South Bend Watch Company

The South Bend Watch Company was established in 1903 when brothers Clement Studebaker Jr. and George Studebaker—sons of Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company co-founder Clement Studebaker—purchased the assets of the bankrupt Columbus Watch Company of Ohio. They built a new million-dollar factory in South Bend, Indiana, hiring 145 former Columbus employees along with master watchmaker Walter Cross Shelton Sr. from the Appleton Watch Company. After retooling with mass production machinery, watch production began in 1905. The company manufactured several styles of pocket watches priced from $16 to $125, achieving commercial success. Production was interrupted during World War I when the factory was contracted to produce gun sights for the U.S. government. Watch production resumed in 1918, though the market had shifted toward wristwatches. South Bend prospered through the 1920s, introducing the Studebaker Watch line sold by mail order on credit terms. By 1929, the company employed 300 workers and had produced nearly a million watches. The October 1929 stock market crash proved fatal—customers defaulted on credit purchases en masse. The factory closed on November 27, 1929, never to reopen. Liquidation was completed in 1933, with Walter Shelton personally completing the assembly of 35,000 watches that were in production at closure. He continued operating the service department until his retirement in 1954, effectively ending the South Bend Watch Company story. The original factory building was destroyed by fire in 1957.