Does anyone know what year was the first year Bulova started putting antimagnetic on the dial? I have a Bulova on its way that has this above the six on the dial and Bulova in its normal spot under the 12. Thing is i dont know what movement it has as i never got a shot of the inside movement.
Perhaps it's an aftermarked dial, or a jewelers custom dial and for what ever reason, they decided to place Bulova and antimagnetic on the dial. Maybe some "company" made a bunch of these dials, and there are more out there. I don't recall any marketed Bulova w/ antimagnetic on the dial . When ya get it and we have more and better pictures, more will be revealed.
Aftermarket or 'replacement' Cases come with a Dial.
http://www.ofrei.com/page675.html
You have to know what to look for when Buying or You're going to get burned.
In reply to Aftermarket or 'replacement' by FifthAvenueRes…
I had commented a couple months ago that I was not aware of any Bulova knock-off's because I didn't think there was enough profit for this at a production scale. Live and learn. I found reference to trademark infringement lawsuit which was apparently spanned many years (1933 thru the 1950's???). Apparently a US national citizen (Sidney Steele) living in the USA owned a watch production/assembly company in Mexico. This company started using the Bulova signature on the dials around 1933 (I'm not sure how the movements or cases were hallmarked/signed). The owner applied for and was granted the Mexican equivalent of a patent for the name Bulova at this time. Although Bulova brought suit and lost several times over the years, the use continued. Although the trademark Bulova was registered in USA from a 1927 trademark act, and again under the Lenham act of 1946, the USA had no jurisdiction over the use in Mexico. Bulova took the case to appeals in 1952, and again lost.
It appears that Steel purchased watch movements from various places, including Swiss movements, and for a period of time purchased cases and dials in USA (among other places), and used these in his Mexico assembly plant. It would be interesting to see how the movements and cases were stamped.
For those interested, you can read more about the appeals case of 1952 here.
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/194/567/460388/
So this constituted a large scale production of knock-off Bulova, which the case record indicates had substantial influx of these watches into USA for many years. Apparently these watches were advertised in Mexico simultaneously with legitimate Bulova advertising, which must have increased their sales there.
Now us collectors can be on the lookout for the "Mexican Bulova", although it sounds like it would be a poor counterfeit at best...and I don't know what any of these watches actually looked like.
I think it would be safe to assume that the quality factor would be lacking, regardless of the Swiss movts used. We know what movt was supposed to have been used, and we can compare that with ones found in suspicious watches. I very much doubt Steele would have been able to purchase the same movts Bulova used, so the stamps won't jive with the movt ID. For example, a movt stamped '10BC' must be an AS 1200. If it isn't, we would know it was an attempt at forgery. Similarly, the case materials and amount of gold fill should point to the watch being a likely fake. I don't think I've ever come across a Bulova where my first reaction was surprise at lack of quality, but I'll certainly be much more vigilant in future. Also, there may be more of these in the US than Canada.
I must say, your research is very much appreciated, William, I think this is extremely important information, and will be of interest to all Bulova collectors. This answers the question: Who would fake a Bulova?