Vintage Rodania Epsa-Optel lcd digital watch

[Kasper]

http://www.benl.ebay.be/itm/Vintage-Rod ... 416a50fd3d

strange

[dutchsiberia]

nice watch :)

[dutchsiberia]

And I didn't "won" it. He was putting it up for sale again. Went above my max bid.

[abem]

Hi. I confess - I was the one who outbid you. You'll get the next one. It'll go nicely alongside my Teletime. $152 seemed fair given the condition - It's hard to estimate the value on these things since they don't come up often and there are about 5 people in the world that care about them. I've been looking for one for awhile and just got tired of waiting. I'll post photos when it arrives.

I'm assuming that the band is a modern replacement but I don't know for sure. Any guesses?

Cheers,

-abe.

[dutchsiberia]

Mwah, I've got too many watches already, glad you got it :) I got a nice Certina chronolympic in very good condition to "ease the pain"
No ideas about the strap, but I'm looking forward to the pictures

[vpn]

Congratulations for winning the Optel Abe! I was keeping an eye on the watch, because I was thinking to add something different to my collection, but later I've changed my mind, as I'm now keeping an eye on some Pulsars that have been put for sale just some days ago. (after I got my first P2, I want to buy a P3 or a P2 Date II so bad! I just can't be an LCD man. )

Looking forward to see many pictures of the watch when you'll get it!

[abem]

Thanks, Vincenzo. I'm not normally into LCDs, but I'm into the "firsts" and earliest models of each new significant horological development. The early LCD models have the big digits and the crown for setting, so they are still obviously different from contemporary models. This model also has a nice style, I think. The style's a little paradoxical - futuristic curves + a stem like an analog watch. I'm also kind of a sucker for minty "time capsule" samples because it's kind of neat to imagine them all shiny and new sitting in a department store window somewhere in the 1970s, with people staring into the glass admiring the dazzling new technology.

Of course, with Pulsars, almost every model is "first" at something, is horologically significant, and also has great style as the frosting on the cake.

-abe.

[vpn]

Definitely! The most fascinating thing of the Optel LCD (especially the one with the DSM display, the true cherry on the cake for every collector! ) is its minimalistic design. Simple and straightforward, without frills. It has a sort of Bauhaus-esque feeling. About the band, it seems original, looks like a rubber strap?

Although, IMHO, it would look awesome with a solid-link steel band.

[abem]

Hi.

A little update - I received the Rodania Optel and after a little inspection, I'm pretty certain that the band is original for the following reasons:

1) Corfam
On the underside of the band, in very faint letters, is the word "Corfam". Corfam was a synthetic material introduced by DuPont in 1964. Despite spending millions on marketing, it was a massive failure and was discontinued in 1971. As a result, it's only seen in a few wristwatches from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
2) Style
It matches the style of the stainless braclets that are more commonly seen on these watches.

Here are a few photos of the watch from different angles:
http://www.timetrafficker.com/watches/l ... index.html

-abe.

Rodania Optel LCD:

DSC_7448 (900x600).jpg

A Pair of Minty Fresh Early LCDs:

DSC_7308 (900x600).jpg