Bulova 1969 Sea King

Submitted by neetstuf-4-u on February 21, 2018 - 6:57pm
BF
Manufacture Year
1969
Movement Model
23 jewel
Movement Jewels
23
Movement Serial No.
-
Case Serial No.
G146818
Case shape
Cushion
Case color
Yellow
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

Looks like it should be a Date King, but it's only 23 jewels. Textured bezel front , Champagne  face and gold markers. Luminous hands and dots at hour indices.Date window at "4" position. Case back is also gold plated.

Back marked .0015 gold electroplate bezel, anti-magnetic, self winding, water resistant, 10K rolled gold plate back, Bulova  and M9.  Face marked Automatic and 23 Jewels.

I opened this up when I first got it (about a year ago) to verify date code and jewel count matched, but don't remember the mvt model. This one has me stumped.

1969 Bulova watch
1969 Bulova watch
1969 Bulova watch
1969 Bulova watch
mybulova_admin
Posted February 23, 2018 - 9:56pm

Maual wind wathes with the date window at the 4 o'clock position are rare. Here is another model (President) that also had that date window position.

Thinking Date King too, but could be something else. Still looking.

Geoff Baker
Posted February 27, 2018 - 6:39am

Case appears to be similar to mid sixties Clipper model. I don't see any match to this one. It's a nice watch, I'm guessing the band is original.

Unknown.

neetstuf-4-u
Posted February 27, 2018 - 4:58pm

I agree, case is identical to Clipper "V" which was 17J with a stainless back. I have one (a 1969) in front of me as I type this. Originality of band is an unknown. It was on the watch when I received it. Scissor center JB Champion and a nice match to the watch.

Here is subject watch in a side by side comparison with a Clipper "V" - same years.

neetstuf-4-u
Posted July 12, 2018 - 12:23pm

At the time of posting, I was unsure of band originality of subject watch. Based on the ad below provided by Stephen, I would say it's pretty obvious it's original to the watch. Perfect ad match.

Andersok
Posted February 28, 2018 - 7:12am

This could very well be another variant in the Clipper line. No ads to help us at this time, so voting for Unknown model.

mybulova_admin
Posted March 2, 2018 - 10:07pm

I'm at unknown also based on the calendar function.

mybulova_admin
Posted April 7, 2018 - 10:18pm

Found an advert showing the watch as a Bulova Date King. "AK" version is rthe 30 Jewelled, so 23 Jewelled variant unknowed, but I think its safe to say it belongs to the Date King line of models

1969 Bulova Date King "AK"

 

neetstuf-4-u
Posted July 12, 2018 - 12:26pm

Good ad find Stephen. Ad appears to show an identical watch, right down to the band. I downloaded the ad pic and blew it up as far as I could before it pixelated.

It appears to me that the watch shown in the ad has a "23" on the face as opposed to a "30" but that may just be wishful thinking on my part.

We don't have an AK in the database. Ad text could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time we caught a 50 year old text mistake in an ad.

Subject watch is a dead on identical match to the one pictured in the ad, but jewel count in ad text doesn't match. I think you are right, it's at least safe to say it's a Date King. Possible AK.

Panel thoughts?

 

Geoff Baker
Posted April 15, 2018 - 6:27am

I'm not convinced. It seems odd that Bulova would have made the same model, in the same year, in both 23 and 30 jewel.

neetstuf-4-u
Posted April 15, 2018 - 7:44am

Hey Geoff, It struck me as odd also. Hence, my assertion that perhaps the only add we have is wrong (misprint). I have actually been tracking examples of this watch model on ebay for almost a year, have only seen a few and all were 23 jewel. Here are photos of one that is dated 1974 that ended on Feb 24, 2018. Seller didn't provide a model name. Ad says silver or gilt dial; this would be the silver dial model; whereas subject watch is the gilt version.