Manufacture Year:
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Movement Serial No.:
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Additional Information
Not much doubt this is an Ambassador; the question is, how do we catagorize it? Medallion case back with serial number starting with "1 - " as well as clamshell say it's an International model. Every 30 jewel Ambassador in the database has a variation of this unique back as well as a similar s/n.and we have no ads for this configuration (30 jewel).
My thoughts are that 30 Jewel Ambassadors were all produced in Europe for the Non-US market.; hence, no ads in US publications. Face on this one is marked Swiss, and the 30 jewel movements for US watches were all US "in house" produced , and the top of the line. Face marking suggests movement was produced in Switzerland.
Case back is dated N2, which matches box style (which I have never seen in green or marked as this one is.) Watch is an open through the crystal and I'm not confident enough to open it up.
My thoughts are that similar Ambassadors with a 30 jewel movement and European style serial number should be called out as either "Ambassador - International (variant)" or "International - Ambassador (variant)". It seems they should get their own sub-catagory and be grouped together until we determine if they had European advertised variant letters.
"International Line" vs. "International LTD" also comes into play. Ad referenced is way off by date (1965 vs. 1972) but at least helps confirm the premise for my theory.
Panel thoughts?








Remarkable find say I. I wonder where you got this one Bob? I remain convinced (with out any credible proof I add) that watches with this style case back are not made in the USA. Like "Scotch" having to be distilled in Scotland I think Swiss law required that a watch bearing the "Swiss" mark had to have been produced in Switzerland. This is the first clam shell of this variety I've ever seen and I think it adds to my theory. It makes sense that if Bulova were to import watches "Now available in America for the first time" that it would be the highest caliber, ie. 30 jewel. Finally, I note "waterproof" on the case back. That should not have been allowed in the USA post 1968.
I think the ID has to be "Ambassador", I think 'Bulova International" is the name of the European, or maybe the Swiss division of Bulova.
1972 Bulova Ambassaor
PS - will you please add a couple photos of the clam shell to this forum?
I'm happy to keep things simple and just ID this within the Ambassador series.
Here is a 1972 advert showing the same 'B' variant, although interestingly this one has a date window.