So who has the oldest Daily Watcher?

[kx250rider]

I think this was touched on in other threads, but I am wondering who is watching the oldest set as primary. I don't mean having a vintage set hooked up that you watch somewhat regularly, I mean the MAIN TV in the house.

To open the discussion, Len Horowitz in LA has a CTC-4 as his daily (and only cable-connected) TV. I have the 1972 Zenith 25" set, which we watch every day, and is the only TV connected besides the smaller bedroom set that we use to go to sleep by but seldom watch a program on.

[Charlie]

My main daily watcher is my CTC15 Beauchamp. It plays all the time... and many times I'm not even in there watching it. That's a bad habit i need to break.

This set was pieced together using 3 sets. Cabinet from one, chassis from another, and the last set donated the picture tube (which I took to Dallas for rebuild). The main chassis repair was a new flyback. Since then, I've only had to change a 6GH8A... I think it was a month ago when the color crapped out.

Unfortunately, about five days ago, I turned it on to find a hum bar in the picture and sound. Not good. The lytics are still the originals... so I suspect one of them went south. Perhaps I'll luck out and find a tube developed a H-K short.

The photo below of the screen shot came out that way due to bad timing... I snapped the shutter just as the picture was changing. I decided to keep the photo because I thought it looked somewhat ghostly and it was kinda neat looking.

HOPEFULLY i'll get my magnavox workin soon and i'll have a '54 as my daily watched set
frank

[Big Dave]

My Archie watcher is the big Zenith combo noted on my website. It was made around 1965. My other sets only see about 2 hours a week of playtime. Once I get my in-house caqble system, I will be able to watch on any set I choose (or all of them). I had found a shitload of RG6 coax in a dumpster on a jobsite I was working at. From my Primestar days, I saved splitters and connectors. My oldest working set might be either my Andrea or Philco 12". Since I want to preserve the tubes in these, I will not use them on a daily basis. The Andrea uses the metal 16GP4. For me, there is something about the Zenith. Since I mostly watch DVD's of old shows, this set would be most "period correct."

[Carmine]

Well I've already been blown otta this contest, but here's a shot taken about 5 mins ago...

1978 Zenith Space Command

It looks kinda weird because I snapped it with the lights OFF, then photshopped everything BUT the screen.

My living room set is a 1990 27" Zenith, but honestly the computer room set shown here is the one that sees most use.

[Chad Hauris]

Our living room set at home is a 23" 1979 Zenith Chromacolor II w/ space command.

Charlie I would change those caps in that ctc 15 now. I had some that started to go bad and ended up shorting out.

[drh4683]

For me its a 1969 16Z7C50 chassis Zenith "Lundberg" with space command 600. Have been using this as the main daily watcher for the past 2 years. in the bedroom is a 1967 (20X1C38) zenith space command 600 table TV on the dresser. and in the computer room, a 1972 zenith (20CC50). The rest of the vintage TVs are on display and get turned on every so often.

[vintagecollect]

Those rectangles are great! You really do collect classic entertainment. Perfect for that groovy retro look.


I used to have an old RCA VCR like that, their first consumer model in 1977, VHS. Pretty much sold cheap to neighbor when I moved, shouldn't sold it.

[kx250rider]

Thanks for the info... Those are ALL nice sets to be envious of! It looks like mine is the middle of the road agewise. But one thing I notice: Most of these daily watchers are Zeniths ... I think this echoes what has been the buzz for many years about how the Zeniths of the 60s and 70s stand apart from the crowd for quality.

So at this point, Len's CTC-4 is oldest. Let's hear from the rest who wish to comment in the next week or 2. At one time in the early 80s, I had a 12" Hoffman 1949 B&W as my daily set . It was NOT RECAPPED EITHER!!!!! But then again that was 25 years ago.

Just for the record, I thought about it today and my NEWEST set (not counting a couple of friends' TVs here for repair) is a 15 year old Trinitron 13".

Charles

[blue_lateral]

My daily watcher was a 1964 CTC-15 based Silvertone until a couple of years ago when I last moved. The crt was getting weak, and I really didnt have room for a console. The tube has been rebuilt at Hawkeye, and the chassis is on the bench right now getting aligned. When I get it put back together I suppose it will be my daily watcher again, If I can find room for it.

John

[jstout66]

When my CTC-16 comes back from being repaired it will be my oldest daily watcher (1964) My current line up for watchers now is: Bedroom: 19" 1974 RCA XL100 Office: (which see's the most use and where the CTC-16 will reside) 1984 25" System 3 console and finally in my basement work-out room I use my 19" 1979 System 3 SC

[oldtvman]

ctc 9 winslow

[Adam]

For about 6 months, a few years ago, when I first started fixing TVs, the only working set I had was a 59 Magnavox b/w console. For a while I mostly used a 72 Zenith 21" color hybrid for about a year, then switched to a 67 Zenith 25" color console (which I am avoiding now until I change the filter caps in the power supply). For some time I favored a 70 Zenith b/w.
Lately I have so many sets that I tend to rotate which sets I use regularly. Some sets even after they are repaired don't make it into the rotation, smaller portables, sets with weak CRTs, etc... Lately I have watched alot of my 61 Zenith 23" b/w, my other 59 Magnavox b/w console, and 68 Zenith 21" color. For the past few days I have been watching alot of VHS, which I almost exclusively watch now on my 83 Zenith, so I don't get that 'wavy' picture at the top of the screen.
I plan to fix up that 63 Philco color to the point where I can use it as a daily watcher. I watched some DVDs on it for a few hours this afternoon, and it dosen't really have any visible problems, just some dirty controls.

[Tom_Ryan]

...I grew up watching B&W sets, so not to be too old fashioned, I'm a pre-color post WWII guy. My daily watcher is a well maintained RCA 8TS30. When I want to watch a somewhat bigger picture I'll warm up the RCA 8-T-54 which uses a round glass-metal 16GP4 (non-aluminized!) tube. Periodically, I'll tell my wife that the Dumonts' are coming for diner. She knows I'll be eating in the living room watching something at least as old as me and probably (she thinks) just as tempermental - it definitely means I won't be eating the kitchen. If I decide to join in some family viewing then one of two 25" RCA Colortrack 2000's (1985 vintage) are required viewing - they form the rest of the family daily watchers - neither has ever been serviced, they get at least 5 hours of use per day and they CRT's are just as bright as they were 21 years ago. Golly gee, they must have been made on a Tuesday - both were assembled in Prescott, Ontario.

Alas, the Ryan household is not entirely confined to the stone age (post Gen X), in my study I keep a 36" Mitsubishi high definition color monitor ...for those special moments, in case I want to watch symphonies, operas or Heifetz or Horowitz reruns. The PC get some use too, and movies like Cliffhanger or Das Boot take on a surreal appearance. Even Robinson Caruso on Mars (Laser Disc version) is awesome. Of course, on those really far out occasions I'll crank up the Sony VPH-G70Q and dazzle the everyone with an 10 foot wide home theater experience in the family room. I do have a bunch of roundie colors but they're not daily watchers for me. Guess they could be...but Turner Classic Movies in B&W are a waste on those babies.

[frenchy]

Originally Posted by vintagecollect

Those rectangles are great! You really do collect classic entertainment. Perfect for that groovy retro look.

I've always preferred roundies because they are so odd looking to people who didn't grow up with them... not as round as say a Porthole Zenith, but round nonetheless. You know, so odd looking that they stop looking old, and start looking COOL!
But now that HDTV will be taking over, with it's widescreen format, over the years it will make even old 4:3 rectangulars start to look weird and strange... and COOL! : )