Soviet/Russian vintage watches? 10 tips before you buy!

Looking for Soviet / vintage Russian watches? 10 tips before you buy. Brands: Raketa, Vostok, ZIM, Pobeda, Elektronika etc.

[megamega]

2609 movement is a superb workhorse of a movement 18000bph and highly practical construction easy to service lowly beat rate = very low friction= very little wear a watch with this movement will last you a very long time without issues.

[my_negative_world]

0:57 Yuri Gagarins watch was not the first watch in space. The acctual first watch in space was a 1953 Pobeda 34-K that belonged to Dr. Abraham Genin. It was sent to space on Chernushka's paw and made one orbit on board the Sputnik-4 on 9th of March 1961.

[bottomtext]

A couple years ago my mom was going through some stuff of hers and found this old watch and thought I might like it. I instantly liked it because it was a mechanical Watch in Russian with a red star, submarine and “Офицерские” on it. Forever I thought it was simply a soviet submariner watch. After watching this video I was able to look up the Raketa perpetual calendar and it turns out that it’s what I have. It’s a Raketa Perpetual Calendar 2628 that someone has taken apart and painted over the “Made in USSR” and “Ракета” and drawn a red star. I’m sad it isn’t a submariner watch, however I am glad that it is s genuine soviet made watch.

[heckmedia]

Yes!! I bought a Elektronika 5 Frankenstein a few months ago and it's been my favorite daily wear watch since. Love the content, keep it up!

[neilpiper]

Raketa 2609ha is a reliable movement and easy to service.
I also like the Sekonda 2209 23 jewels slim movement watch.
I have a Vostok Volna Precision with the Volna 2809 movement.
I have 2 Raketa day dates with the 2628h handwind movements.
One is the first one you showed, the blue Cities watch. I am wearing another 2628h watch on a beads of rice style bracelet with a dark chocolate coloured dial and a domed acrylic crystal.
18000bph movements will run for a very long time and the 2628h movement is built with rough handling and tough environments in mind. My watchmender here in the UK is happy to work on them.

[patriotsquill]

I've been watching a ton of watch collecting videos recently, and have really been enjoying myself even though the thought of spending thousands of dollars on a watch is just an absurdity. So I started looking at vintage Timex watches to buy, and somehow discovered Russian watches. It's amazing! There are hundreds if not thousands of Russian watch models, many of them with very unique and even stunning design elements. Because they were mostly made for Soviet citizens, they weren't very expensive when new and vintage examples are thankfully still very cheap to buy. I just jump started my collection with a Wostok, a Raketa and a Luch. If I like what I see when they arrive I'll probably pic up a Raketa City World Time like the one shown in this video as well.It's not something I would ever wear, but as a piece of industrial design it is very striking, indeed!

[lenardgecse]

I inherited a poljot 2614h2 with 5microns of gold and I absolutely love it, Im using it as a daily watch and its pretty reliable

[designbam]

There are a lot of genuine parts NOS in Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and other former socialistic countries which had a good trade connections with a former USSR. They can offer incredibly good watches for not more than $100.
If the old dial is replaced with the same new dial it is not a Frankenstein watch.

[SMGJohn]

Soviet watches are built like tanks, even the digital one does not use integrated circuits but rather proper old school wiring LOL.
Its low tech but extremely reliable, Soviet used to build electronics for tanks, aircrafts, ships and even spacecrafts without integrated circuits because it was too unreliable at the time, even NASA used a very robust integrated design during these times.
Obviously integrated circuits are far superior than what they used to be, but interesting to see, Soviet always go for reliability and simplicity of service before complexity but when they do go complex, oh boy do they never have a limit....

[mattx]

I got rectangular wind-up late 60's or early 70's Wostok 18 jewels watch and I bought a steel mesh bracelet band for it. It's all scratched and has some rust around the dial inside, but it looks and works great.

[OffGridInvestor]

I nearly always tend to go for mechanical and LIKE some wear on them. Because it's not a replica, but REALLY because the thing has had A LIFE of real use in the USSR. And also go for the TOTALLY russisn text ones. Because then I know it was used IN the USSR, not some thing made for foreign markets. Genuine stuff made for locals.

[dubh]

I recently began collecting watches. I did some research where to start, and in my opinion, you can't beat vintage mechanical Raketa/Sekonda/Slava.
They're regularly under $50, manual winding, reliable for me so far, and a simple but bold design.
I never see them mentioned anywhere though? Is there a stigma about them that I'm unaware of?

[Chris-wrhv]

I have a WYMPEL windup slim dress watch. I wear it only on special occasions as Weddings or so. Bought a long time ago in Hungary second hand. Mint condition, restored and serviced

[piewithmoustachepwm]

I got myself a 1980s Vostok Komandirskie tankist watch (the wind up is on 2 instead of 3, so doesn't stab my wrist.)
I bought it from a 'contact' for 25€, best watch I've ever had.

[satchin]

Russian made watches are unique. I want to buy atleast one watch in my life. Just waiting.

[indyjones]

V cool, the digital watch was awesome!

[MszS]

good thing i can read russian, so if i buy one i can understand what it says

[dodgydruid]

I do have a Slava Mockba 80 as it happens, sadly the dial is toasty bad but the movement is excellent albeit lacking a second hand. I did get stung a bit on my last Amphibia, yet I have had some abs steals like a set of three Vostoks one of them a Admiralskie, the other border guards regiment with a paratroopers as the third, all three movements were working after a little love and wear the star shaped chrome admiralskie a lot.

[najjimohammad]

Have the nicest Poljot coming in from all the way in Belarus! Has a tropical dial like no other I’m so excited but it’s gonna take a while more to get here to the US :(

[andrefreelove]

Why on the worldtimer everything is cities, except Samoa is a group of islands and a country and Alaska is a state?