The New Russian Watch Is Here!

This morning my accumulated mail from vacation was delivered, and what should I find but a package from Russia... containing none other than the new Russian watch I ordered a few weeks ago! It's a Raketa watch, 16-jewel mechanical movement, and I daresay it looks like a watch from some alternate reality...

Note the yellowish-orange dial. A 24-hour dial. Yes, the hour hand goes around only once every 24 hours, not twice like a regular watch. Takes some getting used to, that's 4:16 PM you see in the picture, otherwise known as 1616 hours.

One advantage of a 24-hour dial is that it's easy to compare times in different time zones around the world. Around the outer edge of the dial is a rotating ring with names of various cities, written of course in Russian.

I've really gotten into Russian-made mechanical watches, wind 'em up, gears and mainspring, tick tick tick, no battery required. Last summer I got that Russian watch, cheap but sturdy as an army tank. A couple of months ago I got that funky Russian chronograph, not-so-cheap, which has become my usual watch for everyday use.

Now I get this 24-hour watch that looks like something out of no known historical timeline; cheap, not quite discount-store cheap, but close. A watch as if from an alternate history where in the 21st century steamboats still ply up and down the sparsely settled Mississippi River from one British colonial river town to the next, and this watch has traveled across North America from the Tsar's imperial province of Alaska. (That's "Аляска" you'll see at 10 AM on the dial.) Believe me, you couldn't make up a watch like this, not even if you tried.

The New Russian Watch: Update

Well, after a couple of weeks, it's looking as though my new Russian chronograph, with its 23-jewel mechanical movement, is in fact gaining only about two seconds a day, maybe a little less.

Plus, winding it up every morning appeals to the Selective Luddite™ in me.

Split Second

Have been taking full advantage of the stopwatch function on my newly acquired Russian chronograph. Yesterday I was in town to have a new muffler installed in my Jeep, and while I was waiting I was sitting on a park bench down by the railroad tracks. Two trains went by. The first train went by in 1 minute and 47 seconds, and the second train took 2 minutes and 16 seconds.

Then I was down in Waukon, and stopped off at a restaurant for lunch. It took 22 minutes and 13 seconds for my order to arrive— well, okay, it was the noon hour, and I was in no hurry. At a couple of other area restaurants, my order has clocked in at right around 13 minutes.

So it is with a watch as it is with a computer: the device spurs you on to all sorts of tasks you never would've dreamed of otherwise. Think of all the things people didn't have to do, at least not with any promptness, back in the days before watches tamed time to the minute and the second. Back in the days when "mañana" meant "whenever."

Russian Watch! Russian Watch!

Yes! Yes! The Russian watch I've been waiting for is finally here. And it is a thing of wonder!!!

To be precise, it's a Russian chronograph. Complete with stopwatch function— that's what those extra buttons are for. And it's a good old fashioned mechanical chronograph— no effete quartz movement, thank you, this watch has a 23-jewel Poljot 3133 mechanical movement, and it ticks like a real watch should.

Note the retro design, based on watches produced during World War II for top officers in the Red Army. Note the second hand, at 9 o'clock. Note the chronograph second hand— what you'd ordinarily think of as the "regular" second hand— and the chronograph minute hand at 3 o'clock. Note the date window at 6 o'clock. Note the scratch-resistant mineral watch crystal. Note the Super-LumiNova glow-in-the-dark watch hands. Note the logo on watch face, "1МЧЗ им. Кирова," which stands for "Первый Московский Часовой Завод имени Кирова," "First Moscow Watch Factory called Kirova."

And big! This watch measures nearly 1¾ inches across, and about half an inch thick. My middle aged eyes can read it with ease.

On the back of the watch it reads, Полёт (Poljot) Заказ Министерства Обороны Российской Федерации (Order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) Водонепроницаемые 5 Атм (Water Resistant 5 Atmospheres) Нержавеющая Сталь (Stainless Steel). Numbered 192 out of a limited edition of 300.

(Hey, never know when that year of Russian I took in college will come in handy! ;-)

Back last summer I bought a nice but cheap Russian watch. I have to confess that the idea of buying a nice but not-so-cheap Russian chronograph hatched in my mind within weeks. After holding off for most of the past year, I finally gave in, and ordered via eBay from a dude over in St. Petersburg. Result: this morning I drove in to town, and picked up at the Post Office a registered package containing one Russian chronograph. Absolutely awesome!

Watching for the Watch

Well, a while back I was mentioning that I had ordered a new Russian watch— a Russian chronograph, actually. Like they say, a watched pot never boils; and I guess a watched-for watch never arrives, either.

Actually, the full story is that I ordered the watch from one outfit online, and after a week and a half they finally got around to informing me that, oh, gee, they didn't have that watch in stock, after all. They did have certain similar watches in stock, for more than twice the price, but. Anyhow. I told them I was sorry, but if they didn't have it, we'd have to let it go at that.

Then searched around and found the watch on another Russian watch site. Was just about to place the order when I noticed, just in the nick of time, that this outfit, on its outlet on Amazon, had a 71% negative rating from customers.

Searched around some more, located a Russian chronograph on eBay which was just about identical to the one I'd been looking for, and in fact on several points even better. Seller had been in the business of peddling Russian watches on eBay for some time, and had a 100% positive rating. So I clicked on the "buy it now" button— no, I wasn't going to mess around with bidding, and some other bidder snatching it out from under me at the last minute. The seller was in touch with me by email in less than two hours, and said watch is in transit, all the way from St. Petersburg, Russia.

I suppose it's a bit early to hope that it might be arriving today already. But perhaps some time this week. Yes, I will put up pictures of it when it arrives.

In the meanwhile, I've been googling around and poking through various watchblogs, which are rather fascinating if you're into watches. All sorts of cool photos, reviews, and discussions on watches. Such as at Chuck Maddox's Watch Blog, or Fratellowatches.com, or Ed's Corner.

Yes, It's a Watchblog

I was blogging recently about a new Russian watch I got. Well, turns out a fellow named Ed has an entire blog devoted to watches. Interesting pictures and reviews of numerous watches. I see Ed shares my liking for Russian watches with a mechanical movement.

Russian Watch! Russian Watch!

Boy, this must be my week for buying things online.

See, I've had this watch, a Swiss Army watch, for several years now, and it served me okay, only it's getting so my sweat is tarnishing and corroding and almost rusting it away. (My sweat has a way of doing this to watches.) The leather watchband is also wearing out to the point where it's just absolutely falling apart— I could get the watchband replaced, done that before, but why bother when the watch itself is looking like something dredged up from a salvage operation?

So instead I got a Russian army watch from RussArmy, and Mr. UPS Man delivered it yesterday. Check out the easy-to-read numerals, with little glow-in-the-dark dots next to them. Check out the (glow-in-the-dark) hands. Check out the red star and army tank. Check out the inscription in Russian, "Komandirskie" (rough Roman alphabet transcript). Check out the date window. Check out the ring with minutes, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more, around the edge.

And this watch has a self-winding mechanical movement, 31 jewels. It ticks like a real watch should. None of that wimpy quartz movement crap.

Truth be told, this isn't the first mechanical Russian army watch I've had. Many years back I had one, face of the watch identical to this one, but without many of these cool newer features. Wore that watch to death till it wouldn't run no more. And only now do I find a worthy replacement.