A little pictorial of an unusual find at;

http://www.southbendhorology.com/movements/mystery/index.html

Very strange indeed. Enjoy!

Frank "407" Kusumoto

Frank,
OUTSTANDING! I'm green with envy!
Wish I could do that.
Thank you for sharing it with us.

Beautiful work.

Frank, That looks like a watch that was smuggled out of the factory in pieces by an employee to be assembled and finished at home. All of the watch companies had security and checks in place to stop this, but it went on in every factory.

Tom

When watch companies had movements that took a non-standard case they made "casing blocks" (usually solid metal) that they sent to the various case companies so they could make cases to fit the movement. The South Bend 12-size was certainly a movement requiring a special case. Perhaps this piece served as a casing block for this model, with the inclusion of setting mechanism and the ability to put hands on it to be sure the pendant was properly aligned and the bezel was high enough.

Jerry,

That's an interesting theory of the "casing block" and one I hadn't considered. It certainly makes sense. Explains the the keyless works and all the pivots/wheels for hand placement. Thanks for your comment!

Frank "407" Kusumoto