Shelton, formerly in charge of South Bend’s production, was hired by the creditors to finish watches from material on hand. South Bend was a victim of the depression, closing its doors on January 1, 1930. These 12 and 16 size watches (and perhaps others in smaller sizes) had dials labeled “Studebaker” and carried an '8 Adjustm'ts' marking on the movement. to sell watches by mail order directly to the customers. Then, in the mid-1920’s, it formed the Studebaker Watch Co. Originally, South Bend marketed its watches directly to (and only to) retail dealers. 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. They then moved the firm to South Bend, Indiana. One of the stated reasons was to fight the ' Watch Trust' but of course the primary goal was, almost certainly, to make money. and then purchased the Columbus Watch Company. The factory building, which had been used by a number of businesses over the years (including Kay Line Industries, a furniture manufacturer) was destroyed by fire in 1957.In 1902, a group of investors including Clement Studebaker, one of the Studebaker brothers, a branch of the family not involved in the wagon and automobile company, organized the South Bend Watch Co. Shelton continued to operate the company's service department until his retirement in 1954 effectively ended the South Bend Watch Company story. Shelton, along with two other employees, completed the assembly of those watches and sold them. Some 35,000 watches were in production when the factory closed. Employees were told it would remain closed until January 1, 1930. On November 27, 1929, the plant was closed. When the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, the company found itself with more delinquent accounts than it could handle. The Studebaker line was sold on credit, requiring only one dollar down. Advertisements included the tagline 'Directed by members of the Studebaker family – known for three-quarters of a century for fair dealing.' īy 1929, the South Bend Watch Company had 300 employees and had produced nearly a million watches. It was sold by mail order and represented as being from the Studebaker Watch Company. The company introduced the Studebaker Watch, identical to the South Bend except for the name. Regardless, the South Bend Watch Company prospered through the 1920s. By the time watch production resumed in 1918, the market had changed, with the wristwatch rapidly gaining popularity over the pocket watch. Watch production was interrupted during World War I, when the company was contracted by the government to build gun sights. The watches were well received and the company was a success. Several styles of pocket watches were manufactured and sold at prices ranging from $16 to $125. The factory was outfitted with mass production machinery, the workers were retrained, and in 1905 production began.

Along with George, Studebaker built a new factory in South Bend, Indiana, and hired 145 former Columbus employees, along with watchmaker Walter Cross Shelton, Sr., from the Appleton Watch Company in Wisconsin. was named president of the newly formed South Bend Watch Company. The brothers were sons of Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company co-founder Clement Studebaker.

The assets of the bankrupt Columbus Watch Company of Columbus, Ohio, were purchased by two brothers from South Bend, Indiana, in 1903.

South bend pocket watch