Important Watches

Geneva, Mar 20, 2010

LOT 122

Patek Philippe, Nixie Time-Code Generator Patek Philippe, Genève, ?Multicapt? series 742 317, Model 40 788. Made circa 1975. Very fine and rare, Nixie time-code generator module with voltmeter. To be sold without reserve

CHF 1,500 - 2,000

USD 1,400 - 1,800 / EUR 1,000 - 1,400

Sold: CHF 720

C. Rectangular, blue anodized brushed aluminium fascia, gray-coated top and sides. D. Nixie vacuum tube display with red screen and buttons for input selection, knobs for level, variable, voltage and 1/10th second selection, voltmeter scale up to 2.5 volts and buttons for setting. Signed. Dim. 33 x 25 x 11 cm. In good condition

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Notes

A nixie tube is an electronic device for displaying numerals or other information. The glass tube contains a wire-mesh anode, and multiple cathodes in the shape of Arabic numerals Applying power to one cathode surrounds it with an orange glow discharge. The tube is filled with a gas at low pressure, usually mostly neon and often a little mercury and/or argon. Although it resembles a vacuum tube in appearance, its operation does not depend on thermionic emission of electrons from a heated cathode. It is therefore called a cold-cathode tube (a form of gas-filled tube), or a variant of a neon lamp. Such tubes rarely exceed 40 °C (104 °F) even under the severest of operating conditions in a room at ambient temperature. The most common form of nixie tube has ten cathodes in the shapes of the numerals 0 to 9 (and occasionally a decimal point or two) but there are also types that show various letters, signs and symbols.