A novel polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell and assembly was developed for laboratory investigations. In this cell a simultaneous measurement of clamping pressure and contact resistances is possible. In the study presented this paper, the cell was utilised in in-situ contact resistance measurements of unplated and plated stainless steel (type 316). These contact resistances were studied in situ as a function of time, clamping pressure, gas pressure and current density. Ex-situ measurements were used to validate the in-situ contact resistance measurements. The validity and error sources of the applied in-situ measurement method were studied using both computer simulations and experiments.