Roamer Rotodate 44 Jewel watch

ghce · Mar 21, 2019

Just purchased this watch from an auction site but have yet to receive it so only the auction photos available at this time.

I am very looking forward to getting this as it will be my first Roamer, hopefully I will find some more.
Roamer (Vintage) seems to be a very overlooked maker of watches, I say maker rather than brand. Roamer had a reputation of making everything in house as opposed to many other premium brands who didn't.

You can't get much better than a 44 Jewel movement (here I am being blinded by the more is better theory) though next on the list might be a 50 Jewel Grand Seiko Spring Drive movement, but that's another story for later.

Have absolutely no idea which cal it is, choice of 3 44 Jewel movement from Roamer will have to wait till it arrives to see whether its a 436, 437 or 471.

Graeme

Spruce · Mar 21, 2019

I’m also a fan of these 50s and 60s Roamers (and Oris).
They look like proper watches, run well and are comparatively 'cheap as chips'.
Enjoy yours

Foo2rama · Mar 21, 2019

FYI a lot of those jewels are for the date wheel and not exactly needed.

ghce · Mar 21, 2019

and the jewels in the rotor

ghce · Mar 21, 2019

Foo2rama
FYI a lot of those jewels are for the date wheel and not exactly needed.

To quote a noted authority on these movements Kris Bubendorfer who also is a member of this forum

With reference to the 436, 437 and 471 cals

" A revolutionary 100% in house design and manufacture. Meyer and Stuedeli SA (MST) third in-house automatic. This calibre along with the 471 successor was the pinnacle of MST movement design. Differential gearing, 44 functional jewels and beautifully finished - this world class movement was many years ahead of the competition. Micro regulator as standard. Jewels in the 44 jewel version were allocated as follows: Movement 19, automatic winding device 8 (hole jewels), coupling clutches (2x5) 10 ruby balls, and ball bearing for rotor 7 ruby balls. Development took considerable time and demand for an automatic with date was a problem. "

Source link http://roamer-watches.info/MST436.shtml

ghce · Mar 25, 2019

Watch makers photo of my Rotodate Cal MST 437

Demonfinder · Apr 15, 2019

They are nice movements in either the 44 or later 28 jewel versions.
I started with one vintage Roamer some 3 years ago..now up toabout 65 and counting.
My earliest date from the mid 1920`s and are still performing well ( after a good service) some 90 years later.
I hope your`s cleans up nicely and gives you years of service.

ghce · Jul 14, 2020

A few photos of my latest Roamer Auto purchase last week, just got it back from a service and lens polish today.
Normally I just buy the 44 jewel Roamers but occasionally some of the other calibres slip by and get added to the growing collection, this one being my first 21 Jewel MST441.

It seems a bit odd to me in that it has gold hands, batons, numerals and outer dial ring, perhaps the outer case got swapped out at some stage for the silver one it has? or maybe it originally had a 2 tone silver / gold band? I may have to ask the previous owner as he bought it new some 50 years ago and quite coincidentally and unrelated to my purchase was a friend of my uncle.

I might grow to like the colour combo but I suspect will have to swap out the strap I fitted today for a 2 tone gold and silver I think for best effect.

You judge.

The movement photos were taken prior to service so this watch seems to have had a clean living life and hopefully the next 50 years will be the same.

Resized_20200708_103757_1710 - Copy.jpeg

Demonfinder · Jul 14, 2020

Hi ghce,
Your watch looks fine to me..it was quite common for Roamers from the 1940`s/`50`s to have contrasting metals on their dials and cases.
I have many myself- and seen numerous examples on the web.
Roamer watches were usually just on leather/pigskin straps for that period and they started offering bracelets as options sometime in the 1960`s -usually just stainless steel or sometimes a gold plated version I believe.rather than bi-metallic though.
In the 50`s/60`s the aftermarket expandable steel bracelets became popular with watchwearers as an aftermarket buy and some of the can look good if well matched.
Enjoy your watch.

ghce · Jul 14, 2020

Demonfinder
Hi ghce,
Your watch looks fine to me..it was quite common for Roamers from the 1940`s/`50`s to have contrasting metals on their dials and cases.
I have many myself- and seen numerous examples on the web.
Roamer watches were usually just on leather/pigskin straps for that period and they started offering bracelets as options sometime in the 1960`s -usually just stainless steel or sometimes a gold plated version I believe.rather than bi-metallic though.
In the 50`s/60`s the aftermarket expandable steel bracelets became popular with watchwearers as an aftermarket buy and some of the can look good if well matched.
Enjoy your watch.

