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!)
Any recommendations for where to purchase these vintage watches? I've always thought they were beautiful but never sure where to find legitimate sellers (despite googling a bit)
One of the biggest sites is chrono24.com, which is essentially ebay for watches. The majority of sellers will use the site's integrated escrow system so there's little risk of somebody failing to ship.
To get started just enter "soviet vintage" into the search-box. Once you have some results click on "Filter" and you get the option to set "Location: European Union", "Max Price: €100", etc.
There are a lot of regional variations, so I use chrono24.fi, for example. But the content is the same - I think it's just the default location and currency that changes based on TLD.
The site has been around for many years and is well-regarded, but even so I don't think I've ever paid more than €1000 for a watch there. Just in case.
Edit: Main thing to pay attention to are the dimensions of the watch. Watches from the 40s-80s tended to be smaller. So you'll find diameters of 34mm, 36mm, etc. Most people prefer larger watches these days. For me 36mm-42mm is fine, but that's because I have thin wrists. But I know looking at photos can be misleading in terms of diameter/dimensions so read the details.
The Withings Steel lasts a couple weeks on a charge, and it can do simple step counting, heart rate, some very unobtrusive notifications. It actually got me interested in watches; I'm no collector but I have a few at this point. It also looks like a watch, in that it has physical hands which move. Watching it find the new time zone as soon as my phone connects when I land in a new place was pretty satisfying.
I gotta say though: stick with mechanicals. There's an elegance to it which smart watches will never touch. And I say that as someone who has settled on the Apple Watch as my daily driver. It's so useful! Does a bunch of small things that add up to a great tool, and I'm even fond of it. But it... isn't a watch!
I'm looking forward to dressy evening stuff happening more, so I can leave it behind and put on something nice.
That casio keeps super time if you leave it on your desk in a large climate controlled building. Like HAQ quality. Do you have any of the single hand watches from raketa? Always wanted one but didnt like the shape.
I don't have Raketa, but I have one of Botta Uno series. It is super inconvenient to read. If you are planning to actually use a single-handed watch for telling you time (rather than just adding it to a collection), I would very atrongly advise against it.
A Pebble can go on for a week (longer without smart features enabled). My smartwatch, Fossil Hybrid HR, works for 2 weeks with smart features enabled. They go automatically off with < 10% battery, after which the watch still functions (I would prefer the option to put the smart features off, as well as bluetooth).
I’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).
"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.
It's still there, but certainly died down after the invention of quartz time keeping.
My hope is consumers start demanding the availability of parts when buying a high end watch though.
It's a good feeling knowing you can repair that hunk of metal on your wrist, with interest, and a fair amount of study.
(There was a guy in the Navy whos boat was torpedoed by the Japanese during WW2. He, and rest of the crew were stuck on a deserted island. One by one the sailors watches were breaking down. Since he was a Watchmaker in life, he took over repair. At first it was difficult. He then got creative and made small screwdrivers, and even made a lathe. Anyhoo--I thought that was neat. A guy fixing jeweled watches with tools he made himself in that enviornment. I saw the article years ago, but haven't been able to find it again.)
Right now being in contrast to the 18th and 19th century mentioned in the quote I was responding to from the article. Between quartz and the spring drive hybridization I would argue that great innovation has come since the 18th and 19th century and watchmakers from Japan have “matched them”.
That said I do agree with you that in today’s world innovation in high precision independent time keeping has stopped. A radio controlled relatively accurate quartz watch will keep excellent time with no user intervention over many years.
There used to be more HAQ watches. Radio sync and gps seems to have taken the wind of their sails a bit. Too bad. I would love a new Seiko SBCM023 dive watch (but secondhand market prices are outrageous).
I fully recommend a Vostok, from the original factory in Chistopol. Their mechanical selection is affordable and bulletproof, if not somewhat overstated in its design.
Thanks for posting that... I've always sort of idly wanted a 24-hour analog watch. I have my phone set to 24 hour time representation because it has eliminated the problem of me setting a meeting or alarm for 9pm when I meant 9am.
I don't know if it applies to Soviet watches, but somewhere I read that the problem with Soviet cameras (Kiev, fake Hasselblad etc.) was not the design but the consistency of the manufacturing and quality control. On certain days/shifts you could get an amazing machine, on others, total crap.
