I have an opportunity to pick up 3 T1s in excellent shape. The dealer is an estate sale guy with a solid reputation.
The instruments all appear excellent in the photos. He says there are tripods but I have no pics of them yet.?ÿ
Before I fill my closet I'm curious if there is any collectors market. Thanks for any help, Tom?ÿ
I was thinking around 4 or 5 with a good wild tripod. Hopefully there will be one for sale tomorrow night. Just have to make sure they aren't stolen or gons/mils plates..
Thanks, Tom?ÿ
Tom,
If you are wanting a "boat anchor" to display in your office, there are plenty of well worn or abused instruments going for $300-$400.?ÿ I've seen near-mint condition and new old stock go for up to $2000, but that price is rare esp. for the new-style T-1 instruments.?ÿ In between those two extremes price/value is determined?ÿ by three things: condition, condition, condition!
If you want a working instrument with the classic feel of a Wild instrument, you're going to have to visit the seller.?ÿ Those old instruments often sit in their bullet case for years so moisture seeping into the instrument is common.?ÿ Also, the folks at Wild Heerbrugg used a special balsam spar to cement the optical pieces together.?ÿ Over time the glass can separate and if that happens their only value is as an office boat anchor.
Thanks Gene. I am not interested in anything unservicable, but these probably won't see much use. I was thinking of selling one to offset cost, letting the high school use one and putting the other on my shelf.?ÿ
I used the military version for 6 years and would like to take it for a spin every now and again...
I still use a new-style T-2 that I bought from Hayes many years ago and had it cleaned & rebuilt by one of the few servicemen with the knowledge, experience and tools to do it right.?ÿ It still has the classic, fluid Wild instrument feel and with my Wild Roelofs prism, Casio atomic watch and HP-41CX with EKS solar program I still do a few solars each year.?ÿ It also works great underground 'cause I don't have to worry about it getting wet.?ÿ For the rare traverse under tree canopy, I have an old Wild DI-2002 distomat (1mm +/- 1ppm) that mounts on the T-2.
If you decide to buy Tom and want to get all retro, I have two Wild DI-3S distomats (they were the cat's meow in 1975), telescope mounting brackets and the big rectangular Wild prisms.?ÿ Just make me an offer I cannot refuse.?ÿ ?????ÿ
I had a Military T-1 I donated to the State Organization for their historical display. It didn't have an optical plumb and all the measurements were in grad or some other measurement. An old Vet that used one during the Vietnam War wanted it real bad so they sold it to him for a $150 donation. He just uses it to collect dust in his office. It had night illumination and the original olive drab wooden tripod. It had been in it's bullet case since the end of the Vietnam War and showed no ill effects. There's probably not a big market for old T-1's.
The artillery and mortar guys use mils for most everything. 6400 mils per circle. It's great for common sense checks under pressure. 1 mil equals 1 meter at a thousand meters. The formula isnt perfect, but for small adjustments the error is less than the kill radius..
I'll keep that in mind Gene. I have a crisp early tribrach to hold some square glass..?ÿ
Ended up with 2 of them. One is pristine, right down to the manual in the overpack case. The second shows some use but wraps tight angles.
Now I have to decide why I need both of them...
Ended up with 2 of them. One is pristine, right down to the manual in the overpack case. The second shows some use but wraps tight angles.
Now I have to decide why I need both of them...
Reciprocal (simultaneous) Vertical angles (of course?ÿthat's a bit tricky without help).
Loyal?ÿ
We did a lot of horizontal 'recoprocal lay' in the army. The sites on the guns are marked in deflection (mil speak for angles left). The vertical was mainly for computing time settings for illumination when no maps were handy..?ÿ
