Retro Thing

Fred Niell's Elegant Nixie Clocks

Fred Niell's Индикатор-6 (Indicator-6) digital clock mixes old fashioned woodwork with modern electronics. Each of these timepieces is housed in a beautiful mahogany and black walnut dovetailed case. The compact unit measures only 5.75” x 3.5” x 3.25” and consumes a mere 1.5W during operation.

The vintage display tubes were manufactured in 1971, at the height of the USSR's technological might. As Fred explains, "Russian-made vacuum tubes were specially selected for this clock. According to their original manufacturer, these tubes are rated for tens of thousands of hours of continuous use in extreme vibration and altitude environments. The exotic materials used in the tubes' construction, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Mercury, steatite ceramics, etc., stand testament to the immense work put into their development and manufacture. The manufacture date of 1971 points to a time when the tube industry had reached its pinnacle in both reliability and technological advancement. Truly, these tubes represent one facet of the peak of the USSR's intellectual and scientific output, fueled by the Cold War's escalations."

The limited edition run of one hundred Indicator-6 clocks is hand-assembled in the USA and sells for $275, including a wall-wart power supply. An international version is available for $10 more.

Link: Limited Edition Indicator-6 Nixie Clock

Luxury Watch Made With Coal From The Titanic

High-end Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome has crafted a range of stunningly pretentious Titanic-DNA watches that feature dials blackened with coal from the holds of the Titanic.

The 46mm case of the Titanic-DNA - rusted steel T-oxy III incorporates oxidized and stabilized steel along with titanium and ceramic. The movement is a C22RJ51 Concepto by Jacquet and the face is protected by a scratch-resistant double-coated sapphire window. It's water resistant to 5 Atmospheres and and comes with either rubber or crocodile strap. This is a limited edition of 2012 pieces, price available on request.

Titanic-DNA: An Expensive Lump Of Coal [via Acquire]

Retrodeal: Avalon Silvertone Railroad Pocket Watch

This simple $29.95 pocket watch is an interesting juxtaposition of vintage and modern design. It features a Japanese analog quartz movement that never needs winding, along with a 14" chain and belt clip. The case diameter is 41.5mm (1-5/8 inches) with a depth of less than 10mm (3/8 inch). Perfect for days when you choose to leave your phone at home but still need to know the time.

Avalon Silvertone Ultra Thin Railroad Pocket Watch with Chain

Retro Deal: $17 Casio Calculator Watch

Yes, it's geeky. It's also incredibly useful. The $16.45 Casio CA53W-1 calculator watch includes an 8-digit calculator, dual time zones, stopwatch, alarm, 5 year battery and automatic perpetual calendar. There's no backlight, but I suspect that's how Casio is able to keep the price so low.

Available from Amazon with free shipping on orders over $25

HP-01 LED Calculator Watch Still For Sale

This incredible Hewlett-Packard HP-01 LED calculator watch was just relisted on eBay after the previous $1500 high bid didn't meet reserve. Be warned it has "moderate signs of wear on face and bracelet. Has some scratches on red time screen and also has one damaged corner at red crystal."

On the upside, it includes the original manual, pen stylus (how else would you punch those tiny buttons?) and new batteries. I think I'll stick with my $25 Casio.

Hewlett-Packard HP-01 1977 LED Calculator watch

A Stunning Pilot's Watch We Probably Can't Afford

The Senator Navigator Perpetual Calendar by Glashütte Original absolutely nails the retromodern look. The 44mm stainless steel case houses a traditional pilot's watch that looks like it should soar on the wrist of a battle-hardened WWII ace. The black dial features bold Arabic numerals that can be read at a glance, and the hour numerals and hands are inlaid with gobs of mysterious luminescent stuff.

The Caliber 100-07 automatic movement provides a 55 hour reserve, ample for even the longest sortie (or for those evenings you carelessly fling your timepiece onto Mata Hari's sidetable). Glashütte Original even includes a leap year indicator on the face. A reset mechanism allows you to easily synchronize the second hand to a time standard without stopping the movement.

Glashütte Original Senator Navigator Perpetual Calendar [via The Amateur Economist]

Soviet Nuclear Submarine 8-Day Springwound Clock

In the early 90's, I remember chic mail order catalogs started offering ex-Soviet military gear as a way to dress up your home with the booty from a fallen political system. It had long been forbidden to export any sort of Soviet military hardware, but style-conscious collectors know no borders. There have many times in history where the hard won gear of war become the trite souvenirs of the victors, but it seems a bit on the nose to offer then recent militariana in glossy gift catalogs.