- Kiev rangefinders (2A, 3A) which are the Contax rangefinders copies. Overall they are pretty solid (build-quality wise probably the best, compared to FED/Zorki/...). The lenses are charming, too.
- Kiev 88, which are the Hasselblad copy. Only tried 2 or 3, and all of them have the usual light leak, irregular frame spacings etc issues.
+1 on manufacturing consistency/quality control. Shooting with Soviet cameras is fun when they are working properly.
But if you are willing to spend a bit bigger cash, pick Japanese gears instead (Nikon, Bronica, Mamiya etc). Their built quality, overall, are better.
Sounds a bit like Japanese synthesizers vs US synthesizers in the 80s... the US synths had unstable oscillators and would always drift, even to the point where bands would have multiple on stage waiting for the currently playing synth to go wonky before being swapped out with one on the side lines.
I 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.
Readit News
https://17jewels.info/
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!)
https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/the-c...
To get started just enter "soviet vintage" into the search-box. Once you have some results click on "Filter" and you get the option to set "Location: European Union", "Max Price: €100", etc.
There are a lot of regional variations, so I use chrono24.fi, for example. But the content is the same - I think it's just the default location and currency that changes based on TLD.
The site has been around for many years and is well-regarded, but even so I don't think I've ever paid more than €1000 for a watch there. Just in case.
Edit: Main thing to pay attention to are the dimensions of the watch. Watches from the 40s-80s tended to be smaller. So you'll find diameters of 34mm, 36mm, etc. Most people prefer larger watches these days. For me 36mm-42mm is fine, but that's because I have thin wrists. But I know looking at photos can be misleading in terms of diameter/dimensions so read the details.
Edit #2: This is what I'm wearing today, which cost me around €70 - https://tinyurl.com/dd7bnthx
I gotta say though: stick with mechanicals. There's an elegance to it which smart watches will never touch. And I say that as someone who has settled on the Apple Watch as my daily driver. It's so useful! Does a bunch of small things that add up to a great tool, and I'm even fond of it. But it... isn't a watch!
I'm looking forward to dressy evening stuff happening more, so I can leave it behind and put on something nice.
I'm flexible on digits vs. markers, (e.g. the piece I'm wearing today has numerals at 2, 6, and 10). But I stick to two/three hand watches.
> 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).
My hope is consumers start demanding the availability of parts when buying a high end watch though.
It's a good feeling knowing you can repair that hunk of metal on your wrist, with interest, and a fair amount of study.
(There was a guy in the Navy whos boat was torpedoed by the Japanese during WW2. He, and rest of the crew were stuck on a deserted island. One by one the sailors watches were breaking down. Since he was a Watchmaker in life, he took over repair. At first it was difficult. He then got creative and made small screwdrivers, and even made a lathe. Anyhoo--I thought that was neat. A guy fixing jeweled watches with tools he made himself in that enviornment. I saw the article years ago, but haven't been able to find it again.)
That said I do agree with you that in today’s world innovation in high precision independent time keeping has stopped. A radio controlled relatively accurate quartz watch will keep excellent time with no user intervention over many years.
They joined the others (Rolex, and The Swatch Group), and drastically raised prices. Parts are not even available to Independant Watchmakers anymore.
https://meranom.com/en/
If anyone is shopping, I’ll happily vouch for Meranom.
The hour dial really gives a more visceral feeling of the passage of time, much like a sundial.
https://24hourtime.info/
- Kiev rangefinders (2A, 3A) which are the Contax rangefinders copies. Overall they are pretty solid (build-quality wise probably the best, compared to FED/Zorki/...). The lenses are charming, too.
- Kiev 88, which are the Hasselblad copy. Only tried 2 or 3, and all of them have the usual light leak, irregular frame spacings etc issues.
+1 on manufacturing consistency/quality control. Shooting with Soviet cameras is fun when they are working properly. But if you are willing to spend a bit bigger cash, pick Japanese gears instead (Nikon, Bronica, Mamiya etc). Their built quality, overall, are better.
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...
Russian watches <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/russian-watches.10/>
Russian Watches Image Gallery <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/image-gallery.97/>
Soviet citizen 1: Look at my new watch! Made right here!
Soviet citizen 2: It's so beautiful, elegant, and small!
Soviet citizen 1 [picking up two large, dense boxes by their handles, one per hand] : Yeah, but these are the batteries it runs on.