GR-674

The red telephone appeared in Greece in the mid-1970s. It was designed in Australia and manufactured by the Japanese company Victa Telecommunications, Tamura Electric Works Ltd. The model code was GR-674. The production rights in Greece were given to a factory in Oinofyta, Viotia. It was a desktop phone that accepted coins to work. Initial coins of one drachma and later with the devaluation of the drachma and the passage of time of two drachmas, five drachmas and finally ten drachmas. It was used as an urban coin acceptor but also as a simple telephone. Its dimensions were: length 260mm, height 194mm, width 240mm and the weight was about 4.5Kgr. There were two types of telephones, type M and type H. The letter M is derived from the word engineer, while the letter H is derived from the word electrical. Specifically, when the device was connected to telephone exchanges that made the charge at the beginning of the call then the device had to be of the M type. In this case the device placed in the call center sent the reverse polarity at the beginning of the call. When the device was connected to telephone exchanges which charged at the end of the call then the device had to be of the H type. In this case the device placed in the call center sent the reverse polarity at the end of the call. The telephone device was placed in public areas, mainly in kiosks by the OTE. It was used until the mid-1990s when call time counters appeared. Today it is one of the most sought after collectible phones in Greece for decoration.