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A Quick Introduction to Russian Watches

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A Quick
Introduction to
Russian Watches

f you are like the

average connoisseur
ofSwiss timepieces,
you may not know
thatmuch about
Russian watches. So
heres yourchance to
find out.Russian
watches can very well
be viewed as thenot-sodistant cousins of
traditional Swiss

andAmerican
timepieces.Before
1930, when the First
Moscow WatchFactory
was founded, Imperial
Russia was hometo
only small watch
workshops, usually
kept bySwiss
watchmakers
following Catherine
IIs callfor quality

watch- and
clockmakers. Some of
themore famous of the
Swiss nationals to
maketheir fame and
fortune there were
Paul Buhrand
Heinrich Moser.
Naturally they used
Swissparts in their
creations, and even
sold entirelySwiss-

made timepieces,
which they
importedfrom their
Jura-based factories.
After theOctober
Revolution of 1917,
the whole of thislittle
industry was absorbed
into a
precisionmechanics
combine and ceased to
exist asindividual

business
entities.Watch parts
and components were,
however, insore
demand, as the Soviet
Union realized that
itstill needed portable
timekeepers. The
countryscouncil for
labor and defense
passed a
resolutionregarding

watch production in
1927, and acommittee
was sent to Western
Europe topurchase
machinery. Fearful of
losing a largeexport
market, the Swiss
werent of much
help,so the delegation
moved farther west, to
theUnited States. There
they were able to

purchaseDueber
Hampton Watch &
Co. and AnsoniaClock
Company, both of
which were
dismantledand rebuilt
in Russia. In May
1930, it is reportedthat
thirty American
watchmakers and
fiftywagons full of
equipment reached

Moscow,where the
First Moscow Watch
Factory was putinto
action and the Russian
watch
industryfounded. The
first Russian caliber,
Type 1, wasactually a
rebuilt Dueber.
Modified and varied,
itcontinued to be
produced for years:

Between1935 and
1941 alone, the First
Moscow
WatchFactory
manufactured about
2.7 million pocketand
wristwatches using
this caliber.In 1949,
Sturmanskie
navigational watches
cameinto production.
Designed especially

for militarypilots, one

even accompanied Yuri
Gagarin onhis historic
space flight of April
12, 1961.In 1975,
Swiss-made
production machines
finallymade it to the
Soviet Union, and
Swiss-stylecalibers
were introduced in the
factory. Thedesign of

chronograph Caliber
3133, first issuedin
1983, is based on the
Swiss Valjoux
Caliber7734, with a
diameter of 31 mm, a
height of7.35 mm, 23
jewels, and 42 hours of
powerreserve. This is
Russias premier
movement andthe
particular one that

makes the
watchesmanufactured
today by Volmax
Watch
Companycompetitive
in the world
market.By the 1990s,
the First Moscow
Watch Factory,known
as Poljot since 1961,
was exporting
80percent of its

watches to seventy
differentcountries,
including the U.S.A.,
Western Europe,Asia,
and, of course,
Germany, where they
havealways been
immensely popular. In
the wake ofthe
collapse of the Soviet
Union, Volmax
WatchCompany was

born, taking its name

from abrand the First
Moscow Watch
Factory createdin the
60s.The United States
has recently gained
adistribution specialist
for Russian
timepieces,Revolutions
in Time. On this page
you will find
asampling of the fine,

very affordable
mechanicalwatches
this company is now
bringing to theStates.
Vostok timepieces
range from $180
to$350, while Aviator,
Buran, and
Sturmanskiestart at
$150 and can range to
a couple ofthousand
for solid gold models,

though averageprices
run between $300 for
simple timekeepersand
$1,200 for
chronographs.Visit
www.revolutions-intime.com where
youcan view the entire
collections of Vostok,
Aviator,Buran, and
Sturmanskie watches.

A
Qui

ck
Intro

duct
iont

o
Russ

ian
Wat

ches
by Elizabeth Doerr

426

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