[HN Gopher] Watches from the Soviet Union
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Watches from the Soviet Union
Author : gscott
Score : 91 points
Date : 2021-05-15 11:55 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.rbth.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.rbth.com)
| s5300 wrote:
| Pobeda Troika is one of my favorites
| contrarian_5 wrote:
| its strange how soviet union stuff is a fetish for coastal people
| but you never see much nazi stuff. the soviets murdered more
| people than the nazis and they are objectively evil. but that
| detail is simply lost somehow.
| s5300 wrote:
| Nazi stuff is a fetish for some MidWesterners and some coastal
| folk as well, they just aren't advertising it because there's
| much more of a stigma against it, for whatever of various
| reasons that may be.
|
| The United States is also objectively evil, we've ruined entire
| developing countries many times for various flippant reasons.
|
| Banana companies are also objectively evil, they've massacred
| fairly proportionate amounts of basically slaves when you
| compare the reach of a nation to the reach of a fruit (though i
| think bananas are technically berries) company, yet we still
| stock their bananas in every store nationwide...
|
| Not so strange.
| contrarian_5 wrote:
| yes, exactly. everyone is very quick to point out how evil
| the united states is. but there is no public reaction about
| the soviet union in which millions upon millions of people
| were deliberately murdered. more people than the nazis and
| the united states. i point out the absence of objectivity
| when i see it because i am a good citizen.
| wdb wrote:
| Yeah, I still want a Soviet Union watch. There also some old
| Chinese Seagull watches that look great. I have a small
| collection of watches (only have 19). They sparkle joy :) I have
| a Apple Watch (1st gen) but never really liked it I keep going
| back to the mechanical watches.My latest addition is the gorgeous
| 1815 Moonphase
| diab0lic wrote:
| 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).
| germinalphrase wrote:
| 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).
| growt wrote:
| "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.
| diab0lic wrote:
| 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.
| hellbannedguy wrote:
| 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.)
| hellbannedguy wrote:
| I was getting impressed with Seiko. They used to be reasonably
| priced, and ordering parts was easy. They even used to sell
| parts to customers.
|
| They joined the others (Rolex, and The Swatch Group), and
| drastically raised prices. Parts are not even available to
| Independant Watchmakers anymore.
| stevekemp wrote:
| If you like Soviet watches you'll probably enjoy this index of
| movements:
|
| 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: Poliot, 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!)
| ttesttom wrote:
| 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)
| stevekemp wrote:
| 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:
| EUR100", 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 EUR1000
| 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
| EUR70 - https://tinyurl.com/dd7bnthx
| ttesttom wrote:
| Awesome, this is very helpful! I know where i will be
| spending the next few hours : ) Very much appreciated!
| Fnoord wrote:
| 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).
| galangalalgol wrote:
| 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.
| stevekemp wrote:
| No, I've avoided the 24hour watches I appreciate their
| design, but they're just too hard to read in a hurry.
|
| 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.
| f430 wrote:
| One man's garbage is another man's treasure. I absolutely relish
| these niches, have a bit of a Sovietphilia
| supernova87a wrote:
| 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.
| SeanLuke wrote:
| I have been told the following joke multiple times by former Iron
| Curtain denizens:
|
| 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.
| throwaway12319 wrote:
| The 24 hour dial watches are wonderful.
|
| The hour dial really gives a more visceral feeling of the passage
| of time, much like a sundial.
|
| https://24hourtime.info/
| throwawayboise wrote:
| 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.
| snthd wrote:
| There's an Android app/widget of a 24 hour clockface
| (complete be with daylight shading) - https://www.f-droid.org
| /en/packages/info.staticfree.android....
| dieselerator wrote:
| There is a discussion forum on the topic of Russian watches,
| including one dedicated to photos of the various brands and
| models.
|
| Russian watches <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/russian-
| watches.10/>
|
| Russian Watches Image Gallery
| <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/image-gallery.97/>
| hansor wrote:
| I have one of such working watch, with Lenin face and goldish
| plate as my daily watch. They are amazing pieces of history.
|
| Those watches do not need battery power, and this is super
| amazing in era of computers and internet.
|
| Just spring and muscle, perfect for post apocalyptic world.
| baybal2 wrote:
| Such history must be erased.
|
| A shame, and indignity must be forgotten lest you want somebody
| to say that it wasn't, and pick it as its banner.
|
| The world was very judicious in being uncompromising in
| stomping out every bit, and part of third reich, and Tojo's
| militarism.
|
| That's why you don't have a world war 3, and next populists in
| line coming shouting "make Germany great again"
|
| Unfortunately, the world has not finished this business
| completely, and now we have no shortage of historical
| revisionists wanting to take a revanche on the Post-War-World,
| promising "great old times" again.
| dijit wrote:
| I had a Vostok movement watch. It lost 10 minutes every day.
|
| Hard to recommend such a watch honestly.
| moolcool wrote:
| I've got a Vostok Amphibia, and when I got it off ebay it was
| extremely slow. I took it to get regulated and now it's almost
| dead-on (+/-few seconds a day).
| huhtenberg wrote:
| 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.
| moolcool wrote:
| Soviet watches are sometimes rough, but if they're properly
| regulated they can definitely keep very good time.
| hansor wrote:
| Did you adjust it? Most Vostok watches have small internal
| "thing" to adjust - worked for me (had the same problem).
| dijit wrote:
| I took it to two watchmakers/maintainers in London to no
| avail.
|
| Though they might not know what they're looking at.
| dvh wrote:
| 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.
| axaxs wrote:
| 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...
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