Honeywell Rolleiflex Question

JeffGreene

JeffGreene

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After using my two Automats, I had the opportunity over the weekend to acquire what was initially described as a Rolleiflex E. When I was presented with the camera, I saw it was marked as a Rolleiflex 2.8F. It has a planar lens and a working meter. A couple of test rolls indicated that the film transport was gummy, but shutter and aperture seem fine. Despite this, I sent it off to Krikor for his overhaul. He accomplished a miracle with my first Automat which was beat to hell.

My question with this camera is that it says Rollei Honeywell on the waist level finder. The serial # was 2,45X,XXX. Can anyone explain the Honeywell connection? I would also be interested in production date information. Ferdi Stutterheim's site which includes the Prochnow, Parker, SiuFai and Club Rollei data provide mixed results. Dates range from 1960 to 1968.

I look forward to your knowledgeable responses.
 
This is just a guess, but here goes. In the '60s, '70's, etc. Honeywell was a major importer in the US. For Pentax for example, many of the US Import cameras were marked Honeywell Pentax instead of Asahi Pentax. Maybe this is the same thing?
 
That sounds right. I wonder if Honeywell owned Rollei at that point, given Rollei's many financial woes starting about that time.
 
In the 60's Honeywell was the distributor for Rollei, among other things.

As far as dating your Rollei, I believe yours sits right on the cusp between the 12 and 12/24 counter - roughly 1965-1966.
But I've been known to be wrong before...
 
JeffGreene said:
My camera has the 12/24 switch. I think it dates from 1966, but would like confirmation.
Click to expand...

I had both a 3.5 F and an MX-EVS done by Krikor. Both were dated on the invoice when he sent them back, although the MX date per Krikor was 1956, although the serial numbers on <http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/index.shtml> dated it at 1954. I don't know which would be more authoritative, but Krikor worked for Rollei back in the day.
 
Thanks, Chip. Krikor has worked on one of my MX-EVS Rolleiflexes (Type 1) which he dated to 1954. I guess I'll wait to see if he has a date for the 2.8F.
 
Right - Honeywell had no camera manufacturing abilities. They were strictly an importer. Somewhere, I think that I have a Canon rangefinder marked "Honeywell."

By the way, some of the Rollei 35 cameras carry a small Honeywell plate.
 
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