Had to choose between a rotary desk phone and a candlestick model for my home office setup

I found both at an estate sale in Portland about 6 months ago and couldn't afford both. The rotary was a Western Electric 500 from the 70s, nice and sturdy, but the candlestick was this cool brass thing from the 1920s with a separate ringer box. I went with the rotary because it actually worked without any repairs needed. Hooked it up through a converter box I got online for like 25 bucks, and now it's my main phone for when I'm working from home. The dial feels so satisfying to spin, and the bell ring is this deep mechanical sound that makes me smile every time. Has anyone else tried using an old phone as a daily driver, or do you just keep them on a shelf for display?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_webb911mo ago

Rotary dials are just way more fun to actually use.

gavin2281mo ago

Oh man, I totally get what you're saying! I actually read somewhere that rotary dials give you this weird tactile satisfaction that touchscreens just can't match. It's like, the whole process of dialing becomes this little ritual instead of just tapping numbers. And @corap21 is spot on about the contact cleaner thing - I've got an old rotary in my living room that I snagged from a flea market, and after a quick spray and some wiggling, it worked like new. There's something about that slow, deliberate click-clack sound that makes you feel like you're actually doing something, you know?

corap211mo ago

Those old rotaries last forever if the contacts are clean. Grab a can of contact cleaner and hit the dial mechanism before you start getting missed numbers.