Gralab timers

[jp]

I've used exclusively the 300 analog timer since about 1989 (which is decades older and acquired from a photographer's widow). Simple and iconic. For timing film developing, enlarger, alt proecss exposure, etc...

I have gotten with the times and moved ahead a couple decades or so. The 451 is my new favorite. It is available with membrane buttons that should be water/chemical resistant. It's easy to set and repeat, plenty of options. Monster start button, different brightnesses. Worth the <$100 used.

Makes a nice controller for my UV exposure box. Got another one for the enlarger. Will keep the 300 around for developing sheet film in the dark.

[Richard Wasserman]

GraLab 300s are indestructible. I have one that I bought in 1972 and while it doesn't glow quite as bright as it used to (who does?), it still is working perfectly. I too use it for timing film development.

[DannL]

I once had a GraLab 545. What a horrible, horrible experience that was. The buttons were not back-lit, and in a darkened environment you had to guess what button you were pushing. I can't count the times I inadvertently hit the reset button, which of course was one of the biggest buttons right next to the start buttons. No wonder I have so little hair. I can recall once when a button popped off the timer in the dark. Just lovely.

I prefer the timers that have rotary dials, such as the GraLab 300, timo-o-lite, and Beseler timers that I have now. Are the membrane keys on the 451 back-lit?

[Oren Grad]

I guess my darkroom is GraLab City. I have a 900 timing the enlarger, a 645 for process timing, and a 505 that I use as a secondary process timer, and my very first timer, a now ~35-year-old 300, still lurks in semi-retirement in the corner just in case. They've all served me well.

EDIT: Forgot to mention - also have the foot switch, which I keep connected to the 645. Very... ah... footy!

[Jmarmck]

I have a well used 300 that needs a mending on the minute hand. It will set time and start but it will not move with the second hand. I have to shove it over to 0 at the last minute to get it to stop. Busser works like a champ................I turn it off.

[Leigh]

I have two Gralab 900 timers. I think they're wonderful.

The 900 provides nine independent programmable steps with automatic advance from one to the next.
I use them primarily to time the entire workflow when doing tray development. You can turn the display off.

- Leigh

[jbenedict]

For the enlarger, metronome and foot switch. For the processing, GraLab but have been known to use a plain old wall clock.

[John Olsen]

I've got a couple of 20 and 30-old GraLabs. Last year I gave the older one a new toggle switch from Radio Shack, but otherwise they're hanging in there. Mine don't have reset buttons; maybe simpler is better?

[Jerry Bodine]

I have an old Model 68, new in the 60's, and a recent used 300 (like new). Both are wall-mounted over the trays, buzzers OFF. I check them for accuracy with a stopwatch occasionally, and they all are identical within a fraction of a second. I also have a two-channel 655 with dimmer that I use for tray developing film when I prefer the timer to count UP rather than down. Have footswitch that is never used. The metronome is also handy at times.

[Heroique]

...buzzers OFF...

I don't think I've ever used my Gralab 300's buzzer – after all, the big-glowing analog face is so easy to read from near and far – but it's kinda cool that you can control the buzzer's volume, from ear-splitting fire-alarm level to scarcely audible.