United States Cameras: Rollex 20

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Introduced in c1950s the USC Rollex 20 is a self-erecting folding camera for shooting 2¼" × 3¼" exposures on 120 film. Some versions are able to accept both 120 and 620 roll film variants. It was made by the Chicagoan United States Camera Co. A version was sold as the Tower 50 folding by Sears (there is a Tower 50 35mm also). The Rollex 20 was a simple snapshot camera, with fixed focusing and a fixed 5.6 aperture. The only choice that it offers is the one between time mode (really Bulb mode but marked TIME) and 1/50 of a second shutter speed. It has an optical viewfinder of reverse Galilean type and an 86mm Octvar lens. Its specialties are that its ever set shutter has to be tripped with a lever that is integrated into the upper edge of the front door or lens bed. Pho-Tak also sold the Rollex 20 plus the Foldex 20 and they were the same or an equal camera type that included an accessory shoe and flash-synchronized shutter. The successor of the Rollex 20, the USC 20 folder, is similar to the later Foldex 20 from Pho-Tak, which has a restyled viewfinder housing. Other features of the USC Rollex 20 were a table top fold out foot for portrait exposures, film advance knob, rewind knob, and a ¼ inch 20 thread tripod socket for portrait exposures in the lens bed. The Rollex 20 camera was originally priced at $9.95 without the case.