MOONBASE CENTRAL

Wednesday, 16 May 2018

FOR RUSSIAN WRISTS

Hi Woodsy,

The recent posts about space related watches reminded me there are various Russian space watches.

Commemorative watches are something of a Russian industry, produced by several manufacturers. The main one advertising now is Vostok, although I have a watch with two jet fighters produced by the Seagull Watch Factory.

My partner also has a Russian watch with a Yuri Gagarin image on the strap.

A few years ago, at least in Eastern Europe/Russia, they could be bought cheaply (I paid 5 dollars for a new one), but online companies are now trying to charge a small fortune for them.

Be warned, the system Seagull used for winding/moving the hands via a metal spindle (you have to loosen and pull out the winder) means that when the spindle breaks it apparently cannot be repaired (not sure how widespread this system is).

Also I had one where the spring went (admittedly an old second hand one), and another where (when I bought it) the mechanism had grit in, which had to be cleaned out.

Nevertheless, they are quite stylish timepieces, and as I don't use a mobile phone, still need to use a watch!

Images enclosed from various sources on the net.

All the best,

Andy B

WHEN DID YOU GO TO BED AS A KID?

Going to bed is a gradual thing for kids. It is still now I suspect and it was back in the Sixties for me. It was like a slow but steady exposure to darkness as we required less and less beauty sleep as the years passed.

Although my memory of junior bedtime is sketchy I have a strong feeling I went to bo-bo's around 6pm when I was 7 or 8. After my SWORD toys and the like were put away on the shelf, I remember sitting in my bedroom window wailing as I watched my older Sister and her family drive off on Sunday evening.

They came for tea every Sunday so their departure, sad in itself, was also the high tide mark of the weekend for me and going back to School on Monday loomed large and heavy.

Bedtime must have got later at some point as I started to stay up and watch TV programmes like the Mysteries of Edgar Wallace. I think the British 9pm TV watershed was the cut-off though and off under the sheets I went before TV got naughty for 3 hours!

Eventually I stayed up and watched everything on telly. There were only three channels back then in the UK - BBC1, BBC2 and ITV regions like Granada or Thames or HTV - but for some reason there were plenty of horror and monster movies on. I saw them all I think and watched until the the National Anthem had played and the dot appeared on the screen along with the high pitched siren in case you'd fallen asleep in front of the box!

When did you go to bed as a kid readers?