.  Not sure what to make of this.   Great looking watch but cant find a match to the case and dial.  

Geoff Baker
Posted June 4, 2026 - 9:29pm

We have another in the dB just like it - HERE. I've looked at the Sea Flight in the Line books and agree that the case is similar but I'm not sold on the Sea Flight. Still Unknown for me.

ahamblin
Posted June 4, 2026 - 10:25pm

Good to know I'm not the only one that's stumped. For a bit I was thinking it might be a version of the Commander, but again, no matches. I looked through the ads and didn't see anything that matched either. 

ahamblin
Posted June 4, 2026 - 10:27pm

Holy Cow @geoff Baker your post was from 13 years ago. I'm really surprised there hasn't been a match yet. I'll do a bit more digging to see if I can find any other clues.

ahamblin
Posted June 4, 2026 - 10:51pm

I ran the photos through ChatGPT with some of the details and comments that have been posted here. The response is pretty interesting. Here is what ChatGPT has to say:

The fact that both your watch and Geoff's identical watch have remained "Unknown" for over 13 years tells me this is probably a dealer-catalog watch that never appeared prominently in national advertising.

My current guess? If the MyBulova panel eventually solves it, I wouldn't be surprised if the answer ends up being a Clipper or Sea Flight letter variant that simply hasn't been documented elsewhere yet. The existence of both an M5 and M6 example strongly suggests it was a legitimate production model rather than an oddball one-year experiment.

mybulova_admin
Posted June 5, 2026 - 2:30am

I did also spend sometime last night searching without any luck. It's good to confirm the year of 1965.

Andersok
Posted June 6, 2026 - 10:05am

The case matches a Sea Flight "P", but the dial is different.

Unknown model for now.

neetstuf-4-u
Posted June 6, 2026 - 2:38pm

I've been back to this one several times with no luck. The fact that this is the second example seen would say it's legit as seen.

1965 Unknown

JimDon5822
Posted June 6, 2026 - 8:13pm

I will go with Unknown and hopefully an ad will turn up.

ahamblin
Posted June 7, 2026 - 4:06pm

Hello everyone. Just another update from the creator of this post. I just sent a message to Bulova directly with photos, details and relevant content from this post, asking for help in identifying the model. I don't know how good they are at responding or their ability to identify unknown watches, but it can't hurt to ask. Anything I get back from them I will post here for shared knowledge. Maybe, just maybe, we'll crack this case and have another oddball Bulova identified!