Jalopnik: A Tribute To The Cigarette Lighter Plug, The Original Car Hack

A Tribute To The Cigarette Lighter Plug, The Original Car Hack

A Jalopnik piece on the cigarette lighter, invention and history, and further uses for the plug.

My WUS Threads: Luch 2609

Luch 2609  - my thread on Watchuseek. EDIT DEC 30 2018. SCARFACE3133 IS ME AND TRYING TO GET PASSWORD NOW, THANK YOU.


The thread is about this watch -- Luch 2609 2001 / 2013.

The significance of the watch is in that it is powered by the caliber Luch 2609 -- the only movement designed, developed and put into production (albeit for a very short time) after the dissolution of the USSR.

Unfortunately it is not in production anymore and was made only for a brief time so never got any chance of further improvement and/or modernization. It is rare because so few of them were made, especially compared to the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other Soviet movements. 

Vostok Komandirskie 2416B Tank Dial

Johnny Depp had one...

...And so do I. Although his is from the late 1980s while mine is recent -- 2012.

In case someone is wondering the tank (although very stylized) is likely to be a T-62 type tank, distinguishable mainly by where the fume extractor is on the barrel. 

If you don't believe me, I invite you to consult this guide (filter all political and propaganda stuff though). 

This watch is an auto Komandirskie -- it is intermediate between the Vostok Amphibia(n) proper and the Komandirskie proper.

It differs from the Amphibia in that the case is chrome-plated brass and not stainless steel. From the regular Komandirskie it differs in that it has a self-winding Vostok 2416B movement like the Amphibia does.

It is running at + 20 seconds per 24 hours but is consistent, and the chrome plating is not what it used to be -- it wears off quickly at points of contact.

Still rate it as a good watch overall. 

Russian Watches in Pictures

Some Soviet and Russian watches in nice pictures.

Zaria

Vostok Amphibia "Ministry" or "barrel" case

Raketa Automatic

Gagarin's Sturmanskie watch -- first watch in space!

Raketa Kopernik - Copernicus

Luch Quartz

Raketa Quartz Medical - Pulsometer

Raketa for the blind

Raketa Perpetual Calendar (perpetual is 20 years)

Pobeda ZiM Troika

Zaria 3105.01 Moonphase -- a newer Russian watch (but already out of production)

Jalopnik: These beautiful landscape pictures were taken in Grand Theft Auto

These beautiful landscape pictures were taken in Grand Theft Auto


...

Russian Dash Cam: Near Crash Heavy Duty Truck vs Daewoo Matiz

A Russian dash cam video featuring a near crash (or only sight contact) between a heavy US-style rig and a tiny Daewoo Matiz - nobody hurt.
Post on Jalopnik

Burger King Triple Steakhouse Burger

My triple steakhouse burger from a Burger King outlet here in Moscow bought, taken home and eaten by me on April 6, 2014. 

Here's my reportage in photos.

Burger King Steakhouse 

With beef whoppers.

TRIPLE steakhouse!

Shortwave Radio Receiver VEF 221-1

My Radio Receiver VEF 221-1 from 1993 made by the Riga State Electrotechnical Factory, Latvia, (VEF, Valsts Elektrotehniskā Fabrika).

I believe its products were once known in Britain too, in particular.

A Soviet postage stamp -- 50 Years of the VEF Factory! ... 30 more years to go before the end.

VEF 221

To be exact, VEF-221-1, a penultimate model, there apparently was also a VEF-222.

The VEF factory was created in the pre-Soviet Latvia, flourished in the Soviet period but went bankrupt in 1999 soon after independence. 

I think Latvia now has no industry worth mentioning. But in the Soviet times, Riga had two major radio factories - VEF and Radiotekhnica, a major car factory and a commuter train-making plant -- all gone now [ETA May 6, 2014: scratch that bit - new information - the train building factory is up and running - RVR]. 

Funny, how the arrival of Western capitalists almost always spells an end to the domestic industry in Central or Eastern Europe. Maybe, that is exactly the idea. Anyway, back to the radio.

This radio was made in 1993 -- probably one of the last batches of VEF products.

It's plugged and working!

I should say the pictures are not quite as good as I would like them to be -- my little camera refused to focus properly. I tried to add a little sharpness and to remove glare and all via a picture processor but we get what we get. I am not going to re-do them -- time constraints and the end (a different or better) result is by no means assured given I would have to use the same camera again. 

The box is rare too, so I start with it. 

This is an original box, it contained this very radio and still does, although it pictures a previous modification of the VEF 221 radio -- a different speaker grille.

May Day Cactus

Here's the little culprit from my apartments -- burst into bloom to celebrate May Day - the International Workers' Day !

Down with the capitalists! Mayday, mayday...

 

No idea what it's called or even if it has a name. 

It is one of those little Dutch greenhouse cactuses (cacti?) sold in every shopping mall here in Moscow -- "Dutch mutants" :)

 At least it has blossomed.

 The others are no so inclined at the moment... or ever.

 

 

 

Nice flowers... and there are a lot of them with more on the way. 

I hope haven't spoiled things by watering it today. 

Okean 3133 "Not Quite" the Final Edition

Saw this beauty in a store here in Moscow about a month back and "report from the scene of the disturbance".

It is in fact a new version of the Okean (Okeah) 3133 Final Edition chronograph watch and I think it will confuse matters even further. Slightly.

To understand, I recommend consulting my two previous entries on the subject on this blog.

