My top 10 soviet watches
Sometimes Im wondering what would I do if I had to sell most of my watches. Or if I had to go away for good and had limited luggage. If I had to choose only 10 watches to keep from my collection, it would be theese. Click on the image to see the full gallery.
Its absolutely my number one, always wanted to have it. I would prefer Poljot, but important its 3017 with black dial. Great movement and beautiful design. Those watches are getting more and more expensive. Its not a rare watch, but there is a lot of frankens. Usually the dial is exchanged for the counterfeit but recently there is also a lot of cases made from stanless steel. Original case for this model is chrome plated, stainless cases are counterfeit.
One of a kind, the only soviet watch with pointer date. This is not a rare watch, but its quite hard to find in original and good condition. Majority of the watches on the market are either fake or franken. There is plenty of fake dials, luckily its very easy to spot and if the dial is original, then the case might be from regular poljot 29j. Notice that cosmos has a specific case with a snap on back, which is only associated with this model. Similar case is used for Orbita, however the lugs are a bit different.
Its a chronograph, its military, its stainless steel and its a fantastic design. I think this watch is so popular because it was issued only for navy officers. Civilians were not able to buy it. Unfortunately its not easy to find this watch in original condition. Watches on the market usually have fake dials and chrome plated cases.
Yes, this watch is quite rare. What is so cool about it? I think its the hands. Dont be fooled, gold plated hands do not match with this dial. Black sputnik should have nickel plated hands. As far as I know they were corroding easily thus watchmakers were replacing them with common gold plated hands. What is the best in this watch? Its the seconds hand – it represents a sputnik traveling around the globe.
Another chrono, this time cal. 31659. There are 2 reasons why I would keep this watch. First is the movement – basically its a 3133 with a hacking feature. When you pull the crown, the seconds hand stops. This watch was designed for army pilots and stop second feature was used to synchronise time. Another thing is a dial – in most cases ring around the dial is white. In here the ring is grey, which means its an early version of Sturmanskie 31659 and such watches were produced only between 1986-1988.
This watch is very interesting due to its movement. Its based on great Zenith 135, however Soviets managed to further improve it, creating movement cal. 2809. Its the only chronometer grade wristwatch movement made in Soviet Union.
Poljot diver is not a common watch. There is only few poljot diver models and they all look very similar. I like wearing this watch because its chunky, tall and attracts attention.
