Just a guess for this watch that my wife recently inherited from a grandmother. After looking at the collected advertisements, I believe it is a "Her excellency" based on cushion shape, perhaps "T", "U" or something else. Not sure about year. Distinguishing features are the two diamonds and 14K white gold case. Speidel wristband appears not to be original. Had it cleaned at a watchstore. Crown and dial are original.
Thanks for any expertise shared. I am a watch novice.
Hi Patrick If it resembles both T and/or U variant, then I'd be inclined to ID w/o the letter variant. If it matched the ad (s) for only U (including any text description in ad (s)) and that text was sufficient to exclude from other variant text in ads), then that suggests U variant. It's kinda the mutually exclusive/totally exhaustive and sufficient/necessary lines of thought/logic. Other similar known watch records are useful, but unless there exists good documentation or reasoning for how these watches were ID'ed, then that may suggest the other watch records are incorrectly ID'ed or they may only have one/two stars as they are entered. Fun isn't it!
Thanks for the comments. I have removed the "U" categorization (for now, at least). My guess at 1948 was the result of:
1. interpreting the date code as "48" (admittedly my photo is not so clear just below and to the left of the crown). Is there somewhere else on the back that I should be looking at? While not clear, it does not look like "47", "49", or "J9".
2. looking at the first vintage ad for 1948 (rightmost watch in green box). Admittedly, the first vintage ad for 1947 includes a similar image. Both of these are for Her Excellency "U". (I don't know how to capture those popups on my vista machine and add them to my images above.)
Thanks Patrick. I'll recheck the ads you mention.
The clearer T from 1947
and 1948 U from 1948
look same. Artist really made the diamond look bigger! Perhaps the difference is the U is white gold and the T is yellow gold. If that's the variant letter designation, then yours could be the U
'T' is Yellow Gold
'U' is White Gold.
Agreed!
which really helps debunk a highly speculative myth.
http://www.mybulova.com/watches/1948-his-excellency-aa-3564?page=1
Thanks for posting the adverts, and clarifying on the letter designation. Since my wife's watch is definitely white gold rather than yellow gold, I will courageously return to my initial labelling of 1948 "Her Excellency U".
And I guess I should be glad that I'm able to contribute to mythbusting elsewhere!