Being a fan of Italian motorcycles I have always loved the "no-nonsense" aesthetic of the earlier Veglia gauges.
There was a company out in CA near Fullerton that made aircraft gauges, they ventured into automotive gauges. They went out of business a while back, but every now and then I see an old gasser with their gauges. I wish I could get a set. So for now I settle on Moon's.
my ot 2010 mercedes has every fricken thing in one gauge....size function font color every thing i could just scroll thru it sittin still and have fun....let alone see all it does while drivin so less is more i set it to the largest digital readout of speed and leave it cars with more gauges than needed are too busy looking seems a fine delicate watch like gauge have been lost to durability retro look tech built-- with out modern function tough call..
Mechanical watches and hot rods go together perfectly. I also have an affinity for pilots and military styled tool watches. Here's a pic of my Stowa Flieger 2801 LE with a hand wound mechanical movement. Stowa is one of the five companies originally contracted to produce Flieger watches during WWII, and is still making them to this day. The fit and finish of this watch is amazing.
I know it's been mentioned before, but the aircraft gauge probably is the closest thing to the 'pure function' goal, because they have been designed as such. They had to be reliable, light and easy to read, and thus ended up with a very similar aesthetic, block writing, white on black, noticeably of high quality, and no unnecessary embelishments. In that sense, I disagree that they are 'theme' gauges, they are the real deal. The trouble is, that as soon as they are modified, played with and generally bashed into an automotive application, their function is compromised, to the point that they may or may not be as 'functional' as a purpose built auto gauge. I just bought a set of gauges by TIM, white on black to go in my '60 Ply (I have a speedo and a fuel gauge - not enough for my needs). I bought them because they were mechanical, simple and well priced, and people in the UK seem to like them. I have not plumbed them up yet, ironically because the starship dashboard in the car doesn't lend itself well to gauge placement, so I need to do somthing clever. But these TIM gauges look as close to a 'minimum' in terms of embelishment as you can get cheaply on the market at the moment. Anyhow, interesting article - nice to see sombody else with an incurable condition for collecting mechanical bits. Don't get me started on antique machine tools . . .
These are the gauges in a Vought Corsair. You can see where Sinn (and others) took their clear to read, uncluttered style from. I like the funky blue and white rev counter. This is my 1945 British Army issued Jaeger LeCoultre, which shows a similar clear design. These military watches and gauges all seem to share a similar looking, un-ornamented typeface.
Funny you mention Jaeger. I went to a British car show a couple of weeks ago and really liked the Jaeger gauges and Smiths gauges. Super clean, super functional. http://www.nisonger.com/smiths-classic-gauges.htm http://www.thegaugeshop.com/shop/category_1/Smiths-and-Jaeger-Gauges.html?shop_param=cid%3D%26
Yes, those are in lots of older European cars, up until the seventies at least, although I´m not sure what the relationship between `Jaeger´ and `Jaeger LeCoultre´ is. Same typeface for the logos, so I guess they were related to another, maybe about 90 years ago or so. JLC make some seriously expensive watches these days and I don´t know if Jaeger gauges are still going or not.
the guages in the Vought Corsair cock pit are easy to read.. i like it.. simple, cool. now the only gauge on their that seems like it is not easy to read is the gas/oil gauge at the bottom * this could because the picture is taken from above the cock pit rather than sitting in front of it..).. id think in air plane you want to keep a eye on your oil and gas.. i do not know anything about planes tho so maybe im looking at it wrong. chris.
I collect old watches and I much prefer the simplistic ones.It makes me want to choke down the bile when I see some of these oversized,bling pieces that are so popular now.And they're quartz,not mechanical.I've always believed that watchmakers put their soul into watches,just like hotrodders do with their cars.
I hear that. I love the old military watches. Black dial, white numbers, and a second hand as the only "extra". We don´ need no stinkin´ date.
I've never worn a watch, ever, well maybe for a second when those Sinclair LED digitals came out in the 70s, but I appreciate them as mechanical things, time itself scares me a little.
Infedels??? I am as guilty as any of us in spending time and money on what is really JUNK.No offense to anyone please. I sometimes cannot help but think I and a lot of other people in this great country of ours SHOULD be spending more of our time and money helping the poor, homeless and starving kids and people in this world. I want to donate, but if you demand to know what percent of my donation actually goes to the poor, it is usually 10%!!!!!!!!!. the rest is "administrative cost" what the hell is wrong with us, has just plain GREED taken over? I know, this will be deleted by the guy that owns this site, ........................
Gorgeous! I'd take one of these or an IWC "Mark 11" or 12! The simplicity is quintessential Hot Rod too, purpose built to tell the time, tough to be used in Military applications and in the air. Plus Jaeger was making instruments for many European cars of the era.
Why thank you. I have a Jaeger LeCoultre Mk 11 too. They´re a lot rarer than the IWC. (And not so hideously expensive either!)
I too have this weakness for chronometers/stop-watches and other time piece kin...............Saw a Maserati Pininfarina (1950 someting) built for one of the Agnelli (IIRC).....The Speedo and Tach were large watch like faces (black backgrounds)......Beautiful!........ Really like your "rally stop watch" set........(Actually I lust for them ;0) ).......
I just spotted this thread which cropped up when I was at Speedweek. A few years ago I bought a 757 UTC as it was closely inspired by aircraft clocks and made by a company with an aviation heritage - in fact, Sinn still make aircraft clocks. Sinn has a long association with military timepieces, refurbishing the '60s Heuer Bunds for the Luftwaffe and making numerous aircraft clocks. Below are some photos of the 757 on pages of Konrad Knirim's excellent books on military watches, which show the lineage of the watch from the early Junghans used in Me 109s through to the Sinn clocks used in the fabulous Starfighter and finally, the Tornado, before the Sinn mechanical clocks were replaced with electronics in the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Sinn clock bottom left below was used in the Bundesluftwaffe's Tornadoes and Alphajets. The next one shows a NaBo 17 in the centre of a control column in a Transall transport - there is a clock in both columns. One last photo - this one shows the Transall cockpit with the Sinn NaBo clocks in the centre of the control columns. Again, you can see where the idea for the 757 dial and hands came from in the two mechanical clocks bottom left and top right. Regards Jon'.
Sinn certainly doesn't hold a patent on clean, legible dial faces. Heur (pre TAG) comes to mind for me. I run Westach gauges on an engine turned panel in my '38 Chevy. A speedo, tach and quad gauge. Clean, simple and attractive. And it fits in the stock location...no cutting required. Similar style-wise to pic below. I had planned on putting one of those MIG clocks in my car, but the depth of it kinda put me off. It is a little overkill in a car. Here's a watch I wear most every day.
And don't forget the early motorcycle speedometers from the 1920s and 1930s made by Corbin Screw Corp. They were used on almost every American motorcycle like Harley Davidson, Indian, Henderson, Excelsior, ... Fully mechanical of course
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