This is a recent find I would love to know more about. The dial is textured, Bulova under the 12, Self Winding under the hands, Swiss under the 6. No Serial number on the back of the watch, it just says Bulova Watch Co - Stainless Steel - Antimagnetic - Waterproof - Shock Resistant. Has a Speidel strap that looks fairly new. Keeps good time so far but the minute hand seems to skip. I have not tried to remedy the skipping by adjusting the crown at all and would like to know if the skipping is indicitave of a problem or if it can be fixed by winding the crown forwards (backwards?). Any information on the age or model number would be great. It is not for sale.
In reply to Please post a picture of the by geezer_D
http://www.mybulova.com/watches/1955-sea-clipper-2242
Can you confirm the date code. Possibly 1959.
There is no date code/serial anywhere on the watch that I can see. I have uploaded a nice selection of large pics of the watch and hopefully you may be able to tell from there
In reply to There is no date code/serial by J13
J13 - I just went through all those pics, and it sure would save everyone a lot of time if you would pare them down to two--one that shows the back clearly enough to read the words printed there, and one that shows the pattern on the dial. Most of them are too blurry to tell anything about the watch, and side views of the band don't help us.
Looks like the only way we're going to get a date code is if you open up the case and tell us what's written on the inside of the case back and on the movement itself.
We can make guesses/assumptions about what you've got based on the case and dial, but most of us aren't comfortable drawing a definitive conclusion without a date for verification.
Hi Geezer, the minute hand seems to skip, slide, and stop briefly while the watch is running. A friend of mine wound it 3 times while he was setting the time on it 3 or 4 days ago and I have not wound it again ive just been wearing it. Im sure its not broken im just ignorant of the watch and its needs (I hope).
Without examining the watch, it sounds like it could be as simple as the minute hand possibly hitting the hour hand due to bad alignment ( minute hand and hour hand not parallel in the horizonal plane) and contact between the two hands causing a momentary loss of movement. It may happen every revolution of the minute hand or only once every 12 hours depending on the misalignment.
It does not seem to "skip" every revolution but it is frequent, seems to be keeping good time otherwise to within a minute or 2, I recently watched a video that claimed a self winder like this one may need to be wound backwards to its first position and then wound forward. I have not done this, nor have I wound it forward any further. This watch very likey spent the last 30 years in a can filled with rusty nuts and bolts so I am thrilled it looks and works as well as it does.
In reply to It does not seem to "skip" by J13
Winding the watch backward should have no effect, the click on the winding mechanism prevents any backward movement of the winding barrel. You will not be able to wind the watch fully, as the bridle on the tail of the mainspring allows the spring to slip if it gets too tight. In the condition that you found the watch you are ver fortunate that it runs as well as it does. I would heartily recommend that you have the watch cleaned, oiled and adjusted (COA). It does sound like a lack of parallel between the hands. The hands catch and momentarily pauses, then rebounds. I have seen this numeous times before. A competent watch maker can correct it easily.
Hello Nova-Novice thanks for your interest. Do you think its safe to open it? I have been told by several people that I may not be able to get it back together properly, due to it being waterproof and something about the gasket and being constructed in a pressure chamber.
In reply to Hello Nova-Novice thanks for by J13
I'm going to let our resident expert watchmakers chime in on this one.
I open mine all the time, but then I'm not concerned about them being waterproof. My guess is that the gasket is probably worn out by now anyway and in need of replacement. But, like I said, if you're concerned about it, wait for some advice from the pros.
The gasket will most definitely need replacing if you want to preserve any type of water resistance. I highly doubt that the watch is "water proof" in the modern sense, water resistant maybe. A true waterproof watch also has a gasket in the winding stem tube as well as a screw down crown to prevent water infiltration. Pressure chambers are used to certify divers watches.
That is very good to know Geezer. I guess taking it to a professional is the best way to access information inside the case I need to pinpoint the year/model of this watch, I would really like to have some idea of its age and value so I can have some idea on how much is a fair cost to pay for its restoration.