Owners
What is my vintage Bulova watch worth?
Most vintage Bulovas are worth a few hundred dollars: the median on sale today is listed at $418. A few are worth a lot more, and the clues are on the watch itself. You can check all of them at the kitchen table.
Chances are the Bulova in front of you belonged to someone: a grandfather’s retirement watch, a mum’s dress watch, something found in a drawer. Bulova sold a huge number of watches in America from the 1920s to the 1970s, which is lovely for the family story and less lovely for the price. There are a lot of them about.
We looked at 1,008 vintage Bulova listings, 340 on sale now and 668 that have come off the market, to see what they actually go for and which ones break away from the pack. Mostly it comes down to the model and whether the case is really gold, and both are written on the watch.
What each Bulova model is worth
Start with the dial. Most vintage Bulovas just say Bulova and sit at a few hundred dollars. A handful of names are worth noticing, because they’re the ones that break away from the pack.
| Model | On sale now | Median listing price | Came off the market, median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accutron Astronaut | 9 | $2,000 | $1,750 (11 watches) |
| 666 ft divers (“Devil Diver”) | 6 | $600 | $840 (26 watches) |
| Accutron Spaceview | 2 | $720 | $720 (7 watches) |
| Accutron | 80 | $450 | $400 (81 watches) |
| Caravelle | 13 | $331 | $330 (21 watches) |
| All vintage Bulova | 340 | $418 | $385 (668 watches) |
Listing prices in US dollars, October 2026. Astronaut and 666 ft divers are counted by name in the listing, with modern reissues left out, so they overlap the Accutron and Caravelle rows. Small counts are shown as they are.
For our money the Astronaut is the one to hope for. It’s an Accutron with a second hour hand and a 24-hour bezel, so a pilot could keep two time zones at once, and it’s the only vintage Bulova in our archive that regularly lists above $1,000. The 666 ft divers come next. They carry the depth on the dial, “666 feet”, which collectors turned into the Devil Diver nickname, and you’ll find them as Snorkel, Oceanographer, Caravelle and even Accutron.
So what is a vintage Bulova worth?
Put simply, a few hundred dollars. Half of the Bulovas on sale today are listed below $418, and the ones that have already come off the market last listed at a median of $385. We can’t see what buyers finally paid, so treat both as the going rate rather than a cheque.
| Bottom 1 in 10 | Median | Top 1 in 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| On sale now (340) | below $210 | $418 | above $1,530 |
| Came off the market (668) | below $166 | $385 | above $1,150 |
Listing prices in US dollars. “Came off the market” is the last price the listing showed before it ended, not the sale price.
If you’re selling, look at where the price comes from. Across everything we’ve tracked, on sale and gone, Bulovas listed by dealers sit at a median of $450 and those on eBay at $388. We suspect most of that gap is the dealer’s servicing and returns policy, which a private seller can’t offer, so the eBay figure is your honest comparison. And a dealer buying from you will offer well below either, because they need room to service it and make a margin. That’s normal, not a rip-off.
How old is my Bulova?
This is the nice bit, because Bulova made it easy. Turn the watch over. Somewhere on the case back, usually near the serial number, there’s a small letter followed by a single digit. From 1950 onwards the letter is the decade and the digit is the year.
| Code on the back | Decade | Example |
|---|---|---|
| L and a digit | 1950s | L6 is 1956 |
| M and a digit | 1960s | M4 is 1964 |
| N and a digit | 1970s | N2 is 1972 |
| P and a digit | 1980s | P1 is 1981 |
Bulova’s own dating system, general knowledge rather than our archive.
No letter on the back? Your Bulova may be older than 1950. Before then Bulova stamped a small symbol, a circle, a triangle, a star and so on, on the movement inside rather than the case back. The same symbols repeat from one decade to the next, and the charts online don’t agree with each other, so we won’t print one here. Send us a photo of the movement through the check and we’ll help you date it.
Older doesn’t mean pricier, not by much anyway. The 1940s Bulovas that came off the market last listed at a median of $450, the 1960s at $399 and the 1970s at $369, which is a smaller gap than most owners expect.
How do I tell which Bulova I have?
Read the dial first, then work out what’s inside. The second hand will tell you. If it jumps once a second, it’s quartz, from the 1970s or later. If it sweeps smoothly and the watch hums, it’s a tuning fork Accutron. If it sweeps and ticks, it’s a mechanical watch you wind, or an automatic that winds itself on the wrist.
Accutron
Bulova’s big idea from 1960: a watch kept in time by a tiny tuning fork instead of a balance wheel. Hold a tuning fork one to your ear and it hums rather than ticks, which is the quickest test there is. The Accutron is the Bulova we see most. Mind you, the name carried on into the quartz era, so “Accutron” on the dial doesn’t on its own mean tuning fork.
