Roamer Rockshell Mark II and the DIY tool

Vintage Roamer
I'm a big fan of Roamer's 70s sports watches, from the series of Stingray hand-wound chronographs, to the automatic Stingray S - diver's watches with internal rotating bezel, to the Rockshell models that come with both automatic and electromechanical movements. Mostly they have steel cases in patented three-part container construction and represent the striking design of the 70's.


The find
Some time ago I found a Rockshell Mark II on the net with the eye-catching and heavy wedge-shaped case, the integrated bracelet and even the original crystal with the vertical stripes. Since I always wanted this watch and the price was more than okay, I reached out.

When the watch arrived, everything was visually as far as I expected, and the watch started running after a few shakes and was keeping time.

Only the crystal was a little twisted and its lines were not vertical and therefore not aligned with the indices on 12 and 6 and the scale inside the Rehaut.



I wanted to fix that. The crystal is inserted from the front and is held by a screwed mounting ring. To remove the crystal you need a wrench / tool with 14 edges and a size of 38 mm.



All careful attempts with alternative tools remained without result. The mounting ring was super tight. Since I did not want to damage anything, I left the watch as it was. The search for a suitable vintage tool was also unsuccessful.


DIY tooling
Then I came up with the idea to do the tool all or partly by myself. I made a CAD drawing and sent it to a laser cut service on the Internet to have the tool lasered out of 2mm stainless steel.


Laser-cut wrench made of stainless steel (less than 30 euros including packaging and shipping)



Realignment
The tool fit perfectly and the mounting ring could be unscrewed without any problems.
Aligning the crystal was easy. Here the watch with newly aligned glass



Roamer Rockshell Mark II from 1971
Reference 482.5120.401
Caliber MST 482 (modified ETA 2630)
Compressor case, 200 m waterproof
Anti-reflective mineral crystal
Tritium hands and markers

Very nice.

Most impressive!

very cool, thanks for sharing 👎 und liebe Grüße

Great post,
I have one off these two which is away awaiting a full service at the moment ..I had know idea how to get into it.
As you say these are heavy pieces..well impressive on the wrist.
I may have to get a similar tool made up for future watch repaires to avoid them damaging the case in error.

Nice watch!

The watch has a snap back to get to the caliber.
The front mounting ring is for crystal and gasket. I assume, to increase the waterproofness.

Would be great to see some pics after the service.

Thanks for the update Zoohannover.
I`m suprised about a snap back rear cover though on this case to access the movement .
Most of my other "waterproof" cased Roamers have the patented case design where you push the main part of the watch through from the front out of the rear of the bezel casing-or they have a screw down case back.
I`ll try and add some pics when I get it back ..also having an early Stingray diver being done at the samr watchmakers.

Here is some more information regarding the Rockshell Mark II and Mark III.
With an original ad of the red dial version.
http://roamer-watches.info/blog/?p=150

Thanks..I`m a regular visitor to that website..I have over 60 Roamers so far :
The mark II and III`s are rare beasts..the red dial even more so.
They are impressive pieces.