Anyone know the history of P. Roch Rolle micrometers?

[rivett608]

I have been trying to research on P. (Pierre) Roch Rolle of Switzerland and am finding next to nothing. Even wrote to the company that owns them now and they had nothing. It seems they were established by 1920 making calipers and at a later point started into the micrometer business. They had what I think was a sales department in Paris as some examples have that marking. In the mid 1950s they started using the name Etalon and continued to produce micrometers for some time.

Anyone have anything on the company history?
I posted this in the Antique section but these are much more modern so I thought some of you guys might know.
Thanks.

 

[John Garner]

I've seen "P Roch" branding on French-made micrometers, dial calipers, and precision levels that were purchased new in the mid 1980s. I don't remember if the second line on the markings was "France" or "Paris", and can't rule out seeing both.

Several years later, I was chatting with one of the French mechanics at the European Space Agency launch base in French Guiana about plumbing the spin axis of a rotary table -- commonly, if incorrectly, called "leveling" the table. In accordance with launch-base rules, he had to do the actual adjustment, while I, being responsible for the spacecraft measurements, had to measure the residual plumbing error.

We chose different weapons. He used a P Roch precision level of 4 arcsecond per 2 millimeter division; I used a Federal electronic level.

We compared total-tilt results, which differed by 1 arcsecond. I must have sounded like I was either astonished or especially happy with the agreement of our measurements, because he began to brag about the level he used.

During the course of our conversation, he told me that the P Roch levels were no longer sold under that name, but under the EDA name, and that they were manufactured in a small town north of Paris.

 

[Cyclotronguy]

I was told, and I cannot attest to the honesty of that, that they were marketed under the TESA brand. The only Rolle I ever owned, did indeed seem to be TESA.

 

[guythatbrews]

Try the French Usinages forum. I don't speak or read French, but with a bit of effort and Google translate it's not bad. So far the members have been very helpful. And they'd be flattered to share a bit of their history with an American.

BTW I just checked your location and see it's KC, MO. I'm in Grain Valley. We can't be much farther than 25 miles apart.

Greg

 

[EmGo]

I was told, and I cannot attest to the honesty of that, that they were marketed under the TESA brand. The only Rolle I ever owned, did indeed seem to be TESA.

By visual examination, since around 1970, Tesa and Etalon were exactly the same except for the slant lines on the Tesa. Friend the next bench over went Tesa, I prefer the straight lines and bought all Etalon. But except for that you couldn't tell the difference, even under close inspection.

I remember they had slightly different items in their product lineup but that could easily be marketing ?

 

[majohnson]

Recently I purchased a Etalon 3818 micrometer. Like you I didn’t find much about them. It an indicating mic and for something that has been around for some time, it still works and the thimble feels as good or better than anything currently offered. It would be interesting to come up with a production period. Even the wood box is well made.

Long Island Instrument services them and has some parts. They carry a pretty good price tag for a used micrometer.