Packard Studebaker Watch - 1938

[StudeMichael]

Anyone ever seen one of these?

[doug]

Did you open it up and see if it was a South Bend watch or some other brand with a custom dial? Obviously some Spanish speaking country. I wonder if the company sold Studebakers and Packards.

[LStratton]

The dial is a recently made up phony one. Very easy to have these dials made with anything on them you want.

[Mike Van Veghten]

Agreed, looks like a custom dial.
Easy to verify...as noted, just take the back off. It either says "Studebaker", or has a number (407, 411, etc) on the back plate.
I've had a coupla custom dials made for my collection.

Mike

[Jim B PEI]

Linn & Co--they were the big Studebaker dealers in Uruguay (or was it Argentina??) I believe. Some years ago, there was an article in Turning Wheels about the 'only' Studebaker left running on the road in Uruguay by the SDC member who owns it, and I believe there was a period picture of Linn & Co in Art Deco/neon magnificence in downtown Montevideo (sp????).

If it is real, other than the face (Studebaker-Packard being the dead giveaway) then it might be a quite unusual and rare object, whether or not it came from the South Bend Watch company or some other South Bend source

I just noticed 1913-1938 25 ? (can't read the script, but I'm guessing in Spanish ..) time line seems to be right for Linn

[StudeMichael]

It is not mine. I just received the following from the owner: "I have been offered $500.00 for the watch but hve no desire to sell it. I collect and sell Studebaker watches. It came from a Studebaker-Packard dealer in Uraguay in 1938. He had his 25th year as a dealer so he had a switch watch comapny make these watches to give to his customers.

[Jim B PEI]

Aha! So perhaps the watch face IS of the era rather than a modern recreation. After I posted my comment about Linn & Co, I remembered that they also were dealers for other makes as well as Studebaker, over the years. That article would be the one from July 1999 by Mario Gomez "Studebakers in Uruguay"

[cascabel]

It says 1913 to 1938
25 years
Linn & Co
in spanish indeed, however except for translating I have no further information
Eric

[LStratton]

The dial is definitely a phony made up piece of crap. Let's see some photo's of the movement. It seems doughtful that it is even a South Bend watch since The South Bend Watch Co. was long gone by 1938. I would say this has absolutely nothing to do with Studebaker and has been made up for the $$$$$$$$$$$$.

[Jim B PEI]

Well, perhaps not a South Bend Watch Co watch, but according to the story it was a special order by Linn & Co of (what would certainly appear to be quality) Swiss watches to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 1938 as a Studebaker and Packard dealer in Uruguay, as Michael points out from information from the source. Since Linn & Co was a Studebaker dealer, it certainly DOES have something to do with 'Studebaker', just not with the SBWC. It doesn't look like a 'piece of crap' to me. From the Turning Wheels article, it looked like Linn & Co was a major high end retailer of cars, going by their main showroom. If they could afford to do this for their customers, it would seem that they were well to do. People forget--or don't know-- that especially before WWII, Argentina and Uruguay were quite wealthy countries. Argentina was in the 10 wealthiest nations of the world before 1929, and Uruguay wasn't far behind. If Costa Rica has been compared to the Switzerland of Central America, Uruguay could be compared to the Switzerland of South America.

[FlatheadGeo]

Jim B is, indeed, correct in his history of the two countries. I recently had a student from Uruguay who was very knowledgeable re: Studebakers. American born students had not seen one until I brought mine to school for 'show & tell!' My Russian born students were also hip to Studebakers. It seems that in the country there are still old Lend Lease ones working the collectives, er farms!