Bulova 666 Diver

OllieOnTheRocks · Mar 12, 2022

Dear all,

I bid on this watch, and sadly did not win. It was the relisted for half the price the auction ended on and I was very tempted to buy but after 3 messages and no response from the seller over a week, it eventually sold. So I did not buy it.

I think it's a great looking diver, but is probably the only bulova diver I like the look of, so I wondered if anyone had advice as to what this model reference might be, or if there is some specific term that differentiates this diver from the other Bulova divers from this era.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vtg-1967...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The buy it now was $1200 which I thought was a little steep, but it sure is a looker. Was this a fair price? Also if anyone has one they fancy selling please do get in touch 😜

Ollie 😀

jantjewgm · Mar 12, 2022

This one has a really cool look. Very different than the more common ones

TDBK · Mar 12, 2022

Bulova Snorkel "J", compare to https://www.buyingontime.com/bot-archives/bulova-snorkel-j-1967 or https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/oh7w56/bulova_snorkel_j_new_to_the_collection_patina_porn/. They're not common, I've been looking for one for a while. A lot of sellers don't know the "J" model code and there's no distinctive name on the dial, so it's hard to set alerts for; you have to wade through all the "Bulova 666" models. I don't have a good sense of pricing, but demand outpaces supply, so unless you find a deal, it's not going to be cheap.

COYI · Mar 12, 2022

Hi Ollie,
It is know as a Snorkel J and was produced in 1967

Screen Shot 2019-05-10 at 8.22.23 AM.png

JwRosenthal · Mar 12, 2022

I watched that one too. It has the bizarre white growth from the lume- we have seen it before on this forum but nobody seemed to know what it was. I assume it is some kind of fungus.

perenowell · Mar 12, 2022

Gorgeous watch! I really like this model.
That white growth is weird indeed... I've never seen anything like that.

OllieOnTheRocks · Mar 13, 2022

TDBK
Bulova Snorkel "J", compare to https://www.buyingontime.com/bot-archives/bulova-snorkel-j-1967 or https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/oh7w56/bulova_snorkel_j_new_to_the_collection_patina_porn/. They're not common, I've been looking for one for a while. A lot of sellers don't know the "J" model code and there's no distinctive name on the dial, so it's hard to set alerts for; you have to wade through all the "Bulova 666" models. I don't have a good sense of pricing, but demand outpaces supply, so unless you find a deal, it's not going to be cheap.

COYI
Hi Ollie,
It is know as a Snorkel J and was produced in 1967

Thank you - very useful 😀

JwRosenthal
I watched that one too. It has the bizarre white growth from the lume- we have seen it before on this forum but nobody seemed to know what it was. I assume it is some kind of fungus.

Yes I did see that, but otherwise, a very nice example - was hoping it might be something that could be removed during a service.

Dan S · Mar 13, 2022

OllieOnTheRocks
I bid on this watch, and sadly did not win. It was the relisted for half the price the auction ended on and I was very tempted to buy but after 3 messages and no response from the seller over a week, it eventually sold. So I did not buy it.

So the BIN was $1200, which was half the previous auction price of $2400 and you didn't buy it? Just out of curiosity, do you mind sharing your maximum bid?

OllieOnTheRocks · Mar 13, 2022

Dan S
So the BIN was $1200, which was half the previous auction price of $2400 and you didn't buy it? Just out of curiosity, do you mind sharing your maximum bid? 😕

Well the top two bidders had zero feedback, and they increased the price between then both from $1400 to $2000 odd, so I wasn't sure that the final sale price was a good indication of value anyway. Also, the main reason was down to not having my questions answered that I was awaiting. As I live in the UK, I was asking the seller if he'd be happy to post to a friend in the US who could send to me, as unlike the auction, the BIN did not allow bids from UK.

