The Bulova Lone Eagle story

I've been fascinated by the history behind the Bulova Lone Eagle watches for many years and have I've learn't a fair bit about this particular series. Finding actual information about the original 5000 release and subsequent releases has become my ‘Holy Grail’.

From the pieces of information I’ve managed to fit together over time I believe the following may have happened.

In 1926 Ardé Bulova, Joseph’s son, offers a prize of $1,000 to the pilot who first succeeds in a nonstop flight across the Atlantic.

Pre 1927, Bulova had a particular watch style known as the ‘Conqueror’, a corner-cut, enamel inlay model which was available in both 18Kt. solid white gold and 14Kt. gold filled. The two ads below show how Bulova advertised both the 1926 Conqueror and the 1927/28 Lone Eagle. The designs are exactly the same, yet all the Lone Eagle watches we see on eBay and in many watch price guide books have a different corner design.

1926 Conqueror Ad1927/28 Lone Eagle Ad

1926 Corner Cut Design
This is the Conqueror/Lone Eagle design we see in all vintage Bulova watch ads.

1927/28 Corner Cut Design
This is the common design as seen on all popular Lone Eagle sales and literature.

We now know that the watch presented to Lindbergh was not a Conqueror, as originally thought,  but (as yet) an unknown 14K white gold model shown here. How is was that Bulova chose to use the Conqueror model and re-badge it as the Lone Eagle is not know, but the quest to answer this important question remains.

What we can see from 1927/28 Bulova Lone Eagle watch ads is that Bulova did not bother to change the drawings used for the Conqueror ads, but instead used the same ones. At what point Bulova decided to vary the corner design to resemble that of an Art Deco style eagles head (the bottom design). is also unknow, but the design used was a fitting representation for the 'Lone Eagle', as Lindbergh was so named.

The back case markings of the first releases of the corner-cut Lone Eagles were all stamped with the Pat date of Jun 10 1924, were as later releases (post August 1927) were stamped with the more common Pat date of Jan 11 1927.

Pre August 1927

Post August 1927

Trying to find any evidence of the actual May 1927 marketing release is like trying to finding a needle in a million haystacks. I doubt there still exists any but the search has become my ‘Holy Grail’

The Bulova history book writes that once the original 5000 sold out in just three days (22 May 1927 - 24 May 1927) they went on to sell more of this corner-cut design throughout the remainder of 1927 and into 1928. However later corner-cut editions (post 5000) changed the dial and hands to use a closed 9 instead of an open 9 and cathedral hands instead of the spade style hands. The cathederal hands became a common feature in most 1928/29 and 30's Bulova mens watches.

I’ve complied a database of 1920 and 30s Bulova watch serial number and am in process of identifying the serial number range of the original 5000 (I doubt Bulova kept any record of this historic event). I’ll hopefully be able to release this information once I’ve compiled enough data to give a more accurate range.

From 1928 onwards a number of other variant models were release.

The 1928 Lone Eagle - Corner-cut model with variant dial & hands

The 1928/29/30 Lone Eagle - Tonneau shaped model

The 1931/32 Lone Eagle - Stepped model with variant dial and hands

The 1933/34/35 Lone Eagle - Stepped model

There is a common misconception that the Bulova Sky King is also part of this series which honors Charles Lindbergh, but is in fact named in honor of T.A.T. Maddux Planes being fitted with Bulova timepieces in 1930.

There are four box styles that I know of for this watch series.

The 1927 Corner-cut release

The 1928 Corner-cut release

The 1928 Corner-cut release

The 1928/29/30 Tonneau release

The 1931/32/33 Stepped releases

These boxes clearly indicate on the inside that the watch is dedicated in honour to Charles A Lindbergh.

As I discover more about this series of watches I'll post here. You can view a number of Lone Eagle and other Bulova watches on the myBulova.com website and I invite all Bulova watch ownes to add their watch to this site as a reference for future collectors. Additional information can be found in the 1927 Bulova Lone Eagle forum.

I invite everyone who reads this article to let me know if they have a different point of view and especially if they have some evidence of the real story behind this wonderful series and in particular any information about the release and marketing of the original 5000 Bulova Lone Eagles in 1927.

Article written by Stephen Ollman.

http://www.mybulova.com

Video story of Charles A Lindbergh historic flight by
Airport & Aviation Appraisals, Inc