# Vintage Caravelle



## azerbaijanman (Mar 19, 2012)

Hi there,

I just bought this Caravelle watch on eBay. The seller when asked had no idea of its age, so I was wondering if any of you guys had any ideas about it? I know that Caravelles were made by Bulova and were more of a 'budget' line, I just bought it because I liked the way it looked. Any more info than that would be heartily appreciated, thanks!


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## AbslomRob (Jun 13, 2009)

Caravelle's, like Bulova's, will have a datecode stamped on the movement, and usually the caseback too. They follow the standard Bulova system; the first character is a letter indicating the decade (L=50's, M=60's,N=70's, etc) and the second character is the year in that decade. So (for example) M5 would indicate 1965. This system started in the 50's, but I don't think they were making caravelle's before then anyway.

Bulova Date Codes | myBulova.com


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## azerbaijanman (Mar 19, 2012)

Hi there,

The caseback has 200252 on it. I'm a bit reluctant to open the watch up as I have no idea what I'm doing. Any ideas?

Thanks.


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## bjohnson (Nov 28, 2006)

Any ideas?

Yep. Frankenwatch.

That's an Edox logo on the back


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## azerbaijanman (Mar 19, 2012)

bjohnson said:


> Any ideas?
> 
> Yep. Frankenwatch.
> 
> That's an Edox logo on the back


That logo is on the crown too. Any chance it's a genuine Edox?


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## bjohnson (Nov 28, 2006)

It could be a genuine Edox Frankenwatch (with a Caravelle dial)

At this point we don't know what movement is in it


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## azerbaijanman (Mar 19, 2012)

Just plucked up the courage to open the back (bearing in mind this is my first 'proper' watch). Photo's not great but here it is:








Looks like a smaller movement held in place with a plastic spacer. Have I wasted my money?


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## bjohnson (Nov 28, 2006)

Looks like you've got an Edox Franken with a Caravelle dial

Time to shop for a non-working Edox with the same movement and a good dial (to put on this one or put this movement in the new watch).

BTW, the movement brand and calibre are marked under the balance wheel


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## AbslomRob (Jun 13, 2009)

Here's the skinny. Most of the normal and budget mechanical vintage watches in the world were all created by a relatively small group of "movement" manufacturers (ETA, A.Schild, Unitas, etc). These movements are bought by a second company and put into watches (I'm simplyfying a bit, but that's the general gist). The point is that you will often find the exact same movement in watches by different companies. And that means that you can easily take the dial off of one watch and put it in another. The biggest challenge with that is making sure the dial fits the case, but by the 60's and 70's, you often saw the budget brands all using the same case too.

So, what you have here is probably a genuine (whatever that means) Edox where someone replaced the dial with a dial from a Caravelle (probably one where the movement didn't work).

Did you waste your money? Not really. It's a decent movement, and the dial looks nice. It wouldn't really be worth more if it was all-caravelle, or all Edox. And if you like the way it looks now, and thought it was worth the money when you spent it, then you can continue to like the way it looks and enjoy the watch now.

Do keep in mind that mechanical watches do need to be periodically serviced to keep them running smoothly. Bit like a car in that respects; it'll keep running if you don't change the oil regularily, but it won't run as well and eventually may destroy itself. Every 5-10 years is recommended (and considering the cost of servicing vs. the cost of the watch, I'd probably opt for the higher end of that scale).


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## bjohnson (Nov 28, 2006)

I don't disagree with anything you say, but that's a Swiss movement (I can see the Swiss ebauche under the balance) and I've only seen Asian movements in Caravelles

The dial feet "may" have been in the right locations but I won't be surprised to find out the dial is fastened with dial dots or something else.

So we're well within everybody's definition of "Frankenwatch" and as a group, vintage watch collectors try to avoid Frankens


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## Hartmut Richter (Feb 13, 2006)

The movement is an Adolf Schild Cal. AS 1801 or something from that family (1803, 1941, 1951, depending on size and beat rate):

bidfun-db Archiv: Uhrwerke: AS 1801 (Standard 1801)

The signature may be "AS" or "AS/ST" or "ST" ("ST" being "Standard Time"), depending on exactly when it was made.

Hartmut Richter


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## AbslomRob (Jun 13, 2009)

There's lots of swiss-made caravelle's; a quick look through ebay shows many with "swiss" on the dial.


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## trim (Mar 22, 2010)

bjohnson said:


> I've only seen Asian movements in Caravelles


FYI, I am sitting here holding a genuine Swiss Caravelle. The early ones were I believe.

Of course the watch in this thread is a franken, no question. The Edox would have been the better watch at the time.

EDIT: and Rob beat me to it :-d


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## kurtnz (Jul 22, 2009)

When I was in my finial year at secondary school, the whole class went to visit as small watch factory that assembled Caravelle watches. They produced wrist watches and all sorts of novelty watches. I remember getting a cigarette lighter with a watch in its body as a keepsake. I kept that for many years and then threw it out. This would have been in the early 60's. The factory isn't there anymore. They did take care in their assembly. I remember being impressed with the water tank where they immersed watches and then put pressure in the tank to simulate a certain depth.
These watches would have been very cheap as we all got a sample to take home.


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