Service: Bulova 23 Ladies calibre 5AD

IMG_3955For all those who think that the US couldn’t produce great watch movements, I present the Bulova 5AD, a little masterpiece of American watch making.

Paul from WatchOtaku.com sent it in, and it doesn’t work at all.IMG_3957

The movement is 13mm x 15.2mm, so pretty tiny. Here it is on a 1p coin. Now have a closer look. 23 jewels, and third, fourth and escape wheel have cap jewels, all beautifully executed in one triangular cap. The movement is in exceptionally good condition, and a beauty.IMG_3960

The movement dates from around 1960, according to Ranfft, and has a properly poised and temperature adjusted balance.IMG_3964

The gear train. There is a change of alignment for the escape wheel, which enables to the balance, pallet fork and escape wheel to be in one line.IMG_3968

The bottom plate with the cap jewel for the balance on the right, and a double cap jewel for escape and fourth wheel on the left.IMG_3975

All clean and ready to go.IMG_3976

I re-use the old mainspring, as it’s pretty spritely.IMG_3979

Just to give you an idea of scale – putting back the cap jewel on the balance cock.IMG_3984

Back together and beating.IMG_3988

As you would expect from such a small movement, you don’t get a straight beat rate, but a bit of an up and down. Nevertheless, very good for the age and size!IMG_3987

10 to 5 – time to call it a day!

3 thoughts on “Service: Bulova 23 Ladies calibre 5AD

  1. I have the exact same watch and am looking to sell this beautiful watch. Any ideas where I can present it to a collector for sale? Thank you

  2. Dates from exactly 1960 if you believe the M0 date code on the movement!

    Those multi-jewel caps are a very nice touch – presumably they save a bit of machining and space as well as being quite smart; the execution generally seems a lot more refined than other cocktail-sized movements I have seen – I guess the New World makers do know how to do it properly 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.