• Okean Final Edition 3133 from my collection; and

• List of Okean Final Edition  owners

Looking at the face you can see it differs both from both the original and the previous known duplicate version (such as mine - which are identical in everything but the box and paperwork):

• different stopwatch hand - barbed or winged like on Shturmanskies;
• different small register hands;
• different hour and minute hands with different lume - white -- also. 

The rest seems as before.

 Compare with my watch (duplicate):

 However when you see the back...

...you realize that the back is identical to the final edition, also the same strap.

Here's mine again for comparison.

There are two possible explanations. 

One is that it is a duplicate edition, or second run, watch but with those differences in front because either (i) Volmax has run out of original Final Edition parts; or (ii) has started using different hands etc. to differentiate from the Final Edition after much criticism. The other explanation is that it is something from the third run of watches (triplicates).

I feel the former is closer to the truth, as I was warned in the store that, if I wanted to buy it, I should do it now as they were running out of them. And in the store itself there was, like, only one this watch, I think.

More photos after the jump.

Photo Gallery: Antique Watch Movements

A website with pictures of antique watch movements

Photo Gallery: Antique Watch Movements

Some handwind movements, automatic movements, chronograph movements, pocket watch movements, etc.

I am adding a link to it in my links collection on the sidebar.

First New Raketa Automatic Bought!

 Not by me though.

A forumer on WRU (watch.ru Russian watch forum) has just bought one of the first Raketas Automatique -- Raketa Avtomat. Could even be a pre-production piece?

Here is the link to the forum post [in Russian], registration may be required to view pictures (not sure about this).

Picture courtesy DenisDevyatkin

I think the movement is the new Raketa 2615 movement, decorated

Russ/Russian Watches: Early Volna Precision Cal;2809 [Illustrated Dial].

Russ/Russian Watches: Early Volna Precision Cal;2809 [Illustrated Dial].

Nice Volna! 

BBC - Capital - Is that watch on your dresser valuable?

Britain's government-run official (biased) news and entertainment provider, the BBC, on watch collecting.

BBC - Capital - Is that watch on your dresser valuable?

Some pearls of wisdom:

Eric Fleming, a residential real estate broker in New York City, got turned on to watch-collecting six years ago when a client gave him some timeless advice. The client, who worked for jeweler Harry Winston, told Fleming he would never be able to sell a $4m apartment wearing a cheap watch.

Fleming, who was wearing a $400 Tissot sports watch back then, listened — and then some. The 37-year-old has since amassed a collection of 11 watches, ranging from a $250 Luminox sports watch to an $11,000 Rolex Yacht-Master Platinum. 

On the history of watch collecting

Vintage watch-collecting — which began in earnest in the 1980’s in Italy and Germany — is now a global phenomenon, 

I have a feeling that it started much earlier than that.

This is more or less true:

You don’t have to be a jet-setter to buy a watch worth collecting. Watch enthusiasts can go to a neighborhood flea market or local dealer to scoop up an early Swatch that is now highly collectible, such as limited-edition models designed by artists like Keith Haring, which can go for as much as $1,000 at auction. Other reasonably-priced models to look for are mechanical Omega and Heuer watches from the 1960s and 1970s. They could be purchased for as little as $200 only five years ago, and now go for $2,000 on eBay.

Yes, prices have gone up across the board. 

So called “complicated” watches, or those that display more than hours and minutes, are among the most collectible. That is because collectors, who are predominantly male and often in their mid-20s to 40s, are drawn to the watch’s mechanism. “It’s similar to car collecting, there’s a strong technical appeal, with over 400 parts put into something the size of a postage stamp,” said Joe Thompson, editor-in-chief of WatchTime, a US-based watch enthusiasts’ magazine. “Guys find it fascinating to know what’s going on under the hood.”

Business tips

For those who simply want to invest in the trend, there is a watch fund, Precious Time, which buys the best vintage watches, in the rarest configurations, from top brands such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and Breguet. The fund — started by a Milan-based collector, Alfredo Paramico, who has amassed what some experts consider one of the finest collections in the world — holds the watches, then sells them at an appropriate time to collectors for a profit.

Then it goes into some really expensive (and overpriced) stuff.

 

Another Russian Dashcam Video :)

Another Russian dashcam video? Watch to the end...

TechHive: How Casio Torture-Tests its Watches

How Casio Torture-Tests its G-Shocks

TechHive on Casio's testing methods.

British Pathé: 85,000 Archived Newsreels Online

British Pathé has put some 85,000 archived newsreels online.

British Pathé on youtube.

The archive is searchable.

For example, I found some videos on Russia's Moskvich 408 car, no sound.

And another one -- Russian cars - Moskvich 402 x 2 and then Volga GAZ 21, I think, no sound though

Even some on watches and clocks, though not many

WUS Thread: New LUCH Ice Hockey Worlds Watch

New stainless steel LUCH watch first photos!!!

New LUCH watch to mark (unofficially) the upcoming Ice Hockey Worlds 2014 in Belarus.

Case: stainless steel and chrome-plated brass versions. 

Movement: Miyota 8205 (?)

Pictures Nikolaevich

Montre du Jour April 21, 2014

Here is meine Armbanduhr des Tages heute - my watch of the day today the twenty-first day of the month of April in the year 2014.

Poljot President 2940

It's sunny in Moscow today (or was as of this writing) and + 23 Celsius but feels a lot hotter -- especially in the car.

It is an automatic chronograph (self-winding) powered by the Chinese ST1940 (TY2940) movement with roots going all the way to the famed Venus 175.

You can read more about this movement here -- Chinese ST19xx chronos.

My blog entry on the Poljot-President 2940 is here (link).