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Car and Chrono

Car and chrono.

Here are more pictures of my Okean 3133 Final Edition chronograph, such as they are.

It's color matched to Ford's blue oval.

The main entry on this watch is here My Okean 3133 Final Edition and there is a story there.

Love mechanical chronos, and when I got into watches some time ago I decided I would build a collection specifically of affordable chronos... but due to lack of funds have got only three so far, with there being no new addition since 2013... but am still hopeful.

I said "affordable" mechanical chronos and the two prime examples are the Poljot 3133 and China's ST19** series. 

Unfortunately, Poljot is out of production already but still can be found.

Also note the stopwatch is on - the red central hand is moving.

My Watches and Clocks Playlist

My Faulty Sony ICF-SW11

Seeing as I am also into shortwave (mainly) radios, here is another radio from my battery of consumer world radios.

Bought in 2007.

It is a portable analog radio (with 9SW, MW, LW and FM bands) so you shouldn't expect much from it in terms of functionality, also the analog tuning dial has its very obvious limitations, like being unable to determine exactly the frequency you are tuned in to or being unable to tune precisely to a given frequency.

That said, I liked its shortwave reception when I used it a bit soon after I bought it, and thought that it was pretty good on shortwave, all things considered.

However it then developed a major problem with the tuning dial - the pointer first refused to move - then recently regained that ability but the range is shifted upwards somewhat but it doesn't seem to affect ability to tune itself. Described in below video in Russian.

Also it seems now that its reception ability has deteriorated a little - 9 years after it was bought.

Sony still has a couple other much more advance shortwave radios but I am not sure if they still make them or just sell out old stock.

But this radio is still made by Sony and the serial numbers are over 2,000,000 now.

Delirium 168

Some trance on sunday

Electronika 53V x 2

Some Thoughts on Mafia III (2016)

Seeing as occasional gaming is also my hobby, here is my short review of Mafia III 2016 -- just some points that are most salient.

I completed the game about a week ago, the proof of which is in this playlist.

There were some good moments.

The city itself looks nice though not in all weather. Sunny days are generally great.

Sometimes the sunlight sort of floods the inside of buildings and saps the color. Sometimes it is nice at night, sometimes it is too dark.

The story is pretty good, however the confusion of many side- or optional missions is sometimes too much. 

If you want non-linear, you go play GTA series.

But sometimes you want a clear-cut linear story without much distraction. Mafia I and II provided such stories. Mafia III deviates here somewhat though not on the scale of a typically messy GTA game.

If I were to rate the game, it would definitely be behind the first 2 installments but overall not as bad as some claim.

It also is very buggy.

Also the controversial topic of racism is covered boldly but very unrealistically and with a lot of injustice to all sides, I think; also the treatment is cheap and over-the-top. For example, I am not buying the idea of there being "Dixie mafias" at the time controlling dr ug and pros tituion rackets.

Story-wise, the most surprising thing is (spoiler)....

Two Telemeter Scales on My Chronos

Not two different scales, but rather two differently graduated Telemeters scales on a couple of my mechanical chronos.

Here is one - the 2011 Океан Final Edition

The telemeter scale is in red on the outside of the hour marks and it is apparently graduated in nautical miles having about 10 units in total, that is, measuring the distance up to 10 nautical miles or thereabout.

And here is the other - my 2013 Strela 3133 45 mm by Volmax.

Here the scale is in kilometers and has about 19 units.

Basically the telemeter is a device used to measure distances to remote objects.

Per wikipedia,

...the telemeter chronograph is a feature of a wristwatch, i.e. a complication (and the chronograph is itself a complication) which allows the user to approximately measure the distance to an event that can be both seen and heard (e.g. a lightning bolt or a torpedo strike) using the speed of sound. The user starts the chronograph (stopwatch) at the instant the event is seen, and stops timing at the instant the event is heard. The seconds hand will point to the distance measured on a scale, usually around the edge of the face. The scale can be defined in any unit of distance, but miles or kilometers are most practical and commonplace.

It is important to keep in mind different telemeter scales graduation to avoid simple errors.