Astronaut
An Accutron with an extra hour hand and a 24-hour scale round the bezel. If yours has both, look for the word Astronaut on the dial and get it seen properly.
Spaceview
An Accutron with no dial to speak of, so the tuning fork and coils show through the glass. You won’t mistake it.
666 ft divers
A rotating bezel and “666 feet” on the dial. You’ll see them sold as Snorkel, Oceanographer, Caravelle Sea Hunter and even Accutron.
Caravelle
Bulova’s more affordable sister line, launched in 1962. A Caravelle sits a little below Bulova as a whole, which is exactly what it was designed to do, though its 666 ft divers are the exception.
If it’s a women’s Bulova, good news. Women’s pieces hold up well in our archive: the 56 that came off the market last listed at a median of $450, against $375 for men’s.
Is my gold Bulova worth more?
Only if it’s solid gold, and most gold-coloured Bulovas aren’t. Bulova made a great many watches with a gold layer over base metal, either thin plating or thicker gold-filled. Both look the part, and both are actually worth less than plain steel in our archive.
| Metal, as the listing describes it | On sale now | Median listing price | Came off the market, median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid gold | 10 | $775 | $500 (30 watches) |
| Steel | 38 | $504 | $360 (63 watches) |
| Gold-plated | 60 | $387 | $329 (85 watches) |
| Gold-filled | 0 | none on sale | $275 (8 watches) |
Listing prices in US dollars, October 2026. Only 10 solid gold Bulovas are on sale, so hold that figure loosely.
The case stamp is what tells you. Look on the back and inside it. 14k or 10k on its own means solid gold. “10K Gold Filled”, “RGP” or “rolled gold plate” means a gold layer, and you’ll see those a lot on Accutrons. A gold front with a stainless steel back is plated or filled. Our guide to telling real gold from plate goes through every stamp.
Does the condition matter?
Yes, though our Bulova numbers are too thin to put a price on it. What we’d look for is simple. Even, gentle ageing on the dial is part of an old watch, and buyers accept it. Spots, water stains and a dial that’s been repainted are damage. A repainted dial is called a redial, and on a Bulova it often shows in fuzzy or too-crisp lettering. Our guide to patina and damage and the guide to redials show both on real watches.
As for servicing it before you sell, frankly, for most Bulovas we wouldn’t. A service, especially on a tuning fork Accutron, can cost a big slice of what the watch is worth, and buyers of vintage watches expect to sort that themselves. Say honestly whether it runs, and leave it there.
Is my Bulova worth more than $1,000?
Probably not, and it’s kinder to hear that now than after you’ve booked a valuation. Only about 1 in 10 Bulovas that came off the market last listed above $1,150. If yours says Astronaut, or has “666 feet” on the dial, a see-through Spaceview dial or a solid gold stamp, it’s worth a proper look. Otherwise, expect it to sit with the rest. Rarer sports pieces, like the Surfboard chronograph, come up too seldom for us to price.
An engraving on the back, a name or a thank-you for years of service, is very common on Bulovas. We can’t measure what it does to the price, but our view is that it matters far more to your family than to a buyer. Don’t polish it off to sell.
That said, a few hundred dollars for a watch your grandfather wore every day is no bad thing. For what it’s worth, these are some of the most wearable vintage watches around. If you’re not selling for the money, we’d get it running and wear it.
Common questions
What is a vintage Bulova worth?
Usually a few hundred dollars. In October 2026 the median vintage Bulova on sale in our archive was listed at $418, and the 668 that came off the market last listed at a median of $385. Those are listing prices, not sale prices.
How do I tell how old my Bulova is?
Look on the case back for a letter and a number, usually near the serial number. From 1950 the letter is the decade and the number is the year: L6 is 1956, M4 is 1964, N2 is 1972. Before 1950 Bulova used small symbols instead, which need a chart.
Is a gold Bulova worth more?
Solid gold, yes. Gold-plated, no. Plated Bulovas list at a median of $387, below steel at $504. Solid gold lists at a median of $775, but there are only 10 on sale in our archive. The case stamp tells you which you have: 14k or 10k on its own is solid, while gold filled, RGP or a steel back is not.
Which vintage Bulova is worth the most?
The Accutron Astronaut, a tuning fork watch with a second time zone. The 11 that came off the market last listed at a median of $1,750. Next come the 666 ft divers, often called Devil Divers, at a median of $840, and the see-through Accutron Spaceview at $720. An ordinary Accutron lists at a median of $450.
The short version
A few hundred dollars. Median listing price $418.How old
The letter and digit on the back: L is the 1950s, M the 1960s, N the 1970s.Worth a closer look
A Spaceview, a women’s piece, or a case stamped 14k with no “filled”.See what similar watches are listed for today in our vintage Bulova listings.
Not sure what you’ve got?
Send us photos of the dial and the case back. We’ll tell you what we think it is, what that model goes for in our archive, and what a buyer would want to see.
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