A recent purchase that absolutely intrigued me. This case style started out as the Princeton, with gold stick hands and became the His Excellency "AA" in mid 1947, with a face and hand change some time in '47 or '48. Seconds subdial is recessed as seen.
The face on this watch is quite remarkable and can't be appreciated without a jeweler's loupe.. The shading lines on each bowling pin are crisp and different, as are the bowling balls. I have seen many American Bowling Congress Bulova award watches dating from the 1960's into the 1990's, and all were Bulova watches minus Bulova on the face with decaled bowling logos and text, which would seem to indicate they are Bulova production. I can't even venture a guess how this one was done.
Face isn't a Princeton or HE re-done, as both had raised gold markers. Both also at one point used these stick hands, but in gold, not blued steel. Based on the extreme attention to detail and obvious quality, I have a hard time believing this is a 3rd party replacement face. I'm thinking this was a short lived and seldom purchased Bulova special order award watch that started out as an HE"AA" . I have never seen another.
Watch shows no plating wear and subtle toning on the face. I installed the period scissor band. Watch is running and keeping time.
Call it what you will, I personally call it my new favorite Bully.........
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As far as I can tell, the only watches using this casing were the Princeton and HE "AA". As a side note, here is a participant pin from the first ABC League Tournament held in 1901. Granted, it's almost 50 years prior to the watch, but notice the striking artwork style similarities to the face of the watch.
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I wish it was engraved, it would have made it much easier to figure out.
Hello. I just registered on the site as I was going some research and came across this version of the bowling ball dial. Thought you might like to have it in your archives.
