Retrotechnology you have, would like to have, or feel nostalgic for?

[Jeebo]

I read a science fiction novel some years back that began with an alien invasion that started off with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that knocked out all our electronics, all over the planet. (No, it wasn't The Fifth Wave, although that did start the same way. I don't remember the name of the novel or the author.)

One result of the EMP was that nobody could tell time any more. ALL of our timepieces nowadays are dependent on electronics. But, if you were one of those VERY FEW people who had an old-fashioned, wind-up, spring-driven, strictly mechanical, wristwatch, well, that piece of retrotechnology was PRICELESS. Because you could tell time with reasonable accuracy. Everybody else was able to tell time only very approximately, by the sun and stars, not very accurate.

Well, I am aware that an extraterrestrial invasion that begins with an EMP is an event of very low probability. Nevertheless, that kind of retrotechnology has some nostalgic appeal for me. I would like to have an old-fashioned, wind-up, spring-driven, strictly mechanical, wristwatch. I went to a local jeweler last week and was told that they couldn't sell me one, and that I should visit a pawn shop. But I would want a NEW one, not a used one, so I Googled it. I found some that MIGHT have been what I'm looking for, but I can't be sure that they have NO electronics.

What other kind of retrotechnology has any kind of appeal for y'all? Vinyl records? Rotary dial telephones? VHS VCRs? Or, even more retro, Beta VCRs?

In the words of the immortal Linda Richman of Saturday Night Live fame, I've given y'all a topic. Now, discuss!

-- Ron

[rsdsharp]

1. What kind of a jewelry store couldn't sell you a mechanical watch?

The “quartz crisis” in the watch industry was in the 70s and 80s. All, or virtually all, of the major watch companies from Timex on up have mechanical watches.

[Jeebo]

2. That's what I was told.

Maybe I should have tried more than one jewelry store. Tomorrow is Monday, and another week begins.

-- Ron

[Layzeebeaver]

29. La Grande Classique de Longines...

…Automatic Self winding. Bought it in 2003 on a flight thru Zurich. Have burnt thru several straps, but it still going strong. If I put it on auction I would probable break even. Not a stunner of a watch, but it is low profile and subtle - unlike the giant wrist anchors of today.

You have to wear it every day otherwise the spring gets unsprung and you have to manually wind it.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

3. Your mentioning the novel...

I vaguely remember an alien invasion novel along those lines, but it turned ludicrous with Dracula rising up to save humanity from the aliens. By David Weber, I believe, but I don’t remember the name.

[Jeebo]

12. The novel I'm referencing never really grabbed me ...

... so I didn't get through it, so it might be the one you're thinking about. But I've never forgotten the premise of the EMP wiping out all our electronics, and old-fashioned spring-driven watches being priceless and rare, because nobody had them any more.

-- Ron

[lastlib]

4. Arthur C. Clarke once said.....

...mankind never surrenders his most basic tools. We still have hammers, pencils, rope---things like these still play a vital role in our lives.

He also wrote a story titled "Superiority," in which two planets fight a war--one planet with backward, inferior technology; the other with vastly superior technology that kept developing new weapons that promised virtual invincibility, yet when put into action, resulted in disastrous losses for various reasons. In the end, the planet with the "superior" technology was defeated by the weaker planet's inferior technology. Lesson: superior tech doesn't guarantee conquest. Take heart in that.

[Aristus]

11. Well, that was just basically the Vietnam War.

George Lucas did his own version called Return Of The Jedi.

[Ptah]

5. I have a clothes iron made by my great-grandfather in about 1875.

[dameatball]

18. That's a very cool piece of work.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I have a friend who collects antique sewing machines.

Almost all of them are treadle machines. He jokes that after the EMP he'll have a monopoly on making clothes.

[Think. Again.]

7. As a member of the only "bridge" generation...

...that will, as adults, experience the transition from human life as 'analog' to human life in a digitized world, I do personally long for the days before electronic computing became ubiquitous.

I can honestly say I wish it never happened and that I personally believe day-to-day life was somehow better pre-digitization. I can't explain how or why, and I fully understand the endless list of reasons why life could be considered "improved" by the advent of digitization, but that really is my true feeling on this.

Luckily, no one who wasn't an adult before the changed happened over these last 4 decades will have any idea of what life was like before, so they won't ever know what was lost.

[BOSSHOG]

8. An eight track

I had one in an old truck. Nice nostalgia from my good old days.

We have my late father in laws rotary phone from his office from 30 years ago. Great item to have in the house for my wife’s sake.

Still got my grandparents percolating coffee maker.

[Jeebo]

14. Speaking of rotary phones ...

... have you seen this YouTube video?

... or this one?

-- Ron

[Kali]

9. real baling wiire

most hay producers have gone to some type of plastic twine. that has its uses but NOTHING beats baling wire. you can keep your tie wire to yourself, thanks.