Dan S · Mar 13, 2022

OllieOnTheRocks
Well the top two bidders had zero feedback, and they increased the price between then both from $1400 to $2000 odd, so I wasn't sure that the final sale price was a good indication of value anyway. Also, the main reason was down to not having my questions answered that I was awaiting. As I live in the UK, I was asking the seller if he'd be happy to post to a friend in the US who could send to me, as unlike the auction, the BIN did not allow bids from UK.

Makes sense. Frankly, I'd be suspicious of that seller after seeing those auction results.

JwRosenthal · Mar 13, 2022

Dan S
Makes sense. Frankly, I'd be suspicious of that seller after seeing those auction results.

It looks like he got run up at the end by a new account. Then he relisted at $1.4K, then dropped it within 10 minutes to $1.2k…I was watching it pretty closely. I think it was a picker (not a watch seller) and someone was trying to scam him for it.

TexOmega · Mar 13, 2022

For those of us just riding in on a load of turnips, wearing overalls....... please outline this attempted scam.

JwRosenthal · Mar 13, 2022

TexOmega
For those of us just riding in on a load of turnips, wearing overalls....... please outline this attempted scam.

I guess scam is the wrong term- there were shenanigans going on, I don’t think the seller was part of them (not clear shill bidding) but it was a little odd the way things went. Then it sat at $1.2k for a bit before someone finally bought it.

TexOmega · Mar 13, 2022

I wasn't following the auction, but seems unseemly as described above.

JwRosenthal · Mar 13, 2022

If it didn’t have the funky Chernobyl fungus, I would have found a way to scrape the money together for it at $1.2k and figured it out later.
I am still mystified by that, as I said, we saw it before on another watch here about a year ago (can’t remember the thread but I do remember the growth). It looks like lint or threads of some kind growing directly out of the lume…bizarre.

Scarecrow Boat · Mar 13, 2022

JwRosenthal
can’t remember the thread but I do remember the growth

I believe this from @MoclovFlop may be what you are looking for

https://omegaforums.net/threads/radiotrophic-fungi-and-you.132773/

MoclovFlop · Mar 14, 2022

Scarecrow Boat
I believe this from @MoclovFlop may be what you are looking for

https://omegaforums.net/threads/radiotrophic-fungi-and-you.132773/

Yeah, I saw the listing for the J and was VERY surprised to see another fungus model.

Really makes me wonder what the hell Bulova was using or doing to cause such this to happen.

JwRosenthal · Mar 14, 2022

MoclovFlop
Yeah, I saw the listing for the J and was VERY surprised to see another fungus model.

Really makes me wonder what the hell Bulova was using or doing to cause such this to happen.

So here are more pics of it

And here is another that’s up right now with more of this white growth. It looks like it got moved around when the seller started it up after years of sitting and it smeared around the dial

I have never seen this on a watch before. The lume on these watches is still bright yellow so it’s not like these took on much moisture (although you can see a little on the dial of the last one), but this has got to be some type of fungus that likes the Tritium.

JwRosenthal · Mar 14, 2022

Hmmm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium

MoclovFlop · Mar 14, 2022

JwRosenthal
So here are more pics of it

And here is another that’s up right now with more of this white growth. It looks like it got moved around when the seller started it up after years of sitting and it smeared around the dial

I have never seen this on a watch before. The lume on these watches is still bright yellow so it’s not like these took on much moisture (although you can see a little on the dial of the last one), but this has got to be some type of fungus that likes the Tritium.

I'm sure I knocked a few years off my life by opening mine.

I also had a friend send me this photo of one that has the growth on what I can only assume is radium...... now THAT is some strong-willed mold.

EDIT - Sorry for the thread hijack

Bulova 666 Diver

OllieOnTheRocks

jantjewgm

TDBK

COYI

JwRosenthal

perenowell

OllieOnTheRocks

Dan S

OllieOnTheRocks

Dan S

JwRosenthal

TexOmega

JwRosenthal

TexOmega

JwRosenthal

Scarecrow Boat

MoclovFlop

JwRosenthal

JwRosenthal

MoclovFlop

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