Hello Forum users, I am kinda stumped on this one...I bought this watch back in March and Always thought it was a version of a President but, yesterday a saw a real president up close and it is much different..I personally think that i maybe a Phantom with a wrong 7AP movement instead of the 6AE correct movement...The movement inside the case now is a 7ap 17j with a date code of 1939...But if it is the wrong movement that really doesn't help...I was wondering if the Bulova Masters here a this site can help...I am and would be extremely thankful to anyone who has a opinion and the watch...I do really like this watch and even though it might be the wrong movement i stil am going to keep it..for now anyway (which at some time some watchmaker or owner put a working newer movement in because the old one stopped working,,For one reason or another they didn't fix it) when i bought the watch it look as if no one had cleaned or repaired the watch in some long time,so i think it was done in a decade or so when the watch was made...anyway here are the pics...i think its time for another cleaning...
Thanks....i didn't see that pic when i was comparing the two...so i guess it is a phantom? at least now i know that this case whatever the name did come with a 17j 7AP...Thank you again for the very fast response...i do more research looking at the vintage ads for those years...thanks...
In reply to 'PHANTOM'like, the Watch has by FifthAvenueRes…
right i got that part when you said i the frist time..."thats why i said whatever the name is, I know that the movement is correct to the watch" or something like that....i looked in the ads during the years as the date code on my watch claims it is...i couldn't find anything other than a Phantom that looks like these two models do.....Maybe the drawing in the ADs are of this watch, and the artist left out the subdial .I have other examples of this on Known Presidents from the same era pictured without the subdial that should have them....Errors like that on the ads are pretty common..Because if you think about it Why would bulova not advertise a watch like that unless it was already there..Maybe the subdial was an option, that cost more money...The only difference would be the third wheel and the dial...and maybe they charged more for that...it makes sense...also i haven't found a picture of a case that comes close to this case...
In reply to Case is shorter than the by FifthAvenueRes…
thats true the case is shorter...i thought this watch was a president for the longest time,till i saw a real president...the case is almost 10mm shorter,but the watch is wider..The subdial and lack of subdial on the pictures of the phantom, is what made me believe that the watch was a president...the 17j movement really wasn/t what made me question,because of old watchmakers changing movements to repair watches,all the time...so that wasn't too odd..it was seeing the different cases...I wish we could label this watch a phantom but i guess until we see one with the subdial, i guess we can't....its odd that if this is a phantom bulova never advertised it with a subdail...i can't seem to find a pic with a subdial,yet anyway...maybe they didn't want to pay the artist more money to draw one on...who knows...but like it has been stated before, "who knows how many names we lose because of ads not being 100 percent correct all the time" or something like that i remember reading that in a comment about a 1960s president with the cat eyes(which i am about to restore,it was my grandfathers,with a grey dial)