Bulova watches age determination by series Preferences

BULOVA SERIAL NUMBERS Many Bulova watches have serial numbers. However, these are for identification purposes only.

No known number tables exist that correlate the date of manufacture with the serial number. Serial numbers were used solely for identification purposes. In the late 1940s, Bulova began using a series of codes to indicate the date of manufacture.

This website offers age determination by entering the factory or serial number:

emmywatch.com/db/serial/bulova/

Interestingly, the code system starting with L is well documented. However, I recently came across some watches from the 1940s with the codes "A8" and "A9." These watches were also engraved with the owner's name and the date—1948 and 1949, respectively. These must have been the first years in which Bulova introduced its new dating system.

No one knows why Bulova switched from A to L. O was skipped—P was used for the 80s. QRS was skipped, and T was used for the 90s.