Bulova 1918 Hudson Maxim

Submitted by Stinky_Sullivan on February 4, 2024 - 8:43am
Manufacture Year
1918
Movement Jewels
7
Case Serial No.
None
Case shape
Round
Case color
White
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

I know Bulova wasn’t the only company to put some variation of Hudson Maxim’s name on a watch so I figured, what the hell, let’s see what the panel has to say.  This watch belongs to a friend. He supplied the pictures.

The movement was made by Racine Freres. The only marks on the case appear to say GERBER SWISS.

Initially, I told him it doesn’t have the hallmarks of a Bulova. But I don’t know about the very early days and how Bulova did things. He found some reference in a form saying Bulova used Racine Freres movements in the earliest watches.

If this flat out isn’t an early Bulova in any way, please remove it from the database. It sure would be cool if it was though.

Hudson Maxim dial
Hudson Maxim movement
Hudson Maxim case
mybulova_admin
Posted February 7, 2024 - 5:12am

It's certainly going to  be pre 1925. I've reached out to our resident Hudson Maxim expert.

Very interesting watch. Let's hope we can authenticate it.

Geoff Baker
Posted February 7, 2024 - 9:48pm

Holding, pending verification from Richard (aka "the expert")

mybulova_admin
Posted February 7, 2024 - 10:18pm

Q. Is the dial ceramic, and are there any hallmarks on the back of it?

Stinky_Sullivan
Posted February 7, 2024 - 10:27pm

In reply to by mybulova_admin

It is ceramic. Unknown if there are any hallmarks. He will ask the watchmaker that serviced it but since there wasn’t a need to know at that time, he probably didn’t look. I will update when I know for sure.

Stinky_Sullivan
Posted February 7, 2024 - 11:27pm

In reply to by Stinky_Sullivan

We’re looking into having the dial removed to examine the back side.

mybulova_admin
Posted February 8, 2024 - 5:50am

In reply to by Stinky_Sullivan

Good news is that Bulova was known to use movements from the maker stamped on the movement.

Stinky_Sullivan
Posted February 8, 2024 - 9:24am

In reply to by mybulova_admin

Did the ever do it without having the Bulova name on the movement? Being the expert didn’t shoot it down for that, I’m inclined to think they did.

mybulova_admin
Posted February 8, 2024 - 5:46pm

In reply to by Stinky_Sullivan

The jury is still out. These watches, if they are something Bulova touched, are very early on in their watch selling timeframe.

Here's the example that is in the museum. The watch is inscribed on the back to June 1918 and like yours contains a 7 jewelled movement.

1900s Hudson Maxuim mens wrist watch

Stinky_Sullivan
Posted February 8, 2024 - 5:51pm

In reply to by mybulova_admin

Does the movement say Bulova?

As for a hallmark on the back side of the dial, I assume if there is none, that doesn’t prove anything either way but there is a hallmark, that would be an indicator and what it would indicate depends on the hallmark. Is that accurate?

mybulova_admin
Posted February 10, 2024 - 8:10pm

In reply to by Stinky_Sullivan

Bulova were not stamping their name on movements during this perod, but using SWISS made movements from other manufactures.

It's not known what the movement is stamped inside the above watch.

It's hard to say for certain if this is indeed a watch Bulova handled and sold? They certainly claim to be the makers of the 'Hudson Maxim' watches. We can only assume this applied to both pocket and wrist watches.

I've found an online reference to the 'Racine Freres' movements being dated to around 1914 to 1918.

For now though I'd be comfortable IDing as a 1918 Hudson Maxim for the sake of the database.