Just came across this South Bend 219 in a US Shipping Board case. I had heard of this, but never seen one until this week. Pic of the dial and case back. Overall the watch is in decent shape, needs a COA, but with a little TLC, will be a nice addition. Any guess as to how many of these 16 size watches were made for the military?

Thanks Jeff

Pic of the 219 movement # 840745 in the swing out case

Very neat. Thanks for sharing it.

Very nice! The year seems to match up. I wonder why the dial was "Roman", it seems like a standard RR style dial would have been more likely, but it of course it may be switched. Who knows? Still, the case and the movement all seem proper and noteworthy indeed.

Frank Kusumoto

I got one of these today, it looks just like Jeff posted back in 2007. The one I picked up was 345 numbers earlier. The case was 240 earlier.

Does anyone know how these were used by the Shipping Board? Were they used on ships like other watches such as the Hamilton's from WWII.

Any idea how many of these were purchased by the Government?

The case back markings

Clean looking movement, I haven't touched it yet.

Case number.

I would be interested to hear any comments.

The only other posts I could find about this type of watch were one about an 18s South Bend, which also mentioned a couple being auctioned off at Jones & Horan.

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...021048812#8021048812

Thanks Lindell.

I also thought with the dials, serial number of movement & case numbers it helped show the two were more than likely originals. Even all three hands look the same to my untrained eye.

I don't know much about South Bends other than I drool over the photos of yours & other members.

Tom

Tom, here's a link to a brief definition and description of the forming of the U.S. Shipping Board

Here is a link that has more detail on the U.S. Shipping Board Detail

That is a nice watch Tom,....Great find and thanks for showing it....

Regards,
Jerry

I have two South Bend 219's. One has an arabic dial on movement #1058140, year 1923 Run 35. The other we know the dial has been changed because it has a Studebaker dial on it. Niether of them are in Military cases.

I wonder if all 219's should have Roman Numeral dials?

My 315 has a Roman Numeral dial as Lindell suggested.

Thanks Jerry, I will check out the links.

Found this neat looking poster that was used in the 1st years of the Board.

Tom