That aside, a favorite of these catalogs was the authentic Soviet nuclear submarine 8 day springwound clock. The clock looks and feels combat ready. That means it's heavy, stocky, and made to take whatever goulash you can dish out, comrade. Back then, the clock you received may have had some battle scars since many were actually taken off of submarines. Others might have come from a lonely stockpile, and so saw no battle action.

The supply of submarine clocks eventually ran out, thanks to healthy demand. A few years ago the clock's original manufacturer, Vostok, started making them again. Vostok made the clock available in a number of styles – flavors that didn't look quite so formidable and military (which leaves me questioning the point of the whole exercise) – and supplies of these too have run low. Some online stores are charging in excess of $200 for these timepieces.

Fortunately there is still Ebay, and these clocks seem readily available for around $60 – a great deal for an 8 day clock that keeps very good time. That's a good thing since these clocks had to operate within pretty demanding conditions. The winding key also unlatches the heavy frame holding the crystal, and there at the 6 o'clock mark is the hole for winding. Once you pop the cover back on, the clock runs very quietly – crucial if all of those tense “silent running” movie scenes have taught me anything.

I was fortunate enough to find my clock at a thrift store for a few dollars. If you don't have that sort of fortune, tovarishch, here is a link to that exponent of capitalism, Ebay.

Soviet submarine clocks on Ebay

related:
Eye candy: Soviet watches
The pocket watch goes to war

Affordable Skeleton Wristwatches

I get the urge to take apart each and every gadget that falls into my sweaty palms. It's an affliction that shows no signs of letting up, as my recently eviscerated and reassembled mobile phone will attest. However, I know better than to take my battered old chisel to a mechanical wristwatch. The tiny balance wheels and hairsprings tend to skitter halfway across the room at the slightest provocation. After a couple of disastrous encounters, I vowed never again to open the case of a working watch.

There is an elegant solution to my horological dilemma - a skeleton timepiece. These mechanical marvels reveal their inner secrets through transparent faces and crystal backs. They're often ridiculously expensive, though. That's why I was excited to discover the suspiciously affordable range of Stührling Original skeleton watches. While the company website alludes to a mysterious Swiss master watchmaking heritage, the timepieces are manufactured in Asia to keep prices low.

The Stührling Winchester Elite automatic retails for $249 on Amazon. The self-winding movement incorporates 20 jewels and the movement is hand engraved with blued steel screws. It's water resistant to a depth of 165 ft with a scratch-resistant sapphire front plate. Best of all, you can see what's going on inside without having to pry the thing open. It might not be a Swiss work of art, but it's good enough to bash around on the end of my arm.

Official site: Stührling Original Timepieces

Hottest Watch Ever

The annual CES gadget orgy has once again swept tech writers off their feet in a tsunami of orgasmic technolust. And once again, we weren't invited to partake. But we're not bitter. Nope, not us.

We'll pass the weekend wandering listlessly through the quiet halls of Retro Thing HQ, moodily fantasizing about odd gadgets from the past. Like this example of convergence gone mad, entered in our recent contest by Shea Connolly.

"I picked up this unique watch/lighter at a garage sale as a teen in the late 80s for $2 (price tag remains on box). I've never seen another one like it. Always thought it was an interesting combination. I have a small collection of vintage novelty watches, and this is my favorite."

LED Watch From An Alternate Universe

Have you ever wondered what digital timepieces would look like without the invention of 7-segment numeric displays? The £199.99 Storm Faze provides the answer by incorporating discrete LEDs -- lots of them -- to show the time. It features stainless steel construction and an old-school time/date display. It's also water resistant to a depth of 50 meters to ensure it'll remain functional long after your accidental drowning. Or something.

Men's Storm Faze LED Watch [via Technabob]

Spirit of St. Louis Aerial Clock Radio

This alluring little AM/FM clock radio seems to be the Chinese offspring of a vintage CB radio and an old Cessna, replete with tactile toggle switches and an illuminated tuning dial. The Spirit of St. Louis brand has been around for well over a decade, but there doesn't seem to be any info on this particular model on the Intertubes. It's available from a single UK retailer at the somewhat ludicrous price of £49.95. Still, I want one as soon as I figure out where the snooze button is...

Spirit of St. Louis Aerial Clock Radio [via BB Gadgets]

Casio Revamps The Calculator Watch

Oh, Casio. You've given such joy to millions of geeks around the globe with decades of nerdy calculator watches. But we've moved on. We no longer trot around sporting pocket protectors and taped glasses. Nope, these days we opt for a smartphone or two clipped to our belt and laser surgery to eliminate the Coke bottle glasses. Unfortunately, this makes us virtually indistinguishable from the gormless brain snails in the marketing department. Something had to be done!

