This is a 14k gold cased, 1945 Director. It was redialed about 55 years ago. This was my father's watch which he got after serving in WW2. He gave it to me in the 1960's. He was always a stickler for restoring anything an everything of value to it's original perfection and that is why after he gave it me, a few years later he took it into his friend Huey, a watchmaker in Miami, FL to have it redialed. When I got it back, I was VERY, VERY disappointed! The dial looked too, too white! The original dial was more of an off-white color as I recall. I asked my father why it was so white looking and he said the watch makers use what they can get, and can't always match the original color because the watches are so old. In addition, I noticed the redial had a small blob of an imperfection on the "B" in the Bulova. I never mentioned that part to my father. I guess I inherited my father's "stickler for perfection" thing. As for the numerals, I think they were just a tad smaller than the original dial. This leads me to believe it was a replacement dial and not a refinished dial. The watch still has the 55+ year old Speidel band that he bought for me. It runs great. Sorry for all the personal gab, but I think many of you appreciate personal touches. This watch probably why I collect Bulovas.
Great watch and great story to go with it. Agreed, it's a 14K Director as seen in the 1944 ad below.
I find one other example in the database, and it appears to be a dead match to your Dad's watch, including the face. Memories can be a funny thing. It's possible you remember discoloration from age around the numbers, so when it was cleaned up, it looked like the numbers were smaller.
In reply to Great watch and great story… by neetstuf-4-u
Bob, thanks for the comments and the quick ad posting. $125 was a LOT of money back then. But my grandfather (my father's father-in-law) was a jeweler and probably either gifted my father or got for him wholesale. From the ad I see that this originally had what looked like a curved (domed) crystal. My watch originally had this type of crystal, but I always thought it didn't look good on the watch. A few years ago, a watch repair man put on the flat crystal which when I got it back, I was happy to see. If I ever replace it, I will now get the original domed, curved crystal.
Dennis