Bulova 1929 Conqueror

Submitted by plainsmen on July 21, 2012 - 10:47am
Manufacture Year
1929
Movement Model
10AN
Movement Date Code
Square
Movement Jewels
15
Movement Serial No.
222352
Case Serial No.
9596518
Case shape
Round
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova & American Standard
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

Case is in great shape on this one.  A redial could be in order as a matter of opinion but I think there's a pile of guys out there like this old rough look with a sweet case like that.  Case and movement are off by a couple years but not unheard of as it's a really early era watch.

Trojan is my opinion.

1927 Bulova Trojan
1929 Bulova watch
1929 Bulova watch
1929 Bulova watch
1929 Bulova watch
Bulova Watch
Reverend Rob
Posted July 28, 2012 - 2:33pm

Ok, what am I missing here? The Trojan has clear corners with engraving interrupted, while the Conqueror has engraving all around. Subject has interrupted engraving. Does that not make it a Trojan? All examples in the db are interrupted and listed as Trojan.

Richard Callamaras
Posted January 27, 2013 - 9:50pm

If I was pushed I would say that this has to be a Trojan. But a tremendously unique Trojan...

This is a very confusing piece.  I do not belive that the Conqueror name was out there in 1927 it was the Trojan. And this piece has the bare corners that is unique to the Trojan. The Trojan ( no engraving in the corners) was no longer seen in our print ads beyond 1927, except.....(more on this later).  

The Conqueror ( engraving through the corners), on the other hand, was only produced in 1928-29. The corner cut predicessor to the Lone Eagle was the Conqueror in 1925-26,  and in 1927( in a strange hurry) it was renamed the Lone Eagle. This left a year without a Conqueror.  The trojan ran 1926-27, then skipped a year and became, with a slight re design, the Conqueror in 1928-29. this is supported in our print ads.  

Now back to the beginning. The only thing is.... that the Saturday Evening Post ran 2 ads in the same year (1928 "not" 1927) calling the watch in question the Trojan and the Conqueror in the same year???? Was there an accidental run of the Trojan out of date? Was it mistruct in 1927 with the wrong date serial # on the case? To have a Trojan with a mismarked case would be very unique indeed.  The fact that Bulova jockeyed around the name and the cases to scramble to create a Lone Eagle commorative case/watch could have had somthing to do with this confusion. A very interesting piece that lends to the mystery....

This is not as simple as a retro fit movement....

bobbee
Posted January 27, 2013 - 10:14pm

I think you missed the remarks about the case serial number giving an actual date of 1929, not 1927.

This should be updated.

mybulova_admin
Posted January 28, 2013 - 2:56am

Yes the movement is 1927 and yes the case is (from what we believe) 1929.

So if the watch is actually from 1927 then yes it is a Trojan

However if we are to believe that the case indicates 1929 then its a Conqueror.

Bulova 1927 Trojan and 1929 Conqueror

Which came first the chicken or the egg?
Which came first the movement or the case?

Confused?

Paleotime
Posted January 28, 2013 - 12:07pm

Hi everyone,

First, I have to disagree with the statement that this style of Conqueror was only made until 1929, since I have a 1930 example in my collection - is has the 1930 date stamp and a case serial starting with 00.

The engraving on my 1930 is different from the watch being identified in this thread, in both the pattern used and in being continuous around the corners.

I am not certain this helps but...It seems unlikely that the engraving pattern would start one way, change for a single year and change back.

Paleotime
Posted January 28, 2013 - 6:39pm

Sure.  I have to resize some pictures.  I really should put more of my Bulovas up here.