Sold a watch this week. Happens all the time, right? I hadn’t run an ad, and actually, had not contemplated selling it. But several years ago, I was involved in a discussion on the NAWCC message board (different user name there) on Bulova, Westfield, Caravelle watches. I added information about another little known Bulova product, Arday watches. Arde Bulova was Josef Bulova’s son, and he was involved with Bulova during their heyday. The Arday watch was named for him. I had discussed the Arday watch on the Omega board as well (I use Canuck, here). He found the thread on the NAWCC board, and sent me a PM. Before I replied, he also found a thread on the Omega board wherein I mentioned the watch. With the difference in user names, he PMed me here, and he asked if I was the owner of the Arday. I replied in the affirmative. He told me that he really wants to buy my watch. I sent him pictures. We agreed on a (reasonable) price, and the deal was struck. I seviced it, and shipped it on Friday (17th). His brother gets married on the 25th, and the Day family (his mother’s side) will be there.

Sixty years ago, I was in my father’s jewellery store, when Robert Day (his great great grandfather), and the then president of Bulova, Canada, was in the store. He jokingly mentioned that the Arday watch was named after him. Then he told the truth about it being named for Arde Bulova.

So, in time for his brother’s wedding, he’ll be wearing the Arday watch. What a story he will have to tell!

The Arday watch in the pictures sold for $12.95 in the late 1950s. Chrome case, faux leather strap, and a Japanese copy of the Swiss made FHF 72 movement. Dial name, Arday. I doubt this foray into the Timex market by Bulova, lasted for very long. I can count on one hand the number I’ve seen, and that would have been long ago.

Oh! And he’s not a watch collector. Or at least, he hasn’t been up to now. Somehow, the watches in our collections about which we know the back story, are somehow more interesting.

 

One small correction. Robert Day was his great grandfather, not his great great grandfather.

 

The denouement to this story is that the Arday watch was sent Express Post to the gent who discovered I had it, and fell in love with it. It reached him in time for his brother’s wedding, and he had a great time regaling his relatives with the watch and the story of his great grandfather. Robert Day was the President of Bulova, Canada, 60 years ago. He delighted in telling everyone that Bulova named the watch after him. It was named after Arde Bulova, Josef Bulova’s son. A wrist shot.