In the beginning, in the city of South Bend, a group met and formed a corporation in 1902 to start manufacturing quality watches. This group was headed by Clement Studebaker Jr. and included brothers George and J.M. A total of $135,000 in stock was sold to fund this operation that started with the purchase of the Columbus Watch Company Ohio. The equipment and most of the employees were moved to a ten acre tract in the River Park Suburb, located half way between South Bend and Mishawaka. The building to house the new firm was three stories tall, 60 feet wide and 450 feet long. Large fire proof vaults were built into each department and automatic sprinklers installed through out. The building site was purchased from J.M. Studebaker Sr., also known as "Wheelbarrow Johnny". His money, earned in the gold fields of California, had given rise to the Studebaker Bros. manufacturing empire.

The South Bend Watch Company went on to manufacture watches in 5 sizes: 0, 6, 12, 16 and 18 size movements. During approximately 27 years, they manufactured about one million watches with 7 to 21 jewels each. The South Bend watches were sold through jewelry stores nationwide. While making movements, they also made cases for 10 to 20% of the watches. This resulted in many South Bend watches being cased in many other company cases. Many South Bend watches were cased by the jewelry store that made the retail sale.

In 1920 The South Bend Watch Company formed the Studebaker Mail Order Company. This was developed to sell their watches directly to the customer and mostly on a timed payment plan. The actual incorporation of the Studebaker Watch Company happened in 1923. Watches were marked Studebaker on the movement and on the dial, thus drawing prestige from the then famous Studebaker Bros. wagon and automobile fame. While this was successful for a while, selling watches through mail with payment on a monthly basis, in the end, was a contributing factor to the demise of the company. When the depression hit, people could no longer keep up on their contracted payments.

The Studebaker watch was made in only two sizes 12 & 16. Production of the Studebaker watch of the 12 size was about 12,000 and about 35,000 of the size 16 were manufactured. This equaled about 10% of the South Bend Watch Company.

It is important to remember that all Studebaker watches were STEM wound and STEM set. All were made for open face cases.

In the early years the South Bend Watch Company made some High-grade and Railroad approved size 16 and 18 watches. These are very desirable. Please note that these watches are STEM wound and LEVER set.

The highest grade watch made by the South Bend Watch Company was called Polaris. They were all cased in a special solid gold case at the factory and, of course, fully approved as a Railroad watch. A total of 500 serial numbers were blocked for the Polaris but no records are available to know if that many were actually manufactured.

Smaller watches in the 0 and 6 size were produced starting with the 6 in 1903. Only 4,500 serial numbers were blocked. This is the rarest size of all South Bend watches and was made in three grades. About 1910 the 0 size, commonly known as the ladies watch, was put in production and were manufactured for 3 years. These desirable and pretty watches were worn as pendant watches and as ribbon watches, then also used as a strap or wrist watch.

The South Bend Watch Company stopped operation in 1929 and went into receivership and bankruptcy. Today there are many watch collectors who take great pride in ownership of a high grade South Bend and Studebaker watch. It is unlikely that the beauty and quality of the South Bend Watches will be equaled again.

 

This article was borrowed from STUDEFLYER. newsletter of the Middle Tennessee Chapter,  Marie Burke, Editor. George Reitenour competed several times in the Great American Race. He can be found at International Meets with his large collection of Studebaker/South Bend watches.

Last Updated 17 January 2000