Telemeters then

[FrontierGibberish]

Increasingly coming to the view that tachymeters and telemeters are the VHS and Betamax of watch complications. Given almost everyone could do with a way of measuring distance but very few people need to measure speed you'd think that the telemeter would have been the one everyone wanted, but the tachymeter had better marketing!
Anyway, I think I need one in my life again so any recommendations for vintage telemeter watches I can start hunting down up to about £400?

[aamaci]

I don't think you can go too far wrong with the Russian Poljot OKEAH (Ocean), which, though not vintage, looks retro. You should easily pick up for £400 2nd hand I would have thought (around €700 new). It has the pretty decent 3133 movement. This is mine:



A

[procrustes]

The problem with the Poljot for non-sailors is that the telemeter is calibrated in nautical mph (knots)

I wasted quite some time researching Russian distance units before the penny finally dropped!

[FrontierGibberish]

I don't think you can go too far wrong with the Russian Poljot OKEAH (Ocean), which, though not vintage, looks retro. You should easily pick up for £400 2nd hand I would have thought (around €700 new). It has the pretty decent 3133 movement. This is mine:



A

I was just reading a fascinating old SC thread about those (perhaps about that very one). I knew absolutely nothing about them before, but really interesting to read, especially about them buying up all the old machinery in the 70s.

[SimonK]

Many of the chrongraphs made with Landeron movements in the 40s and 50s had telemeter dials, usually in kilometers. Search Ebay for 'Landeron' and you'll find loads for under 400 quid, you can pick the one with the nicest dial and/or in the best condition, gold or gold plated.

This'n, for example

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373861493...gAAOSwbAFhtcgK

[Lampoc]

The problem with the Poljot for non-sailors is that the telemeter is calibrated in nautical mph (knots)

I wasted quite some time researching Russian distance units before the penny finally dropped!

There are also Poljot chronographs with telemeter scales in km. If anyone does fancy an Okeah, be aware that fakes often outnumber originals on places like eBay.



I'm also going to use this thread as an excuse to post up my Okeans. Original on left, re-issue on right:

[Caruso]

Here's my telemeter, my father's old watch.

[FrontierGibberish]

Here's my telemeter, my father's old watch.

That’s fab.


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[FrontierGibberish]

Many of the chrongraphs made with Landeron movements in the 40s and 50s had telemeter dials, usually in kilometers. Search Ebay for 'Landeron' and you'll find loads for under 400 quid, you can pick the one with the nicest dial and/or in the best condition, gold or gold plated.

This'n, for example

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/373861493...gAAOSwbAFhtcgK

This was a very helpful post- not because it sent me to eBay but because it sent me to my own watch box where it emerges my Landeron Cal.189 powered Chilex does indeed have a telemeter. So that’s solved that issue! But it will become unsolved when it sells as presently up elsewhere




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[FrontierGibberish]

That’s a bit later though, mid 60s I think but could even be early 70s.


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[gerrudd]

Another great TZ post. Never knew such a thing existed. The video was also very helpful. This is the 50 quid Sekonda telemeter that was referred to.

https://www.rubiconwatches.com/sekon...watch-1074-new

[MFB Scotland]

I completed this mod previously. I quite liked the bezel configuration.

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[50kopek]

Not related to the subject of this thread, but that chrono hand leaving the date window visible is brilliant!

[FrontierGibberish]

Isn’t it? Never seen it before. I should really put it in SC.


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[Ascalon]

Well, it all depends on the origin of the watch. The Speedmaster was originally conceived as a racing chrono, so hence the tachymeter.

A pilot needs to measure speed easily, hence the same. Telemeters seem to be more a 40s, 50s thing, before giving way to the tach.

I had a Poljot Navitimer that had both on the dial.

[FrontierGibberish]

I think telemeters were originally an early 20th C thing, designed to help officers range artillery.


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[the_gazelle]

Another great TZ post. Never knew such a thing existed. The video was also very helpful.

I was thinking exactly the same thing! I was half way down the thread and wondering how it worked when there is the perfect explanation in the form of a video. I think that would actually be quite useful and I like the idea on a Speedy.