For 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.
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.
The movement dates from around 1960, according to Ranfft, and has a properly poised and temperature adjusted balance.
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.
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.
I re-use the old mainspring, as it’s pretty spritely.
Just to give you an idea of scale – putting back the cap jewel on the balance cock.
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!
10 to 5 – time to call it a day!
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
eBay or an auction house are your best bets.
Best wishes,
Christian
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 😉