Auction buy - Sputnik 1

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Bruce235

·Jul 18, 2023

Duracuir1 and I thought this might interest the OF nerdom... behold my latest on-line auction haul, a Sputnik 1 weather station with thermometer F, hygrometer %, barometer mmHg circa 1960. Made in West Germany.

I was reviewing the local online auction house for vintage Omega watches when this lot of Climate Instruments caught my eye. As soon as I saw Sputnik i knew i had to have it. It didnt hurt that I had had a couple of IPAs and it was midnight. I put in a strong maximum bid as you do when you must win. 10 days later I bested all competitors.
Bonus it came with an Swiss 8 day clock listed as non- running and missing minute hand seen after winning. Got home took it apart, found the minute hand stuck inside, put it on its post and it is keeping good time.
Also a French made thermo and hygrometer set with a cracked crystal and a Galileo thermo in perfect condition.
Not too shabby for CAD 135 and late night surfing.

 

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pdxleaf

·Jul 18, 2023·"I cut it TWICE and it's still short!"

Looks like the start of a new collection 😁

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 19, 2023

pdxleaf

Looks like the start of a new collection 😁

Just might be!

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 19, 2023

So far the sputnik thermo seems to be reading a couple of degrees too warm compared with others in my house. The hygrometer is bang on with the French hygrometer and am not sure if the barometer is working. Needs time plus I will have to look up conversions from mmHg to kilopascals. Should be inches of water not mmhg that would be metric. I had never heard of this unit until today.
I will keep a lookout for a metric version of Sputnik. They exist on YouTube and Ebay.

Edited: Jul 19, 2023

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 19, 2023

The little clock is doing OK. Run about 20s slow with a beat error of 2.8. Rate is adjustable but the beat error adjustment is above my meager skills.
It's pretty neat with the curved ball magnifying the dial and hands and of course the exhibition back.

 

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Tony C.

·Jul 19, 2023·Ωf Jury member

Nice! I've been buying clocks for years now, as they often represent better value than vintage watches.

 

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pdxleaf

·Jul 19, 2023·"I cut it TWICE and it's still short!"

I love how our Avatars show up on the Latest tab

 

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UWG

·Jul 19, 2023

Sharing was a good idea . I like it!
So I just started to google and found a short manual for it. For the case you need one.

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 19, 2023

UWG

Sharing was a good idea . I like it!
So I just started to google and found a short manual for it. For the case you need one.

Thanks, very cool
Italian, Dutch?, and Spanish. I am only good with English and French. Need Google translator.

Edited: Jul 19, 2023

 

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UWG

·Jul 19, 2023

Oh sorry, this is the correct one in english 😀.

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 19, 2023

UWG

Oh sorry, this is the correct one in english 😀.

Thanks again, you are too kind.

 

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UWG

·Jul 19, 2023

It‘ s a pleasure!
I have liked it so much that I would like to buy one myself.

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 19, 2023

Another tidbit.
I have seen pics of Sputnik hanging from a wall. I have a hole in the base for wall mounting, but sadly no brass hook came with it. I can make one for sure to give it the illusion of orbiting my rec room.

 

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Fallout Boy

·Jul 19, 2023

tons can be found here in Germany:
https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-sputnik-wetter/k0

 

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Bruce235

·Jul 22, 2023

Three hours of cleaning later ... SPUTNIK 1 is all clean and shiny, 65 year old instruments clean oiled and calibrated and apparently working well. Now I just need to get used to Fahrenheit and inch of Hg.