In 1902, three of the Studebaker brothers, a branch of the family not involved in the wagon and automobile company, purchased the Columbus Watch Company. They re-named it the South Bend Watch Company and moved the firm to South Bend, Indiana. Over the next twenty-five years or so of its existence, the firm produced a little less than 900 thousand watches, about 80,000 of which met railroad time service requirements. Originally, South Bend marketed its watches directly to (and only to) retail dealers. Then, in the mid-1920’s, it formed the Studebaker Watch Co. to sell watches by mail order directly to the customers. These watches had dials labeled “Studebaker.” South Bend was a victim of the depression, closing its doors on January 1, 1930. Mr. W.C. Shelton, formerly in charge of South Bend’s production, was hired by the creditors to finish watches from material on hand. He completed 38,000 movements by 1933. (According to “Jesse Elwood Coleman and the South Bend Story,” O.B. Frye - see References, below).

Information about a South Bend watch may be obtained using the online references listed below.

Perhaps the best known South Bend watches were "The Studebaker" grades, the open-face, 18-size of which (grades Nos. 323 and 329) were cataloged in 1909 and introduced by ads in 1910. "The Studebaker" was a railroad grade watch, widely accepted for railroad time service. It was available in five different configurations:

Size	Jewels	Type	Grade	Qty Made
18	17	OF	No. 323	3,000
18	21	OF	No. 329	3,000
18	21	HC	No. 328	200 Est.
16	17	OF	No. 223	5,000
16	21	OF	No. 229	6,000

"The Studebaker" was introduced at the end of a general change in the requirements for railroad standard watches, a change towards tighter restrictions upon watches entering railroad time service. To promote these watches, South Bend advertised a free insurance certificate, a guarantee that the watches would pass any newly introduced railroad requirements for five years from the date of purchase. If not, the watch would be upgraded to pass, or would be replaced with a watch that would pass. This was especially significant to a large block of railroaders referred to as "boomers" - railroad workers who moved from railroad to railroad, following the seasonal peak work periods (the booms) as crops were harvested in various parts of the country. The five-year guarantee was described in a 1912 Erie Railroad Magazine Ad posted on the South Bend Website (see References, below).

The fact is that the railroad time service requirements didn't change such that the South Bend railroad standard watches didn't pass until more than five years beyond the point that the watches were sold. The last of the 17-jewel watches were sold were sold during the teens, yet it was only during the 1920s that some railroads stopped accepting 17-jewel watches. Only a few hunting-case grade No. 328 were built and it is hazy how long hunting-case watches continued to be accepted into time service, but none of the time service rules that have come to light prohibit hunting-case watches until the 1930s. Regarding the open-face, 21-jewel watches, they continued to be accepted until long after South Bend went out of business. Thus, to date, there is no known instance in which South Bend had to upgrade or replace a standard watch.

Online Information

Henry Burgell's Interactive South Bend Serial Number Lookup Table provides basic information about South Bend watches using the serial number on the movement.

Frank Kusumoto's excellent South Bend Website has a large amount of good documentation on the company's watches.


Books
The following books and back issues of the NAWCC Bulletin are available to members on loan by mail from the NAWCC Lending Library, using the Lending Library Form.

The South Bend Watch Co. - South Bend, Indiana - A Complete Listing of Serial / Grade Numbers from Beginning to End, Lyle & Donna Stratton, Longmont, CO, 1999.

How and Why Own a South Bend Watch, South Bend Watch Co., South Bend, IN, 1914, reprinted by Arlington Horology & Book Co., Arlington, VA, undated, but probably early 1980s..


Articles
Back issues of the NAWCC Bulletin are available online to NAWCC members who are currently logged in at http://nawcc.org/index.php/nawcc-bulletin/past-issues-.

“The Studebakers and the South Bend Watch Co.,” by Paul Berg, NAWCC Bulletin, No. 153, August 1971, pp. 1184-1193.

“South Bend Watches,” by O.B. Frye, NAWCC Bulletin, No. 239, December1985, pp. 643-655.

“Jesse Elwood Coleman and the South Bend Story,” by O.B. Frye, NAWCC Bulletin, No. 252, February 1988, pp. 16-36.

"Railroaders' Corner - South Bend's Standard Watches Part 1," Ed Ueberall and Kent Singer, NAWCC Bulletin No. 329, December 2000, pp. 813-821.

"Railroaders' Corner - South Bend's Standard Watches Part 2," Ed Ueberall and Kent Singer, NAWCC Bulletin No. 330, February 2001, pp. 89-96.