Stellaris - the in-house brand for Sears, Roebuck, and Company - appeared in multiple guises over the years. Dials variously held logos for Stellaris, Orvin, and Sears itself, with all incorporating Seiko-related and Swiss mechanical movements. This sharp atypical 1970s Sears manual-winding mechanical alarm watch, on a vintage stainless-steel Stelux bracelet, is no different.
At its 1886 inception, American company Sears (run by former railroad agent Richard W. Sears) sold watches by mail order catalog; much akin to Amazon selling books at its founding, pocket watches were Sears' first commodity, and Sears would gradually add substantially to its catalog offerings, much like Amazon online.
Aside from various Swiss mechanical movements, Stellaris/Sears watches also incorporated movements from Japanese watch company Hamazawa Ltd – founded in 1954 – which had an unofficial relationship with Seiko. In the 1970s, Hamazawa took out several joint patents with Epson (one of the three core companies of Seiko Group in contemporary times) on non-watch related items.
Hamazawa appeared to have sold a lot of movements to various Japanese and foreign watch companies, and in 1983, it merged with two other companies one of which was a major watch case supplier for Seiko-Epson. Subsequently, in 1986, this company was taken over by Seiko.
Although Seiko produced Stellaris for Sears, preceding this Stellaris was a brand name registered in 1963 by Swiss brand Mondia; while not a well-known brand, it produced some intriguing watches, such as the Mondia “Big Eye” chronograph and the Top Second. It also put out a watch model called Stellaris with an unusual fluid case.
How did Mondia and Stellaris evolve to be separate watch brands? No idea – another mystery lost to the ages, akin to how both brands would become victims of the Seiko-initiated Quartz Crisis. Watch periodical Fratello speculated, “Mondia was used as support to make Stellaris trustworthy."
"Or, I suppose another possible scenario is that the Mondia Stellaris became so popular that Mondia decided to make it a separate brand featuring its own range of watches. And there were quite a few of them, mostly later Stellaris electronic models.”
Regardless, the Stellaris font and symbol didn’t change after it was established as a stand-alone brand, the clearest evidence of the relationship between the two.
This Sears alarm watch comes on a vintage Stelux bracelet, and with nylon strap, rugged travel case, and springbar tool.