[Ptah]

13. Baling wire is much better than flimsy duct tape.

[jmowreader]

17. It's still available but you don't want any

If you don't grow hay your family name will die out in fifteen generations before you use up 6500 feet of wire, and that's how long the roll is.

[Kali]

22. oh I know

that is how I buy it now. I am on my 3 box/roll in probably 10 years? can't remember when I ran out of the barn attic supply and had to go looking for it. somebody still baling their own hay must use it, as one hardware store in the county still carries it. I should probably get 10 rolls for posterity before it really disappears!

this whole place is held together with the stuff

[jmowreader]

25. My niece's husband bales hay with it

A couple of his Asian customers require wire on their bales.

[Kali]

26. interesting

why do they require it?

[jmowreader]

28. Not sure, but they do

[snot]

10. Computers & phones that didn't spy on me.

[Mr.Bill]

15. I still play vinyl records.

I have pretty much every record album I ever bought, about 300 of them.

[OldBaldy1701E]

19. Same. I am not parting with them. (n/t)

[Archae]

20. I do too.

I put my friends' and relatives' old records on to digital, then burn those to CD for their cars, mostly.

[EYESORE 9001]

16. I've been visiting a hardware store specializing in off-grid-capable tools

Everything is pricey, so it’s more of a museum from my perspective, but it’s certainly inspiring. If the SHTF, you’d want me in your corner.

[hunter]

21. My great grandmother was wary of electricity.

Her little house, the oldest on the family ranch, had two large rooms -- a kitchen with a wood stove, the "front room," and a tiny sleeping room off the kitchen, no bigger than a closet. It was all about surviving the winter cold. There were two light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, one for each of the two larger rooms, and a single socket for my great grandfather's damned radio. My great grandma was still cursing her husband for signing onto FDR's rural electrification.

As children we were not allowed to touch anything electric when she was present, not even to turn the lights on and off.

My mom's cousin inherited the ranch, as he was the only grandchild willing to be a rancher, and my mom inherited a lot of my grandmother's non-electric stuff. Unlike my great grandmother, my mom's cousin had no qualms about electricity or indoor plumbing. He took after his grandfather. I still remember my great grandmother fighting him when he installed very minimal indoor plumbing in the ranch's big house to please his bride.

Now my sister and I have some of my great grandmother's non-electric stuff. (The rest of our siblings didn't want any of it.) I've found repair and replacement parts, and other stuff my great grandmothers would have been familiar with, here:

https://www.lehmans.com/

The incongruity of a hardware store selling old technology on a fancy internet site always amuses me.

I've bought stuff like mica wood stove windows, oil lamp mantles, and replacement parts for antique hand pumps from them.

[EYESORE 9001]

24. That's the store!

Like I say, it’s more of a museum for me. Or a place to develop ideas.

[Kali]

23. cool

I would love that. I have wonderful old wooden case that holds a hand drill that belonged to my Grandfather, maybe even his father, not sure.

[RockRaven]

27. The *oldest* vintage appliance/tech I still actually use semi-regularly is

a '50s (AFAIK) Hamilton Beach kitchen mixer that once belonged to my grandparents. It still works great. Although I don't work it hard. Looks similar to this:



It hits a nice middle spot between the KitchenAid stand mixer and the handheld Black&Decker mixer for some jobs.

Less old, but still in use to varying degrees, would be a 60s/70s era Crockpot (but I mostly use a larger, newer one), a 70s/80s era turntable for vinyl records, and a 80s/90s era VCR for old family-favorite VHS tapes which we don't replace with DVD/digital versions for nostalgia reasons.

[rsdsharp]

33. My mother had that exact mixer, right down to the bowls.

[Hela]

30. Vermont Country Catalog

Vermont Country Catalog is online and has a lot of "retro" technology and products (good flannel pajamas, ragg wool gloves and socks, boar-bristle hairbrushes, out-of-fashion fragrances, etc.).

https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/

They have a couple of wind-up watches, too.

[sinkingfeeling]

31. TVs and small appliances that could be repaired. Now everything is disposable. Remember TV

repair shops?

[Doc_Technical]

32. Modern vehicles would be rendered useless

by a EMP because of the electronics controlling ignition timing,
fuel injection, etc.
Get an old vehicle with a carburetor and mechanical ignition.

[rsdsharp]

34. So Cuba will rule the world after atomic war?

[lastlib]

35. I will give up my slide rule when they pry it out of my cold, dead, stiff fingers.......

In fact, I just made a new case for it because the 50-year-old one started to fall apart.

I can still solve triangles on it faster than I could look up an online calculator and plug in the numbers from the keyboard. Who says computers are better for everything?

But I'm no Luddite. I spent 30 years creating spreadsheets and databases for a living. I just will not part with my slide rule. Ever.