Hello,
I'm new here and it looks to be a nice site and I hope to be a asset hear as well learn a bit. I'm a watchmaker for the last 25 years and I love all wrist and pocket watches so maybe I can help others with a few questions.
I just pick up a 1928 Lone eagle with the original box and I think it has set in a drawer for the last 70 years. The watch and box are 98% and it is a exciting find for me.
The box is like the long 1927 box on your site examples, but my box say's "The Lone Eagle" on the top as apposed to just the Lone eagle and I was wondering if Bulova might have changed the box to use with the 1928 second run ? And I was also wondering if anyone knows how many of these cut corner models were made in the second run? My watch has a 9at movement and that makes me think it is from the second run itself.
Thanks for your help. Mike...
Hi Mike
Welcome aboard. Your knowledge & watchmaker expertise will be much appreciated on this site.
I bought a Lone Eagle I last year. The dial, hands and crown were definetly not authentic. But the case is mint. The movement is a 9AT with a 1925 date symbol. So eventually I will have to replace everything but the case.for authentication purposes. It takes time to find the right parts. A dial here, a hand there. Of course this is the hard way & turning out to be fun but, I just can't afford the high market prices for an authentic Lone Eagle.
Again A Warm Welcome to You Mike!
Wayne
Thanks for the warm welcome!
After you replied, I got thinking that I might have a set of stock hands and crown for you, and I very well might. But I went through some old movements and I found a 10an running movement with a hands and the date code is either 1927 because of the square or it could be a 1936 as they also used a square mark. The serial # is 255xxx and I cant pinpoint it for you of when it was made. I know it would be nice if I could help you make yours original again. So if you can find out if this will work for you, I will be happy to help.
The hands on the movement are old, and the glow is knocked out, but I can clean them up and put new radium in them , as well as I may have new old stock hands and I'm sure that I have a crown.
I'm new here and this is my first post so I dont know how things work here and I dont want to get anyone anoyed with me on my first go around and I dont know if we can trade her or not, if so I appolize if we cant. Please let me know. Mike.....
Mike
My Lone Eagle is out for service & authentic dial at the moment. It may come back with a compatible crow. Can we put this offer on hold, until I get the watch back and see what it's lacking. I may also come up with a 1928 9AT before the day is out. The 10AN might not work because of the elite 5000 10ANs that were sold out in record time after the record Lindburg flight. We can get good info from Stephen Ollman on that.
Stephen Ollman is our site owner & is the guy to talk to you about the Lone Eagle cases. Have you read "the Lone Eagle Story" of which he is the author, it's available here onsite? I know he has a couple of cases. He is seriously into Lone Eagle watches & everything about them.
Have Fun
Wayne
No Problem Wayne!
Yes I have read the story. I picked mine up just the other day and when I went to research the watch I ran acrossed this site. I read alot before posting and I would like to learn more than I know now.
My watch is in great shape, it has a 9at movement as I said before and the date code shows it as 1928, The case #'s are differant than the examples shown for the LE1. My case has the jan. 11, 1927 patent date, gold filled, and the serial # is 8157xxx. the dial , hands, enamaled case are close to mint , still having the original brush finish on the back of the watch. I would like to know as much as I can about this watch . I think that I got lucky finding this watch.
The watch came into a local jewelry store from a older guy who said that it was givin to his late uncle who had a chance to meet and fly with Lindbergh and he said that Lindbergh gave him the watch personaly. Of course, this is only hear say now as he had no documation to prove it. Good story any way! LOL
I also have a Longines Lindgergh commeritive chronograph with all the box and papers and it is one of the nicest watches I have ever seen.
Let me know how your watch comes back. Thanks Mike...
Sorry, I'm not very good at this yet, I didn't mean to make a mess out of this post and I'll try not to do that again. So here it is, notice the top of the box , it is differant than the site example, maybe for the 1928 model? feel free to comment and educate me on this peice. Thanks Mike....
Welcome Mike!
It's wonderful to see another shining example of a 1928 Bulova Lone Eagle. Although it would be nice to get those hands relumed in the correct color :-) I'm thinking they are non original to the watch, authentic, just not original.
I love these boxes and so have to get one for myself on day to sit my beloved LE in, but alas they are hard to come by.
Whilst the band looks new it is certainly in line with what the original bands looked like.
Serials numbers all confirm that is its a early 1928 edition.
Mike, I look forward to seeing it added to the watch database.
Welcome again and congrats on a wonderful find!!
Stephen.
Thanks Stephen.
I cant say for sure about the hands, the guy said that it had just been put away for many years and maybe the hands were just a differant batch on radium that didn't change color, but I can redo them as I have the old radium in many differant colors. the other thing that makes me think that they may be original is there were no watchmakers marks in the watch and I think that I was the first person to service it. ( I did not mark the case myself ).The watch does have the dust cover for the movement, just not pictured, and I have the original band , but it is wore, and the bucle broke off the band, so I matched it the best I could out of my stock. I also replaced the crystal with a NOS crystal as the original had two small scratches in it. other than that it is all original .
I have no idea of the value, but I felt a buck and a half was a fair price for it.
If you have any idea of the 2nd production run, that would be interesting to me.
Thanks for all you help, I'll try to add a good pic or two to the data base. Mike.....
Just how much is a buck and a half in Australian Dollars :-)
Radium hands usually came in green, brown or grey. I'd imagine that if the hands and dial started off the same color they would have degraded to the same color.
Here is one that the Smithsonian National Air ans Space Museum have (untouched). Not the hands (well hand) and numbers are the same color. But then again who really knows. That's part of the mystery with Bulova.
LOL, a buck and a half is $150.00 usd, campaired to $153 austrailia dollars. I can only assume that your from Austrailia? I get alot of watches from austrailia to repair, I would love to go there some time.
I thought when I seen your picture that I had met you at one of the NAWCC shows, but you would have had to travel along ways for me to meet you. LOL
You may be right about the hands, but who really knows. I may put new set on the watch just to see if I can match them up a bit better.
I love your site and I hope that I can help out and be a asset to it.