Watches from the Soviet Union
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Watches from the Soviet Union
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Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#2I had Vostok watches with jet fighter and crunchy adjustable outer diving rim, they ran 5 minutes earlier every day. I also had small gray watches with black metal band that just said "quartz" and "sdelano v sssr" and they were off by 1s per month, entire family set time from me.
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#3I’ve got a Poljot de luxe that was made for export (English text on the dial) from the 70s. I am pretty impressed with it on the overall - for the time it’s very thin, reasonably accurate and has an elegant timeless look to it.
> He believes that mechanical watches were created by the best minds of 18th and 19th centuries. "Many modern watchmakers admit that we will never match them," he adds
I think there is some pretty innovative stuff coming out of Japan right now. The high accuracy quartz models from Seiko (under the Grand Seiko brand) and Citizen have insane accuracy measured in seconds per year.
Of course if you want to limit the discussion to the mechanical realm the Spring Drive is for all intents and purposes a mechanical watch with an electromagnetic quartz feedback loop slowing the unwinding to the correct pace to keep time. Not as accurate as the full quartz but very impressive and it truly glides (instead of ticking).
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#4I had Vostok watches with jet fighter and crunchy adjustable outer diving rim, they ran 5 minutes earlier every day. I also had small gray watches with black metal band that just said "quartz" and "sdelano v sssr" and they were off by 1s per month, entire family set time from me.
If you're serious about mechanical watches or have a small addiction like me, I'd highly recommend buying an old school timegrapher and regulating(link below).
I have a rather ridiculous collection of Orients, and some were off by minutes a day from the factory. Just the nature of them, I guess.
I would just offer to regulate them for other people, but I've scratched enough casebacks to never feel comfortable in that.
Link to example timegrapher: https://www.amazon.com/OTOOLWORLD-Tester-Multifunction-Timeg...
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#5If you like Soviet watches you'll probably enjoy this index of movements:
I collect mechanical watches and have a fair number of vintage Soviet watches in my collection - Rateka, Vostok, Poljot, etc. Cheap, reliable, and often with striking designs.
(Today's watch is a Poljot - Russian: Полёт, literally meaning "flight", is a brand of Soviet/Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory. Poljot produced numerous historical watches used in many important space missions, including the world's first space watch worn by Yuri Gagarin.)
I don't think I've ever had a stranger complicate my watch when I've been wearing a Rolex, or something high-end, unless the person making the comment was also wearing one. But I get weekly comments on the cheap and cheerful watches.
Even now, in pandemic times, I still put on a watch every morning, and it still makes me smile. If smart-watches had batteries that lasted for a few weeks or more I might be tempted, but until then I'll stick with mechanical watches. (And one Casio terrorist watch, just for completeness!)
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#6One man's garbage is another man's treasure. I absolutely relish these niches, have a bit of a Sovietphilia
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#7I had a Vostok movement watch. It lost 10 minutes every day.
Hard to recommend such a watch honestly.
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#8I’ve got a Poljot de luxe that was made for export (English text on the dial) from the 70s. I am pretty impressed with it on the overall - for the time it’s very thin, reasonably accurate and has an elegant timeless look to it. > He believes that mechanical watches were created by the best minds of 18th and 19th centuries. "Many modern watchmakers admit that we will never match them," he adds I think there is some pr…
"right now" is relative, grand Seiko started in 1967 and the spring drive was invented in the 90s. I think in the age of smartphones, internet and gps time innovation regarding high precision independent time keeping almost stopped.
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#9I had a Vostok movement watch. It lost 10 minutes every day. Hard to recommend such a watch honestly.
This largely sums up the Soviet watch industry.
Low tech, low cost with virtually no design value except when it's so completely off than that in itself becomes notable.
They are still collectable, because some watches are rare, it's just that they aren't very ... exciting or interesting.
Re: Watches from the Soviet Union
#10I had a Vostok movement watch. It lost 10 minutes every day. Hard to recommend such a watch honestly.
Did you adjust it? Most Vostok watches have small internal "thing" to adjust - worked for me (had the same problem).