DESCRIPTION:
APW - South Bend, Grade 429 with rare digital time display, 19J, 12S, chrome-plated base metal OF original case marked "Made Expressly For South Bend" and "Emperor Quality," front with apertures for hours, minutes and seconds, painted metal rotating dial disks for hours, minutes and seconds, SW-SS, lever escapement with capped escape wheel, striped pattern nickel damascene, s#1216288. A very rare watch, with a search of our firm's sales history this appears likely to be the first example of a South Bend "digital" that we have handled among the countless thousands of watches that have passed through our doors in the past 37 years. Our understanding is that these watches were made at some point in the years following the closing of the South Bend factory and were an aftermarket product by a firm using remaining stock of 12 size South Bend movements. This example is currently in need of overhaul for running order, and we suspect its seconds-register disk is a replacement, but it remains an excellent piece for the South Bend collector that wants to have (almost) everything!
CONDITION:
Mvt: NR, fully wound, balance not moving freely, hour and minute registers with good digital function when advanced via setting mechanism, overhaul needed, excellent cosmetic mvt condition overall, some fine scratches to balance cock adjacent regulator adjustment nut, some surface dirtiness visible in areas; hour and minute disks excellent in visible portions, when case front is removed paint loss to much of central portion of hour disk is evident, seconds-register disk is presumably a replacement as its numeral markings fall outside the visible portion of case aperture and as its more central hash marks have been crudely applied; case shows hardly any wear, micro-fine scratches to front and rear, no dents or dings, excellent engraving detail; bow pivots freely, crown shows hardly any wear; plastic bezel aperture crystals with some fine scratches.
ESTIMATE:
$300
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$600
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