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Offer here is a batch of limited Grana watches made from vintage Grana engine of 1930s.
Only the case and leather strap was re-modeled in Switzerland. Using 100% geniune parts, these handsome timepieces have been professionally serviced and cared for by the original owner since the late 80s. The 18 karat gold wrist mechanical watch is of very unique design modeling the rare, antique wristwatch Grana in the 1930 - 1940 period.
An oversized screw-on cap protects the dial from moist with the front face having screwed backs and are shock resistant. The dial is in metal black with a small second hand with digits and hands. The movements have ___ jewels and are housed in waterproof, screw-back cases. For those in the know, this design of water resistent watches made headlines then before Rolex ever made its first water-resistent watch.
This watch is 28mm case wide, 8mm in thickness. They work perfectly and in mint, brand-new condition. A new old type leather comes with each watch. With the strap, the watch measures a total of 22cm. These rare time pieces are very limited and a pride for every collector! This special editions are a good gift for the special someone and would make a personal worthy subject for you. It is also a nice addition to your vintage Wrist Watch Collection.
I am no watch expert but feel free to call or email me should you have any specific questions on this item. If I can't answer your questions, I know the original owner (owner of The Seasons Watch Co. who operated at the former Ming Court Hotel at Orchard Road during the 70s and 80s) who would surely address your enquiry.
For those interested to know if I have other vintage watches, I am sorry that I do not have any others for sale at this moment. Please do not ask this question.
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My Tube Collection
26.Sep.11
One of my favourite hobbies is to collect pre-amp audio tubes of ECC82, ECC83 and ECC88 family series. The reason I go for these series, is simple due to my amplifier, DAC and pre-amp are all using these types of audio tubes.
My first encounter of audio tubes could be traced back to 11 years ago when I started with a Unison Research Triode 20 integrated amplifier in 2000. This Triode class A amplifier uses one ECC83 tube at input, two ECC82 tubes at output and four EL34 tubes for power.
Though this hobby of mine has been going on for some years, by now my collection is still considerable small due to budget constraints. As “two” means “easy” in Cantonese, I choose ECC82 family series to begin my talk about my tube collection.
ECC82
The audio tubes coded ECC82 is of the same family as other tubes coded 12AU7, 5184, CV4003, M8136, 6189, 7730, 6680 and 5963. In other words, these tubes are inter-changeable for use in audio equipments. Out of curiosity, I spent some efforts on getting 1-2 pairs for each of the named codes for my collection. This was how I started my tube collection hobby.
Code “ECC82” is widely used by tube manufacturers in Europe, whereas American manufacturers commonly use “12AU7”.
The tubes below are part of my collection
Mullard ECC82
Pair of ribbed plate tubes manufactured by Mullard of Great Britain, it has a small shield logo but without the word “Mullard” inside. Some said that the tubes of such logo were made at the latest production stage of Mullard in early 70’-80’.
The earliest Mullard tubes had the word “Mullard” inside of a big shield logo. The tubes of later production had the same logo of smaller size for differentiation.
I have also collected other Mullard ECC82 tubes with different logo design made manufactured at different time from those old days’ production.
Telefunken ECC82
Pair of smooth plate ECC82 labelled Telefunken of Germany.
Original Telefunken tube has a diamond shape molded onto the bottom of the glass for identification. But, my pair does not have such diamond identification.
By looking at its plate design, I suspect that the tubes were manufactured by RFT (also in Germany) for Telefunken and released in markets under Telefunken label. On the another hand, I remember, one Hi Fi magazine ever said that in 70’-80’ Mullard manufactured tubes for Telefunken as per their specifications. These tubes were printed with the same unique date codes and logo of the original Telefunken except for no diamond mark at the tube bottom. So, are these genuine tubes or fakes?
Mullard ECC82 Vs. Telefunken ECC82 (no diamond mark)
The Mullard ECC82 tube is superior in sound when compared with any one of those new tubes (12AU7) made in Russia and China. It also easily beats the old RCA 12AU7 grey plate tube of America, no sweats. But surprisingly, when comparing Mullard ECC82 with the suspected “fake” Telefunken ECC82, I found the latter one sounded more harmonic and musical, closer to my personal preference. On the other hand, the Mullard ECC82’s sound is inferior to its elderly brothers coded CV4003 and M8136 in my collection.
In general, the original Telefunken tubes are usually praised for their superb rich and well-balanced sound stage, but they do not have mid range charm of the Mullard tubes of early days’ production. Nevertheless, both are excellent tubes in great demand at high prices today.
RFT ECC82
Two pairs of ECC82 made by RFT of Germany, one said to be the ordinary grade, whereas the other one is a military grade ECC82.
The military grade tube was coated with word “RFT ECC82” in white colour. The ordinary one comes with logo and coated “RFT ECC82” in yellow colour. Both are almost of identical sound quality, which gives detail, balance and wide sound stage.
Both RFT ECC82 have outstanding analytical treble but lacking in rich mid range and bass. Otherwise, it would be a good all round tube highly recommendable.
When time allowed, in my next article I shall talk about my collection of tubes coded 12AU7, 5184, CV4003, M8136, 6189 and 5963 that are of the same family as ECC82.
Others
Apart from above, I have the Sylvania JAN 6189W made in USA, Siemens 5814A made in Germany, Europa 5963 made in Germany, and few others in my ECC 82 collection. They are all great and real fun for tube music plays.
Joseph Luk 陸強聲
7 September 2011
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