r/RussianWatches

IMO, the best watch ever made in the USSR. A timeless classic.

I've been looking for a Russian moonphase and came across two types that exist, one made by Luch and one made by Raketa. I'm a lot more interested in the Luch but taking a look around online, the only ones that seem to be for sale are immaculate and all have slightly different dials.

My reference for "legit" ones come from the "Watches of the USSR" Wix site, here and here. Both of these raise separate eyebrows for me as the "Made in USSR" text at the bottom of the first one seems misspelled, and the second one doesn't have any "Made in" text or roman numerals.

This brings me to the ones that are available online. This first one has a cleaner "Made in" text at the bottom and alleges to have paperwork for the watch. There is a black version with pretty much identical dial markings but no paperwork for over twice as much. As a final example, this one has no "Made in" markings at the bottom of the dial and no dots in between the dates on the calendar.

The thing that's getting me about this watch is outside of the Wix examples, I cannot find to seem any older references for this watch. Does anyone have any experience with these and may be able to shed some light? Thanks in advance.

I bought this from an Italian seller. Paid 40EUR total. How do you guys like it? Doesn't look like a Franken to me. I know the bracelet is not original, seller told me in advance. Have a good day!

Made in USSR, good condition with original plastic strap. Export version. Pretty sure that it was inspired by the Casio F84W, but the soviets done everything differently to get the water resistance.

It is very interesting how thick the acryllic glass is. