Bulova 1956 La Petite

Submitted by justdressage on April 10, 2022 - 11:47am
J
Manufacture Year
1956
Movement Jewels
23
Case Serial No.
632443
Case shape
Oval
Case color
White
Case Manufacturer
Bulova
Gender
Ladies
Watch Description

Hello,

This is my grandmothers watch. If you think it's necessary I will bring to jeweler to open.

I contacted Bulova and they sent me here. I have not found one identical to this on the internet. 
Thank you for your time.

Grandmother watch 2/10/2022
Serial number of grandmother watch 2/10/2022
Kathy L.
Posted April 10, 2022 - 2:21pm

Hello and welcome to myBulova!  Thank you for sharing your grandmother's beautiful watch with us.  I am going to guess this watch is from the 1950s but haven't found a match yet.  If you want an exact date for the watch we would need to see a photo of the movement.  Hopefully we will find a model and get us in a ballpark for the year.

Kathy L.
Posted April 10, 2022 - 3:00pm

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This is from the 1956 LineBook so your watch has a possible span of 1948-1956 that we know of.

Bulova La Petite "J"

neetstuf-4-u
Posted April 10, 2022 - 6:33pm

Thank you for sharing your grandmother's watch with us! I'm going to agree this is a La Petite "J".

OK, Panel, I have a theory. Based on the other example called out by Kathy and the case serial numbers of that one and this one, It's possible that solid gold cases in the 1950's may have been dated like earlier pre-1950 watches. The s/n of this one is 735557 and subject watch is s/n 632443.

If the s/n is just a production number, the difference between these two watches is 103,114. That number seems high to me for a solid gold diamond encrusted ladies watch, $150 in 1956 is worth $1,564.61 today. If the first number indicates year and is discounted; the difference is 3,114. That seems to be a reasonable number for 2 specialty watches dated a year apart.

If we had a date code off the movement of either of these watches, it would likely prove or disprove this thought. I'm inclined at this point with available info to date this watch as 1956.

1956 La Petite "J"

 

 

1955mercury
Posted January 8, 2024 - 2:48pm

In reply to by neetstuf-4-u

I think you are correct Neetstuf. I have one of these with serial number 649198 and it has a 23 jewel 5AD movement stamped "L6".

JimDon5822
Posted April 11, 2022 - 12:23am

1956 Bulova La Petite "J" looks to be a good match

Geoff Baker
Posted January 8, 2024 - 8:41pm

A wonderful keepsake from your grandmother - congratulations! 1956 Bulova La Petite J