Bulova 1921 Lady Maxim

Submitted by tshanno on December 15, 2019 - 5:07am
Manufacture Year
1921
Movement Model
AAI
Movement Jewels
15
Movement Serial No.
28354
Case Serial No.
1060571
Case shape
Octagonal
Case color
Yellow
Case Manufacturer
American Standard
Crystal details
19mm diamater
Gender
Ladies
Watch Description

This one could be a bit of a challenge.  

American Standard "25 year" 14K gold filled.  "Mongram quality" whatever that means.  No patent date.  No signature on the crown.

It was starting and stopping when I bought it but when I demagnitized it, it began running and keeping time well.  There's a little bit of brassing here and there but, like most of these early ladies watches, its in pretty good shape.  No band.

The movement is AAI and there is, as would be expected I guess, no date code.  There is, however, a trangle with what appears to be an "18" or a "48" inside of it.  I focused in on it below in the 5th image.  I can try to get a better picture of it if you need it but my hand isn't very steady on the camera.

I'm at a loss on the model and date of this watch.  The movement range is 1921-1923 so I picked 1922.  I'm going to guess one of the Lady Maxim's because that's what most of the ladies watches around this time seem to be and there's a huge variety of them.  Some of them have the same case shape and general style as this one.  The ads haven't yielded anything that looks exactly like it but I'm getting the impression that isn't much of a surprise with some of these early models.  

Honestly, I don't have a clue.  I think this is one where I'm going to have to sit back and watch the masters at work.

 

1922 Bulova watch
1922 Bulova watch
1922 Bulova watch
1922 Bulova watch
1922 Bulova watch
tshanno
Posted December 15, 2019 - 5:34am

By the way, that cut out next to the triangle-18 symbol seems to be common with this particular movement.  This watch and this watch have similar cut outs.  

In fact, there seems to be a variety of forms for this movement in general and that particular section of the movement in particular.  Its right next to the balance wheel and I would guess that it had to do with adapting the movement to function in different watches.

mybulova_admin
Posted December 17, 2019 - 8:33pm

I would put this beauty into the Lady Maxim line.

The roman numersals match the serial number '571' - 'V   VII   I"

tshanno
Posted December 18, 2019 - 3:15am

In reply to by mybulova_admin

Thanks. I was wondering about the theory that the second digit in the serial number dates the watch. Does that put this at 1920?

Geoff Baker
Posted December 17, 2019 - 9:48pm

I claim no expertise on pre-1925 watches, I will always defer to the other experts on them.

1922 Lady Maxim

jabs
Posted December 18, 2019 - 5:47am

1921 Bulova Lady Maxim, I think it could be 1921, the case code starts with 10 ..

neetstuf-4-u
Posted December 18, 2019 - 8:28am

Wow, nice one Tom. On the early ones, the number of years warranty (in this case 25) was an indication of how thick the gold was on the case. The higher the number the thicker the plate. This is I believe the highest year count offered and therefore could be safely monogramed/engraved without breaking through to base metal.

Don't take my word for it, but I think in the past we did discuss s/n dating on these very early ones by second number. Like Geoff, I'm a bit out of my element on this one.

I'll agree it's a 

Lady Maxim

I leave the year to those better versed. It's either a 1920 or 21.

tshanno
Posted December 19, 2019 - 11:45am

Hi, guys.

Thanks for publising.  Could someone point me to the conversation about dating these early 20s watches by serial number?  I'm a little confused by what numbers correspond to what dates.