Bulova 1921 Hudson Maxim

Submitted by Reverend Rob on March 13, 2014 - 11:02am
Manufacture Year
1921
Movement Model
17R
Movement Jewels
17
Movement Serial No.
1209918
Case Serial No.
1056623
Case shape
Round
Case color
Yellow
Case Manufacturer
American Standard
Gender
Mens
Watch Description

I've been working on three pocket watches, one that is definitely a Hudson Maxim, another a probable HM, but they all bear striking similarities, which I will show. 

This watch is in the same serial number range as the Hudson Maxim, and sports a Gold Vermeil dial, in exquisite condition. It is a 17 jewel 17R movt , and I have yet to pin down the actual ebauche, but I am still looking and have several more to compare. The jewels are in gold chatons, and the balance has a fine adjustment with Breguet Overcoil. 

Not a cheap watch, to be sure, but certain elements of its manufacture tell me this was, as you might expect, not the top of the line. I found a poorly set balance jewel, which I corrected, but generally everything was executed well. I added minute quantities of India ink to spots on the black indices, and cleaned the gold dial painstakingly with a tiny sharpened toothpick. 

The plate serial number is different than the one on the barrel bridge, however, the inscribed reference numbers underneath all match the plate number. This is also true of the Hudson Maxim shown below, and I suspect it was a common practice. Why the bridge should have a different number is beyond me, when it is clearly original to the watch.

The crystal, while unlikely to be original, is at least very old, as there are small bubbles in the glass. 

I will include some comparison pics in the comments to show a re-dialed Hudson Maxim, and an Original Hudson Maxim.

After its CTR it is running strong and keeps excellent time. 

I find it interesting that Bulova seems to have limited the pocket watch line to 17''', and these watches look small when seen with other watches from the same time. 

Bulova 1921 Hudson Maxim
1921 Hudson MAxim
1921 Bulova Hudson Maxim
1921 Bulova Hudson MAxim
1921 Bulova Hudson Maxim
William Smith
Posted October 14, 2014 - 6:17am

So perhaps a 1920.  Cool.  I think this pattern w/ second digit on case holds for this watch?

jamesdudman
Posted June 30, 2016 - 9:32pm

Hi Reverend Rob

I was looking over your post on Hudson Maxim from 2014.

I came across a PW that seems to be of that era whats interesting is the watch has the same basic dial HOWEVER it reads "CHAS. S. SWIFT CO.( not sure if it is Swift tough to read) and the movement is just like the pic's you posted back in the 2014 on March 13th I believe, that the watch I have is very close to the one U posted on the RIGHT!!!. However this case was made by Duber and I believe it to be a size 14.

Is it possible this rings any bells with U.

Thanks

James