The original Rockwatch was sold from December 1985 on the US market and the official date for the launch of the Swiss sales to start was 15th March of 1986
The ‘rock’ for the manufacture of these special timepieces was essentially mined from the Alps, in the Grison, Ticino and Valais areas. Each area having its own distinctive colouration. Alternate stone was used later to vary the look of the watch and bracelets, (Blue lace agate, Scandinavian basalt, jasper from the Kalahari Desert, quartz crystal, pink Rhodonite from Australia, aventurine and blue sodalite from Brazil and even clamophyllia coral petrified from the prehistoric Jura mountains).
Original models had red and yellow hands. These colours were chosen to signify the colour of the markers used to mark the Swiss walking trails. Later models had blue/green hands, with some of the Pearlwatches having the gold coloured hands as seen on the Woodwatches.
The Pearlwatch was released onto the market in 1988.
The Rockwatch and Pearlwatch were sold in three different sizes, R140 woman size (approximate size 23 mm not including crown), R150 unisex size (approximate size 30 mm not including crown) and R151 man size (approximate size 33 mm not including crown).
The wood watch was sold in two different sizes to the best of my knowledge, the W150 (approximate size 33 mm not including crown) and W151 (approximate size 39 mm not including crown).
The W195 model is a limited edition version of the W151 (approximate size 39 mm not including crown).
The Woodwatch was released onto the market in 1989 with a limited edition ‘special’ of 999 pieces designed by Barbara Seiler featuring paper silhouettes to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation (1291 to 1991). These models feature a cutout Swiss scene picture on the dial of the briar-wood. The series was supplemented by a run of 10,000 miniature pieces with mechanically cutout silhouettes from brass or tin.
The wood used to manufacture these modes was Mediterranean briar-wood. The wood would then be coloured in a variety of colours, allowing for a variety of colours from almost honey coloured to dark ebony looking colours, and every colour in-between, I’ve seen examples of red, green, browns and more myself.
There is one final model, the Gold-rush. Although listed as a Rockwatch, it was slightly smaller than the the R150 midsize model and was made of solid gold, not rock, with the hallmark on the dial, at the 12 O'clock mark.
And now some pictures (I never get sick of these watches;
Three sizes of Rockwatch
Stone bracelet
'Pearl' Rockwatch
Skeletonized Rockwatch