1948 Bulova watch.

Submitted by el tel on February 16, 2012 - 2:57am

The watch below has a 10BC 17 jewel swiss movement marked 1948. The case is in rose gold and marked Bulova quality , number 6019052 , no mention of gold content.  The case looks like a 1943 Brewster or a later 1945 Gedney. The face of the watch looks like a 1944 Alderman which has a 10BC movement. Both the case and the watch face are in excellent condition and the movement is working. Bizarely the second hand has eith been painted red or replaced.

I hope this is not another custimized watch .  :-)

terry

 

mybulova_admin
Posted February 16, 2012 - 4:24pm

Apart from the red sub-second hand, all looks ok.

Check out the ads section, I'm sure you'll find this watch there. Look for the rose gold version.

el tel
Posted February 17, 2012 - 2:16am

Thanks for coming back , I did check the adds before I posted but could not find anything similar , will check again and widen my search.

terry

Daca102090
Posted May 24, 2012 - 2:16am

This may be a Gedney.  There is another name for the model but I can't recall the name right now.

 

Just remembered, also could be a Brewster.

mybulova_admin
Posted May 24, 2012 - 8:21am

This is one of those models that gets one ID with the original match braclet and another with a leather band.

With expansion bracelet = Brewster (also available in rose gold in 1941)

With leather strap = Attorney ( was also release in rose gold in 1941)

NOVA
Posted May 24, 2012 - 8:45am

There is more than just the strap to distinguish the five models that look quite a bit alike--the Attorney, Brewster, Galahad, Emporer, and Jefferson.  I have summarized below what I see to be the differences, based on the advertisements.  The dates are the dates of the ads that show the watch.

1941 –Attorney- rose gold, 17 jewel, two wide rings on lugs, plain bezel

1942 – Attorney - yellow gold, 17 jewels, design same case as previous year

1943 – Attorney - rose gold, 17 jewels, design same case as previous years

Attorney Dimensions:

Case:  38.8mm lug to lug x 25.5 without crown (38.1 w/out lugs)

           Crystal: 23.7mm x 19.9mm (CMT346-14)

 

1941 –Brewster - rose gold, 17 jewels, two narrow rings on lugs, plain bezel

1942 – Brewster - rose gold, 17 jewels, design same case as previous year

1943 – Brewster - rose gold, 17 jewels, design same case as previous years

Brewster Dimensions - 

Case: 36.7mm lug to lug x 25.5 without crown (33.2mm w/out lugs)

            Crystal:  23.7mm x 19.9mm (CMT346-14)

 

NOTE:  The Attorney and Brewster cases are really quite different.  Not only are the lugs different, but the Attorney case is longer and takes a different crystal.

 

1941 – Galahad, yellow gold, 21 jewels, two narrow rings on lugs, engraved bezel

NOTE:  To me, the Galahad looks like the Brewster with engraving, but the jewel count is also different.  I have both models.  In fact, I have all three--Attorney, Brewster, Galahad.

Galahad Dimensions:

Case:  36.7mm lug to lug x 25.5 without crown (33.2mm w/out lugs)

           Crystal:  23.7mm x 20.4mm

 

1942 –Emperor - yellow gold, no jewel count stated in ad, plain bezel

NOTE:  This Emperor is a bit of a mystery to me, as the rings on the bezel look more like the attorney rings in that they appear flattened out rather than rounded, but there appears to be three of them rather than only two like the Attorney.  The absence of a jewel count in the only known ad also makes this one difficult to distinguish from the others.

 

1943 – Jefferson - yellow gold, 21 jewels, plain bezel, appears to have same case shape as the Attorney, but it is difficult to be sure from the ad.  The jewel count may be the only distinguishing factor.

mybulova_admin
Posted May 24, 2012 - 8:58am

Brewser and Attorney share the same case according to this advert and this and others indicate that the Brewser always had the expansion band whilst the Attorney always had the leathar strap.

NOVA
Posted May 24, 2012 - 10:01am

The ad is misleading by listing the two watches together and only showing one of them.  The catalog ads --particularly Sears--do that a lot.  Another good example of that phenomenon is the 1936 ad for the Commodore, which mentions the quite different Apollo as though it were the same watch, which it was not.  I imagine this was a space saving measure to lump similarly styled watches together in one listing.  Other, Bulova, ads reveal the whole picture.  The two watches are not the same, as shown in the Bulova ads below.

1941 Attorney

1941 Brewster

 

NOVA
Posted May 24, 2012 - 10:03am

Here are the Attorney (left) and Brewster (right) together.  Both date to 1942.  Though the pictures don't show it, the Attorney case is longer than the Brewster, and, of course, it has different lugs.

Here's the Galahad (1941 watch and ad):

NOVA
Posted May 24, 2012 - 10:24am

Having said all that, I'm still not sure what to say about the subject watch.  The 1948 date is very late.  The Brewster is a totally different watch by 1945, perhaps even sooner. 

The case serial number would help, as there may have been a movement swap.

El Tel mentions a 1945 Gedney, but I'm not seeing that in the ads.

FifthAvenueRes…
Posted May 24, 2012 - 12:02pm

The 'GEDNEY' is in the Watch database, but lacks support to confirm the ID.

http://www.mybulova.com/watches/1945-gedney-805

 

GS CMT352-43 24.2mm X 21.4mm - Bulova Gedney.

GS CMX324-2G 21.2mm X 18.8mm- Bulova Gedney.

?

el tel
Posted May 24, 2012 - 11:56am

Thanks for reviving this thread. Strangley enough I have seen another watch like this also with a RED second hand , bit of a coincidence ? I also appreciate the 1948 date does appear to be rather late for this watch style case.

terry

mybulova_admin
Posted May 25, 2012 - 12:52am

I'm leaning towards Brewster with this one based on the variations Lisa had shown with the two watches above. A Di see a subtle difference in the top an bottom grooves.