Bulova 1957 First Lady

Submitted by mstar911 on September 22, 2018 - 12:47am
L
Manufacture Year
1957
Movement Model
5ad
Movement Date Code
Arrow
Movement Jewels
23
Movement Serial No.
-
Case Serial No.
U42692
Case shape
Tonneau
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Gender
Ladies
Watch Description

I would like to know a little more about this watch. According to the case it is a 1957(L7) 18k gold ladies watch. It has a 23 jewel movement according to the face. as well as the movement. I am not sure what model this watch may be. I have not been able to in my cursory research found many 18k gold, let alone 23 jewel movement watches, for ladies in that year. It runs beautifully, and I would love to know more about it and where it may have come from.

Thanks for any insight into this lovely piece.

1957 Bulova First Lady L  watch
1957 Bulova watch
1957 Bulova watch
mybulova_admin
Posted September 22, 2018 - 2:14am

I can't quite make out the details of the watch, but It may be the white gold version of the "First Lady" show in this here. The yellow gold version show in the advert has the variant "I" designator.

Advert lists watch as 18K gold and 23 Jewels.

The white gold version is the "L" variant

1958 Bulova First Lady $95 Price List

Does the case look to be the same as yours?

mstar911
Posted September 22, 2018 - 3:46am

I have attached a closer view of the face. It looks similar to a few models that I have seen in the collection here. It is also similar to the 1957 La Petit, but I believe I had read somewhere in this forum that the La Petit always had diamonds.

neetstuf-4-u
Posted September 23, 2018 - 7:17am

Hi mstar911, welcome to mybulova. A real beauty, for sure.

Man, First Lady L is close, but with the better photo, it appears the little center triangles on the lugs are "points to the face" in ad as opposed to "points to the band" on subject watch.

It may well be a First Lady variant, but I don't think it's an "L".

Still unknown for me and still looking.

Kathy L.
Posted September 22, 2018 - 3:34pm

Welcome to mybulova!  What a lovely watch.  There were not as many made in 18K.  It is Unknown for me at the moment but will keep looking.

Kathy L.
Posted September 22, 2018 - 3:47pm

It looks like the First Lady line was 18K.  Maybe the "E"

Kathy L.
Posted September 22, 2018 - 7:06pm

Well looking at them in this ad I think the case shape is more like the "I" like Stephen suggested.  I am thinking it is a First Lady.   The lugs are a bit more angular than the photo shows but I found a couple of these on ebay and on some of the photos it looked more like the drawing in this ad.  I'm going to go with 1957 Bulova First Lady "I"

  

Geoff Baker
Posted September 23, 2018 - 7:02am

This certainly is a wonderful little watch. We don't see many Bulova in 18K. I'm a bit confused on the "I" / "L" question. The price list referenced above shows "L" as the white gold version. As this watch appears to be white, I'm more in line with that variant. Kathy, I see the advert you posted showing the "I" as being available in white or yellow but I think I'm going to defer to the price list this time.

1957 Bulova First lady L

neetstuf-4-u
Posted September 23, 2018 - 7:53am

Here is a close-up snippet from 1957 ad Stephen referenced for "I" yellow / "L" white.

I think the lugs are different. Based on the fact it's 18K , 23J and very similar:

1957 First Lady - unknown variant (for now)

The other option is to say that by process of elimination it must be an "L" and ad is visually incorrect artistic license

neetstuf-4-u
Posted September 23, 2018 - 8:36am

Here is an ad from 1958 with no variant in yellow. I suspect that the descriptions are possibly not fully correct as the watch ID'ed as MW  (#16) is extremely close to subject watch, while #17 has a confirmed 18K in the Db

 

 #17 has Different dial than subject watch but lugs are closer in configuration. It's all quite confusing.

Kathy L.
Posted September 23, 2018 - 11:00am

In reply to by neetstuf-4-u

It looks more like the Martha Washington doesn't it?  I know we know it isn't that one but it is a confusing one I agree.  I am pretty surprised by how little there is in price between the two as well.