Bulova Selfwinding - Octagonal Case Cut in Eight Facets - Champagne Sunburst Dial - 1966

In the summer of 1966 the drive-ins filled at dusk. Cars came in off the highway and parked in long curved rows facing the screen, speaker boxes were lifted onto the window glass, and couples settled low in their seats to wait for dark. Then the picture came up over the lot. Its light reached back across the hoods and windshields, and gold caught it at the wrists resting on seat backs and door sills.

Bulova printed the word Selfwinding across its dials that year and set almost every one of them in a round case. The case is a unique octagon shape, a square with its corners cut short and polished flat, so that eight faces stand where four would and each one has to be finished on its own. The lugs sweep down from the top and the bottom to meet the strap, and each is worked with a facet of its own, a second polished plane running the length of it. Patek Philippe would not put an octagon on the Nautilus for another ten years. Within the eight sides the bezel steps down to a plain circle.

The dial inside that circle is a pale champagne, brushed in a sunburst that runs out from the middle. Applied gold batons stand at the hours, each inlaid down its length with a line of black, and at twelve they are doubled. Bulova is printed beneath them, Selfwinding above the six.

Inside beats caliber 11ALAC, seventeen jewels and Swiss, winding itself from the motion of the wrist. The rotor is signed Bulova Watch Co, and the company's mark is cut clean through the steel, so the wheels turn in the opening behind it. Two faceted gold hands cross the dial above it, and a slender gold seconds hand sweeps behind them.

The back is stainless steel, the case above it plated in gold. A new domed acrylic crystal stands over the dial. The strap is brown crocodile grain with cream stitching, dried and cracked along its length and stamped genuine leather on the underside. Fine scratches cross the polished faces, and the gold has worn thinnest at the tips of the lugs and along the cut corners, the high points of the shape. The watch runs, and its service history is unknown.

Terms: Please review all photos carefully as they are a part of the listing. This is a vintage timepiece. Accuracy, power reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Vintage watches may require periodic service. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position.

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