Bulova 1963 Diadem

Submitted by plees1 on December 29, 2016 - 5:29pm
E
Manufacture Year
1963
Movement Model
5AR
Movement Jewels
23
Movement Serial No.
-
Case Serial No.
309099
Case shape
Other
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Crystal details
14 x 10 mm pear or teardrop shaped with point at 6:00 ; flat top
Gender
Ladies
Watch Description

14K white gold case and bracelet ; Case contains 18~=0.50 ct. t.w. ; eleven bracelet links and two clasp ends each contain one 0.02 ct diamond, 13=0.26 ct. t.w. ; Total diamond weight of watch and bracelet complete is 31=0.76 ct t.w. ; Crystal is pear-shaped ; dial is pear-shaped as pictured ; Case shape is roughly oval, but the case back is marquise/navette shaped, like a 'fat football' ; Case inside is completely unmarked, my case mfg info comes from 'Bulova' marked on case back ;  'M3' mvt mark = 1963 ; Watch looks similar to 'La Petite MM' in ads, but I did not see an exact match. 

1963 Bulova watch
1963 Bulova watch
1963 Bulova watch
1963 Bulova watch
1963 Bulova watch
mybulova_admin
Posted December 29, 2016 - 9:14pm

A beautiful ladies Bulova, but I cannot find a matching advert and it may be a number of models including the 'La Petite'. 

Unknown for now. A great piece to hold on to.

Andersok
Posted December 30, 2016 - 8:33am

Yes, a very stunning model. The La Petite series is a good possibility, but I did not find a match. The Diamond Goddess series is another possibility, but again not an exact match. Unknown model at this time.

plees1
Posted December 30, 2016 - 10:56am

Thanks for the replies! I did see the 1966 ad for the 'Goddess' and noted the similarities. I also saw the 'Duchess' from 1962 (1960's-Pg2-ad28) and the 'Candlelight' from 1966 (1960's-Pg3-ad33) that had some similarities. Thanks for the help and interest...what a great site!

mybulova_admin
Posted December 30, 2016 - 7:10pm

Many of these high-end diamond models were not advertised that well. I bought my wife a 50 diamond model a year back and whilst there is one advert its a newspaper clipping and does not mention the model name. The dial on her's suffers from the same type of patina as seen on yours around the numbers and hour markers.

It's a real shame we can't put a name to these beauties as they truely deserve one. 

Reverend Rob
Posted December 31, 2016 - 11:04am

This one's a stunner! I was able to find several other watches that were identical but slightly different bracelets. None had the actual model name. Unknown for now....

JimDon5822
Posted February 23, 2020 - 8:21pm

1963 Diadem "E" based on the 1963 Line book BAWD0151 Page 33

1963 Diadem E1963 Diadem E

neetstuf-4-u
Posted February 23, 2020 - 11:18pm

1963 Diadem "E" 

plees1
Posted February 25, 2020 - 1:50pm

Great Find JimDon5822! Thanks!

I knew that the bracelet that I acquired the watch with and photographed was not the original nor a 'Bulova'. 

I see there were several 'Diadem' that were waiting for your discovery...nice job!