The South Bend Watch Company

The South Bend Watch Company had its beginning as the Columbus Watch Company of Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Watch Company was acquired by the South Bend Watch Company and incorporated on July 24, 1902. The next year, on March 23, 1903, South Bend Watch Company President Clement Studebaker pressed the ivory tipped button to set in motion the machinery of the new factory.

Through the first two decades of the twentieth century the company grew and enjoyed many prosperous years. During its peak years of production the company produced 60,000 watches annually and employed nearly 600 employees. Ambitious nationwide advertising was greatly responsible for this early prosperity. Full-page ads showing the South Bend watch running in a block of ice were particularly effective. Later this was discarded and watch illustrations were shown with a purple ribbon across the watch face. Numerous styles and models were available with a price range from $16.00 to $125.00. All watches carried a “insured for a lifetime guarantee.” In fact, there are thousands of South Bend watches still running today.

In the 1920s the company offered a Studebaker watch on a mail order basis. The Studebaker watches were identical to the South Bend line and were made on the same production line. The Studebaker watch ads of this era did not indicate any connection between the two watches, but instead gave the impression of a separate company. The naming of the watch, however, was an obvious attempt to capitalize on the good name of the famous brothers of Studebaker automobile fame. Most ads carried the following line:

“Directed by members of the Studebaker family—known for three-quarters of a century for fair dealing.”

The use of the Studebaker name was completely justifiable on the grounds that the Studebaker family owned controlling stock in the company. The Studebaker watches were sold on a credit basis and could be purchased with a down payment of only one dollar. With the onset of the Depression, the company found itself with many delinquent accounts and the banks unwilling to cooperate in those unstable times. This and the fact the company never switched to production of men’s wristwatches was responsible for the eventual shutdown. On Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, November 27, 1929, the nearly 300 employees of the company were notified the plant would be closed until January 1, 1930. The company never reopened.

After the closing, the machinery was eventually sold and liquidation completed in 1933 with creditors being paid off fifty-cents on the dollar. In later years, the old factory building at 1720 Mishawaka Avenue was used for a warehouse, a soft drink bottling plant, an Army reserve center and various other businesses. On July 8, 1957, a fire started in the old factory and destroyed the last evidence of a once world famous factory.

In 1984, Ray Gard, a reporter for the South Bend Tribune, wrote an article from an interview of a South Bend Watch Company employee, Walter Schott. This is an excerpt from that story which gives an interesting insight into this company:

“Advancement came slow, “ explains Schott, talking about the watch company. “Clement Studebaker was boss. A good man, Clement. But he never made a wristwatch. And that was his downfall.”

At that time, says Schott, the South Bend Watch Co. employed 500, and until its end, in 1928, never paid any of its workers more than $1 an hour. Trade unionism was in its infancy.

“Sometimes I couldn’t make carfare and walked,” he said. “Cheez, three cents an hour wasn’t much. Later I got up to five cents an hour.”

That figures out to 50 cents a day. Fifty cents a day wouldn’t buy a McDonald’s hamburger now. Nobody though of hospital insurance or time and a half, least of all double-time.

“It was a good place to work,” insists Schott, then a lad of 17. “I had two brothers, Alton, who made all of the watch screws, and Herb, who put the jewels in the watch. Herb was clever at putting in jewels. We all worked together.”

“I was in the boiler room and nickel plating works,” says Schott. “It wasn’t that hard. But I remember a girl had to quit her job in the dial house. She got sick from radiation. But no one complained.”

Once Schott became ill after breathing caustic burning acid. After a self-imposed layoff, he returned, only to find his wages had been cut back 10 cents an hour and he new job was in the stem-winding room.

“It was a terrible job,” he says. “All those little springs. Everything was so fine and sensitive. A worker could go blind.”

“We made beautiful watches,” exclaims Schott. “Some with aluminum dials that kept excellent time. We made railroad timepieces that sold for $42 without the gold fob. The gold fob was $7 more.”

[After the factory closed] Schott worked for South Bend Toy Company and the Bendix Corporation.

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