All the Roamers I have bought to date have had leather bands, though in this ones case it had a god awful (but in excellent condition) nylon strap.

Never had much love for the common expanders and in fact my 2nd ever watch I owned back in the 60's had and still has the expander I got it with. When you are a physically active person like myself the darn watch can fly off your wrist unexpectedly as happened many times with my 2nd watch, never wore a watch with an expanding strap ever again after those experiences and these day I tend to fit metal bracelets in preference for usage and looks though do occasionally fit a leather one where appropriate.

Demonfinder · Jul 14, 2020

Ha ha,I didn`t say I liked expanders :0)
Some of the Roamers have tricky 17mm lugs too..good trying to find a bracelet to fit those ! ;0)

Screwbacks · Jul 14, 2020

sharing my roamer

ghce · Jul 17, 2020

Bought this Roamer 44 MST437 earlier on in the year in a somewhat sorry state cosmetically and doubt that it had seen a service in many long years or maybe even never.

A service and new crystal plus an appropriate strap and now it looks the proverbial million dollars. I do love this classic watch style, you can keep your divers and confusing complications and exotic styles, I love the bog standard simplicity of these high end Roamers.

Some photos of the movement and strip down

zoohannover · Jul 17, 2020

Someone said Roamer?
Usually I go more for their 70ies sport watches, but here is my Roamer Stingray Rotodate 44.
Dial says 44, but inside it has 28 jewels.

Great source of information here:
http://roamer-watches.info/blog/?p=246

ghce · Jul 17, 2020

Was a bit of a shame that they removed the Ruby roller bearings (as seen in my above pic ) from the clutches and reduced the count to 28 but the reason was I believe that if the watch got a large enough shock that those particular bearings ran the risk of cracking so the 44 became a 28.

Love your watch a MST471 calibre though some of these especially the earlier ones were 44 Jewelled.

Oldbutfit · Aug 10, 2020

I have 2 Stingrays bought at auction in the UK. The first is a rotodate 44, pretty well as new , cost £50 before auction costs. I think it’s 1969 likely to be 28 jewel version. A really nice watch. I spent some time looking for a 44 jewel and here it is. Bought at auction in July under lockdown so bit of a risk. Early 1965/6 stingray, 44 jewel. Has tiny scratch in crystal otherwise perfect. Cost £75 before auction add ons. Both automatic . The first 471 movement, the second 436 non date.

ghce · Aug 10, 2020

Wow, they are nice and such a reasonable cost too.
The local market here in NZ seems to have dried up for the 44 jewel variants but glad to see there is still a few on eBay.

Oldbutfit · Aug 10, 2020

These were bought at local auctions, the first in Warrington before lockdown

OmegaRody · Aug 10, 2020

Spruce
I’m also a fan of these 50s and 60s Roamers (and Oris).
They look like proper watches, run well and are comparatively 'cheap as chips'.
Enjoy yours

What are the Oris ones?

Foo2rama · Aug 10, 2020

O Oldbutfit
I have 2 Stingrays bought at auction in the UK. The first is a rotodate 44, pretty well as new , cost £50 before auction costs. I think it’s 1969 likely to be 28 jewel version. A really nice watch. I spent some time looking for a 44 jewel and here it is. Bought at auction in July under lockdown so bit of a risk. Early 1965/6 stingray, 44 jewel. Has tiny scratch in crystal otherwise perfect. Cost £75 before auction add ons. Both automatic . The first 471 movement, the second 436 non date.

44 jewels and no date wheel???

Roamer Rotodate 44 Jewel watch

ghce

Spruce

Foo2rama

ghce

ghce

ghce

Demonfinder

ghce

Demonfinder

ghce

Demonfinder

Screwbacks

ghce

zoohannover

ghce

Oldbutfit

ghce

Oldbutfit

OmegaRody

Foo2rama

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