Bulova 1927 Lone Eagle

Submitted by Wayne Hanley on February 23, 2011 - 2:03pm
Manufacture Year
1927
Movement Model
10AN
Movement Date Code
Square
Movement Jewels
17
Movement Serial No.
276722
Case Serial No.
6637036
Case shape
CornerCut
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova & American Standard
Crystal details
21.0mm x 21.0mm
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

Case PAT.JUN.10.1924

Case Material-14K Gold Filled

Dial-Original

History-The case patent date PAT.JUN.10.1924 & the closed nine on the dial indicates this watch was very close to or in the first run of Lone Eagle watches made immediately after the initial group of 5000 Lone Eagles with open nines & PAT.JUN.10.1924 & 10AN 17j movements were sold after Lindburg's Trans-Atlantic flight.

 

 

 

 

Bulova watch
1927 Bulova watch
1927 Bulova watch
1927 Bulova watch
1927 Bulova watch
Bulova Watch
mybulova_admin
Posted February 23, 2011 - 4:48pm

Cool, serial numbers, closed 9 and cathederal hands....might just put this in the immediate release after the original 5000.

I'll have to double check my LE serial number database but this one is close to the end.

The dial will clean up very nice with some soap and water.

William Smith
Posted December 31, 2011 - 9:51pm

The case SN on this one (6637036) is apx 750 lower in "sequence" than Bob's LECC (Csn 6637785) but higher than case SN's on my recent LE (6634587) and Stephen's 6635638.  Mvnt SN's nor dials/hands not considered in this observation.   ...and I see some stray "arrow" marks on other 10AN and 10AP which make me wonder what that additional arrow symbol means....I don't see an arrow on Bob 's LECC, but it could be there.  The arrow on my mvnt is near the click.  Arrow on Stephen's is near SN. 
Is'nt this all such fun .....

mybulova_admin
Posted December 31, 2011 - 10:00pm

Yeah that arrow is some sort of indicator...I still have no idea what though.

William Smith
Posted April 24, 2012 - 4:01pm

So case SN falls w/i range of LECC 5000, but movement SN outside.  Thoughts on this? 

mybulova_admin
Posted April 26, 2012 - 7:58am

Ok here is what my data tells me:

Cases with an original 5000 movement

6634587
6635298
6635469
6635638
6636219
6636409
6636667
6637411
6637785

Cases with post 5000 movements

6635648
6637036

7526391
8148138
8156922
8202332
8338494
8393784
8418284
8418944

Both 6635648 and 6637036 certainly fall inside the case range but thier movements where stamped 1927 and have serial numbers 257897 and 276722 respectively.

Looking at the case serial number high and low range we get 6634587 - 6637785 which is a range of 3198 (well within the 5000) but there could be plenty more out there with lower or higher numbers

One theory may be that Bulova produced a large quantity of these cases up front when they had the original Conqueror. They just grabbed a random 5000 from the bucket to be used with the specially ordered movements for the original release. There is not alot of difference between the Conqueror and Lone Eagle cases, only the serial number really. As I have said once before I've only ever seen one example of a Conqueror with the design depicted in the adverts, and that was an 18K solid gold model. The later 1927 release of the corner cut model do have the back case stamped with the later 1927 Patent date, so at some point after the original release they must have ordered a new batch.

So possibly a case of:

6000+ cases ordered/manufactured in 1925/26
5000 movements ordered for original release

Just a thought and I certainly have no evidence to back it up other than what I have found over the years from recording movement and case serial numbers of LEs I have seen.

Stephen.

William Smith
Posted April 26, 2012 - 2:40pm

Thanks Stephen  Good summary!!  Got it now.