Another eBay find, but it wasn't such a good one at first. The watch was advertised as running. When I received it, that wasn't the case. The seller argued and said that he never claimed it ran, but it was right there in his ad. So, I set up a return on eBay and got my money back and sent the watch back. Two weeks later, my package comes back and the seller has written return to sender, and now I have a free broken watch. I hung onto it for a while and finally took it to a jeweler to be fixed. Long story short: $30 later I have an O.K. working watch, but the date wheel is broken and they couldn't find a replacement. And the watch still has trouble running every once in a while. I don't use that jeweler anymore. But I'm sure you couldn't care less about my story with this watch, so... Here's what I know: It's a Sea King and the case is dated 1969 (M9) and the movement is an 11ANACB which is dated 1970 (N0). The caseback is stamped "Heavy Gold Electroplate Bezel" and "Stainless Steel Back". No mention of waterproof on a Sea King? Gold tone dial marked with Roman numerals and labeled "BULOVA" and "SEA KING AUTOMATIC" with the classic Sea King whale. It has a day and date function, but as I mentioned, the date wheel is broken. I love the look of this watch, but the back of the case has a sizeable gouge in it. Crystal is nearly flawless and the front of the case looks amazing. I received it with the brown alligator grain Hadely-Roma leather band it currently sports. Probably not a watch I will keep, but interesting nonetheless. Any more information is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Very nice looking watch, I particularly like the Roman numerals at the quarters.
I can't help but wonder how they managed to break the date wheel.
After this, in the seventies, variants of this movt family like the 11AOACB had a quickset date, and these can be broken if you try and quickset the date while the watch is attempting to turn the date over itself- that is, between around 8:30 and midnight. (20:30-00:00) This is why it is important to know what time your watch is displaying. Is that twelve noon or twelve midnight? If a watch runs down, once you get it going again you need to ascertain where midnight is and set the time accordingly. Advancing the hands past 12 will either flip the date or it won't. If it does, that's midnight. If you are not sure, go back to 8:15 and then forward to 12.
However, this movt is not a quickset, so it is clearly unskilled hands mucking about in the calendar works that has caused damage. If you check the NAWCC website, they list watchmakers by location. Unfortunately, gone are the days when almost every jeweller had a watchmaker on site.
I like these watches, nice big balances.
1969 Sea King gets my vote, unknown variant, but I'm still looking.....
In reply to Very nice looking watch, I by Reverend Rob
I have since changed jewelers to one that does have a watchmaker on site. I've looked at the NAWCC website but the closest company on their site is nearly 2 hours away from me. Also, now that I think about it, I think I believe the seller on eBay had said they had tried to fix it themselves, which could be the reason for the damage.
1969 Bulova Sea King, similar watch from 1970