It's a good thing you had the stylish DBC32 Databank series up your sleeve to set us apart. True, half of them look like they escaped from a box of Froot Loops, but how can we resist a 25-page databank, 5 multi-function text alarms, a 10-year battery and a whopping 8 digits of calculating precision? Street prices start under $25, available now.

Find the perfect Casio Calculator Watch

Taylor Desk Clock – Sleek & Stylin' Time & Temperature

When you wanted to give a classy man-gift, for decades it meant that the object had to have real wood, chrome and/or brushed metal, angular design, and if at all possible hold a pen. This Taylor clock has “executive gift aisle” written all over it. Given the glacial pace at which men's taste changes, this clock could come from the 60's, 70's, maybe even the 80's. The clock takes a design cue from an airplane cockpit. The three dials measure your day as the hour tolls, the temperature rises, and humidity engulfs.

I like the looks of this U.S.A. made desk clock, but I'd need to restock my office with other sundries that are equally slick. I'm not complaining, though I will grouse a bit about battery installation. You have to unscrew the back of the clock to tip the mechanism out. I had a lot of difficulty adjusting the clock to keep good time, necessitating multiple disassemblies. 

While the clock inspires admiration from the front, the rear invites scorn. If you're the kind of high powered executive (or dad) who has this on his desk, do you really want the people that come cowering into your office to have to stare at the screwholes? What am I supposed to put back there? Some sort of manly doily?

I think that some man-gifts today still have these aesthetic qualities, but many more don't. Where we once had the warmth of real wood, now we have textured plastic. Replacing metallic angular features are soft biomorphic curves. Aviator inspired analog dials have given away to LCD readouts of the correct time and temperature downloaded from the Atomic Clock. I guess that both devices can measure the beat of time marching on – but at least with the Taylor I'll know the relative humidity and I'll always have a pen

related:

Nixie tube mantle clock
Cathedral radio shaped mantle clock
Retro/modern Tivoli clock radio
Delft ceramic clock done in cross-stitch

The Sands of Time

Today's useless factoid: This 60 minute hourglass would run for about 363 minutes on the moon. It's filled with sand and never needs batteries. Oh, and it's easy to use; just flip and gaze intently. Perfect for hours of amusement and accurate to within 60 seconds per hour.

River City Clocks 9-inch Hourglass

The Wittnauer Watch Only A Thick Furry Wrist Could Love

Back when self-actualized men were going for the sasquatch look, big bulky watches were in fashion. For those of us with skinny wrists, a massive timepiece doesn't help us look any more manly. My friend refers to this Wittnauer as my Ted Baxter watch, as it looks like the sort of machismo symbol that the puffed-up TV character from the Mary Tyler Moore Show would go for.

Unbelievably I got this beauty for free when I was selling off some old coins. I took pity on the worn old watch sitting forgotten and alone in a dusty display case. The owner said that he'd had it for years and years, and had never been able to sell it. I was the first person who'd liked it in decades so he simply gave it to me.

I recognized the name Wittnauer as they have been making watches for over a century. The dinged up timepiece keeps good time despite clearly having a few stories to tell, but the watch held a surprise for me. It has a built in alarm. I'd never had a wind up wristwatch with a mechanical alarm in it. At the right time, the watch lets off an insect-like buzz. I don't think that it's loud enough to wake a person from a sound sleep, but on your wrist the creepy vibration and sound is going to get your immediate attention. Unpleasantly.

The massive design elements are what interest me most about the watch. Usually I'm not fond of bulk, but just look at the giant watch face – even the pips that mark every hour are huge (click the picture at the top of this post for a better view)! Somehow all of these traits I normally dislike have come together in just the right way. And let's face it... if you were to pit one of today's giant blinged out watches in the ring against mine, I'm sure that this bulldog of a Wittnauer will take the day. No wonder that people are still paying a couple hundred bucks for old giant watches like this one.

Since this Wittnauer has got all that room to spare, you'd think that perhaps they'd have built in room for a battery, or a self-winding mechanism. I guess those concepts are way too wimpy. Unfortunately I just have to man-up and remember to keep this monster wound, otherwise I lose the date – and the configuration of the crowns make setting the calendar a real task. I'm just grateful that it measures my wimpy life in regular hours and minutes, rather than some sort of “macho tempo” that I could never live up to.

related:

Rolex P.O.W. watch auctioned off
Seiko reinvents the watch
Casio retro watches
Another big watch - but with FM radio built in
"High class" toy watch from a gumball machine