An old photograph from the early 1950s shows Max Sandler at work in the window of his shop, the U.S. Watch Company, located across from Court Square. Note the display of watches and clocks.
Dear Vance: I recently purchased two framed photographs showing an old watchmaker’s shop, and I was told this was in Memphis somewhere. Can you confirm? — H.L., Memphis.
Dear H.L.: Using the sophisticated equipment in the Lauderdale Laboratories — in this case, an electron-scanning microscope, a Spectrographic Analyzer 479-D, and the Gilbert chemistry set I received for my 12th birthday, I can say with 99 percent certainty that these photographs do indeed show a business located in Memphis.
Of course, it helped that one of the images actually shows the shop owner’s name (twice, in fact), painted on the window and also visible on a sign inside: Max Sandler, Certified Master Watchmaker & Jeweler. So, a quick check of the Memphis city directories confirmed my scientific findings. What’s more, the large clock in the photo above displays the business name: the U.S. Watch Company, which was located at …
Wait — if I’m going to talk about a watchmaker, let’s do it in chronological order, and that means I should begin with a downtown business called Perel and Lowenstein. I’ll get to Max Sandler soon enough, if you’ll just be patient.
In 1910, Joseph Perel and William F. Lowenstein, described by a local newspaper as “boyhood pals who came to Memphis from Baltimore,” bought a pawn shop on South Main. Within a few years, they had transformed it into a full-scale department store, but with an emphasis on gifts and jewelry, carrying “more than 100 nationally advertised brands.” In 1929, they had become so successful they were able to purchase a four-story building at 144 South Main, just across the street from the Gayoso Hotel, and turned it into a high-class emporium. The Commercial Appeal observed that the owners spent more than $100,000 remodeling the building — this would be the equivalent of $1.7 million today — and “now it is one of the most excellently appointed jewelry establishments in the country.”
Taken at the same time as the photograph above, this one shows the interior of the same shop. That's Max Sandler in the dark suit. I wasn’t able to identify the other employees.
The staff included more than 75 employees, and one of them was Max Sandler, who joined the firm in 1924 in the watch repair department. He was just 21 years old, so it’s possible that this was his first job, but because there is no mention of him in city directories before that date, I don’t know much about his early days — where he was born, or where he worked before coming to Perel and Lowenstein. Within a few years, though, he was promoted to watchmaker, and in 1936, he was doing well enough to buy his own house, at 750 Maury. The purchase price was $4,500 for the home, described as a “six-room brick bungalow, with two bedrooms, living, dining, breakfast rooms.”
That same year, a more important event in his life apparently took place, which I believe prompted the move to a new home. The city directories now list a wife, Anna, but they say nothing about her. If she worked outside the home, before or after the marriage, I wasn’t able to find anything about her.
Sandler — the husband, I mean — took an active interest in other groups associated with timekeeping. In 1942, he was named president of the Tennessee Watchmakers and Jewelers Association, a position he held throughout the 1940s, and also became a board member of the Tennessee Horological Society and the Horological Institute of America. In the late 1940s, Perel and Lowenstein newspaper ads usually focused on their jewelry and watches, which had become the main draw for customers. One ad noted, “Our Watch Repair Department maintains a staff of eight skilled, experienced watchmakers, under the supervision of Mr. Max Sandler, Certified Watchmaker by the Horological Institute of America. We have the most modern equipment and are in a position to repair and recondition any watch. All our work is electronically tested, and only genuine material is used.”
Within just two weeks, he was back at his old job at Perel and Lowenstein. The store was apparently so pleased by his return that they ran a large newspaper ad, telling readers that Sandler was now the “Head Watchmaker and Technician, in charge of our Watch Department and has been certified as a Chronograph Technician by the Ensembl-O-Graph Laboratories.”
In March 1954, though, Sandler decided to leave Perel and Lowenstein and branch out on his own, opening two different watchmaking and repair companies downtown. The U.S. Watch Company was located at 105 South Court, across from Court Square. That’s the business pictured here, and in fact, that’s Sandler in the window in the photo at left, and in the photo at right, he’s the fellow wearing the dark suit. His other venture, the Certified Master Watch Shop, was located at 124 Monroe, just a few doors east of Front Street.
