My father-in-law bought this watch new in the late 1960's. The case and movement date codes, M8, indicate 1968. He wore the watch for about 5 years and then switched to Quartz. I had the watch cleaned and repaired in mid-2020 and it has been working well.
The movement is a 214. I am curious if you know what the ink stamp on the inside of the case back means: 2527; 9-6?
The dial is nice light gold with what almost looks like a "sunburst" radiating from the center. I could not find an example of the exact dial. The markers at 3, 6 and 9:00 appear to be 2 bars with a groove down the middle of each bar. There are small, luminous dots/squares above each hour marker. The 12:00 position has the trademark tuning fork. The hour and minute hands are also luminous. The bezel is 10k gold filled. Case back is stainless.
I am looking for Bulova ads from the 1960s that show a similar watch dial. It seems like the model 412 or 413 are close but there is not enough detail in the online pictures to tell.
Looking forward to your comments.
John
Very nice watch to have in the family since new.
I believe it to be the Accutron "412", as seen in this 1964 linebook.
Other ad photos seem to show a silver dial, which yours seems to be. The 411 variant also used this case, but had numerals on the dial 3,6,9.
The inside stamp 2527 is the case#; the other stamp I am not sure, possibly from a Bulova service center.
I was told by a watchmaker (a member here) who worked 25 years for a Bulova Service Center that a watch would have a month / year ink stamp when it left the service department. I suspect this watch was in for service in September 1976, maybe for a quartz movement.....
Spot on with ID Ken - 1968 Bulova Accutron 412 - amazing heirloom
