Horological Meandering

cazalea
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BAYLOR WATCHES - Sears or Zales???

 

Baylor is a brand name given to watches manufactured in Switzerland by Heuer for Zales, a Dallas jewelry company. Heuer made these watches under the Baylor name (a Dallas-based university). 

My Baylor automatic is signed Wadsworth and SU1361 - both on the rotor. It has AS in a shield with the #1361. The inside of the case back cover is signed Brevet & Mantab Watch Corp.

My dad has a Baylor - a 17 j automatic day/date signed Baylor Watch Co with the initials ZOA on the movement, an F in a shield with 4009 to the right. His case back says Baylor Watch Co, Switzerland.

I always thought Baylors were rebranded watches. I recall seeing a Baylor that was actually a Heuer.

I worked as stock clerk 40+ years ago at a subsidiary of Zales called Bailey, Banks and Biddle. Baylor was a house brand watch sold there, next to the lower-end Seikos. The store manager said the name came from Baylor University which was attended by one of the Zales family members. We also had a few Baylor pocket watches.

The jewelry chain Zales sold watches under the brand name Baylor. Heuer manufactured a lot of watches and chronographs for them.

 

Ad says Franchised exclusively by Zales Jewelers  (photo from auction ad)

 

Zales dial (Braille)  (photo from auction ad)

 

Baylor Movement (photo from auction ad)

I own two Tradition watches. They were made for and sold by Sears (as were another obscure brand, Baylor) They are decent quality, with Schild movements. 

Heuer made a line for Sears Roebuck that they marketed under the Tradition brand. Today these are known as the poor man’s Heuers. 

The Sears Allstate line of Heuer-built, dash-mounted timepieces consisted of Autavia, Master Time, Monte Carlo/Winner, Auto Rallye and Super Autavia.

The Rockford Watch Model 4 & 5 Specials – These were designed for hunter cases, and are stem wind and lever set. These movements were sold primarily by the Sears Roebuck Company under the Plymouth Watch Company brand. 

The Illinois Watch Company produced watches under contract for several different brands, including Burlington Watch Company (Chicago, Illinois) and Santa Fe Watch Company (Topeka, Kansas). Illinois also produced watches for the Plymouth Watch Company (Sears Roebuck).

A "Tradition' trademark (with unique font) was registered in 1954 by Sears, Roebuck & Co. A 23 jewels movement would typically indicate a good quality watch.

My Orvin has a 23 jewel AS 1361 movement. Orvin is a Swiss watch sold at Sears since Sears was the official importer.

I had a similar one, a 23j ultra thin. I think Tradition was Sears higher end watch brand.

There was a tendency in the late 50's to "upjewel" watches to make them seem better (ie infamous 100-jewel Waltham); I wouldn't have thought Sears would be doing that. It's odd that the "original" plate is clearly signed by Sears, but the second plate is signed "Tradition Watch Company".

To the best of my knowledge, Orvin watches were only sold by Sears, in 2 varieties: Moderately high-end Orvins made by Cortebert (a Swiss manufacturer with good-quality movements) and lower-quality watches made with pedestrian Swiss parts.

Sears had a few other brands such Stellaris and Tradition (a name they still use) as well ones just labelled Sears. Many of the movements have Sears Roebuck on them but some have SOX (Cortebert).

I have a copy of the 1927 Sears Roebuck catalog ... men's wrist watches show 25 different case styles and some could be supplied with the buyer's choice of a Sears Van Buren movement or with Elgin or Waltham movements. I think that Van Buren was Sears' brand name for their line of watches in the Twenties.

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