Lady Rockland

Submitted by DrexHill on January 14, 2017 - 2:11am

Greetings all, I'm a new Bulova owner and discovered this site when trying to decide whether to bid on a beat up old pocket watch with a cracked crystal. Or maybe I got here after I took a modest flier and was trying to figure out what exactly I'd won. It was late. Long story short (probably too late for that) I am the proud owner of a lady Rockland. I've posted a couple of pictures showing up as a New Watch 1922 unknown. It's not really unknown. It says Rockland right on the front. The date of manufacture is the unknown. I guessed '22.

Bulova Rockland

I didn't find any pictures of Rocklands here, so I posted a couple from the auction. I'm awaiting shipment and will post more. The form wouldn't let me post without a movement serial number, so I just put in a placeholder, which is certainly wrong. I spent hours after the auction with my friend Google trying to find out more. I spotted a picture of a Bulova with the same distinctive bow and when I clicked on it, it brought me back here to a page on a 1921 Lady Maxim. They look strikingly similar to my untrained eye.

It's purportedly running. Knock on wood. Anyway, there seems to be a shortage of photos of the Rockland model, so I though I'd share what I have. It's not marked Lady Rockland, so I'm curious whether there are men's Rocklands as well. Apparently I'll be researching replacement of vintage petite pocket watch crystals, so any advice along those lines is very welcome.

 

Reverend Rob
Posted January 14, 2017 - 2:30am

Rockland was a registered Bulova trademark, officially in 1927, but in common use since May of 1917. 

We don't have one of these in the database, so thank you for posting this. I'm guessing it is very much along the lines of the Lady Maxim and other small pocket and pendant watches in the line. This type of watch was very popular back in the day, and examples from many manufacturers abound. They were often advertised as 'convertibles', meaning you could wear it as a pendant or pocket watch, or attach a small bracelet and wear it on your wrist. 

Crystals for your watch are still available, they will be domed mineral glass or even the acrylic type. Originally it was glass of course, and these are fitted snugly, sometimes with jeweller's adhesive. Very old pocket watches sometimes had crystals that were fitted using heat to expand the bezel, at which point the crystal slipped in, and as the metal cooled, it held the crystal fast. Of course, the tolerance for this was very close, and if you had a crystal that wasn't quite small enough, it would crack right in front of your eyes as it cooled. 

DrexHill
Posted January 14, 2017 - 3:14am

I saw the trademark information earlier. It's interesting. I started out trying to find a link from my watch to the Illinois Rocklands. There isn't one. Two companies using the same model name. One stopped. I would have guessed that Illinois had the trademark. Maybe they had better lawyers.

mybulova_admin
Posted January 14, 2017 - 10:10pm

Bulova Rockland Tademark, 1917 - 1927