A large newspaper ad, with a nice photo of Sandler (which helped me identify him in the two old photographs), announced the opening of the new businesses: “Mr. Max Sandler, Certified Master Watchmaker, and well-known throughout the United States for his knowledge of fine watch repairing, is now operating his own jewelry and watch repairing stores. … At these two prominent downtown locations, Mr. Sandler will personally supervise his staff of competent, efficient watchmakers and will personally take care of any special or intricate watch repair work entrusted to his care, including chronographs, automatics, and other complicated watches which require a Master Craftsman.”
Week after week, smaller ads for both shops ran in The Commercial Appeal. So just two years after he began these new enterprises, it came as some surprise — to me, anyway — when I noticed a small headline in the April 26, 1956, issue of the paper: announcing “WATCH FIRM BANKRUPT.” The story reported that Sandler’s two businesses reported assets of $22,475 against debts of $67,692, and the owner admitted, “The business lost money the past two years.”
But Sandler rebounded very quickly. Within just two weeks, he was back at his old job at Perel and Lowenstein. The store was apparently so pleased by his return that they ran a large newspaper ad, telling readers that Sandler was now the “Head Watchmaker and Technician, in charge of our Watch Department. He has been certified as a Chronograph Technician by the Ensembl-O-Graph Laboratories, has 45 years’ experience, and” — here’s something that hadn’t been mentioned in the past — “has trained in European and Swiss factories.”
For most of his career, Sandler was the chief watchmaker for Perel and Lowenstein Jewelers. This old postcard shows South Main Street in the 1940s; it's hard to miss the jewelry store on the left, with the large sign and roof-mounted billboard advertising their own line of Perlow watches and diamonds.
Over the years, Perel and Lowenstein had greatly expanded into one of the region’s largest jewelers. By the mid-1950s, while maintaining their downtown location on South Main, they also opened branches in Poplar Plaza, as well as stores in Jackson, Tennessee; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Mayfield, Kentucky. In the 1970s, additional locations included Southland Mall and the Northgate Shopping Center.
Described as “the state’s largest chain of jewelry stores,” it would seem that Perel and Lowenstein — which had weathered the Great Depression, World War II, and the demise of downtown during the 1970s — would stay in business forever. They had multiple locations, offered merchandise by catalog sales, and even lured customers with a variety of enticements — including “A Full Year To Pay!” What could go wrong? Well, all it takes, it seems, is a few bad years, and that’s the end. The entire chain closed in 1992, with company president Ron Perel, a descendent of the founder, telling reporters, “We’ve been under duress for three years. We’ve had three bad Christmases in a row. The retail economy doesn’t appear to hold any excitement on the horizon. Customers have gotten so guarded in their buying habits, especially for luxury items.”
I don’t know how long Max Sandler stayed with Perel and Lowenstein, but he devoted more than half a century to the watchmaking profession. He passed away in 1986 at age 83. In addition to his lifelong membership in various horological societies, he was a Shriner, a 32nd Degree Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite, and past chairman of the Workmen’s Circle, a national organization designed to promote Jewish culture and social justice. Despite all the newspaper articles I discovered over the years that mentioned his watchmaking career, the obituary finally told me more about his personal life, noting that he was survived by his wife, Anna, along with other family members: a daughter, Mrs. Dorothy Hirsh of Memphis; a son, Dr. Nat Sandler of Lexington, Kentucky; three grandchildren, and even three great-grandchildren.
The Main Street location of Perel and Lowenstein (shown here in an old postcard from the 1950s) came down for the construction of Peabody Place. The two smaller buildings where Sandler had opened his downtown watchmaking businesses have survived. The last time I drove by, the Court Square location — where these older photos were taken — was empty, waiting for new tenants. But 124 Monroe Avenue is now part of McEwen’s restaurant.
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