Original vintage 1950s Roamer mechanical watch magazine advert - alongside a very Cold War-esque article.
Dimensions: Roughly 10.25 inches wide by 14 inches high.
Founded in 1888 by Fritz Meyer, Roamer is a Swiss manufacturer of watches, based in Wallback, Switzerland, and the company was originally concentrated on manufacturing cylinder escapements. Within seven years, the company grew to sixty employees and started producing complete watches.
In 1895, the company developed its first own calibre, the "Number 38" to commemorate Meyer's 38th birthday. In 1905, Meyer joined fellow watchmaker Johann Stuedeli to form the partnership Meyer and Stuedeli (MST). The partnership continued to develop new calibres.
The earliest identified watch is an unmarked lady's pocket watch containing an MST 41 cylinder escapement that has London silver hallmarks for 1908; however, in 1917, the duo purchased fellow Solothurn watchmaker L. Tieche Gammeter (LTG), which had previously registered the brand "Roamer" in 1908. In 1918 the partnership incorporated Meyer & Stuedeli SA into the company.
By 1923, production grew to one million units, and the jeweled lever-escapement watches were now sold under the brand "Roamer," and in 1932, the company started its own dial production line.
The post-WWII years brought a Roamer office in New York City in 1945, and in 1952 Meyer and Stuedeli officially changed its name to Roamer Watch Co. SA. Fast forward to the Quartz Crisis initiated by Seiko, and the company launched its first quartz movement in 1972, and did so until the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s forced it to close its doors.
The brand was sold and today is partially owned by a Hong Kong-based firm. Before all this, though, Roamer made its own movements – including automatics that were used up through the early 1970’s and, furthermore, they had a lineup during the 1960’s and 1970’s composed of some legit sports watches.
In 2002 Roamer became a member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH. The following year Roamer returned to manufacturing mechanical watches, and – 137 years since its 1888 founding – remains doing so in modern times.
"Disorder in Red Ranks"
Alongside this Roamer article is a very 1950s Cold War article about the Communist Party in Poland, and the ordinary Polish citizens that oppose it - "The Communists, though split, were still in the saddle. Poland's ties to the U.S.S.R. remained firm. But those ties might be loosened by the rumblings throughout the world of Communism."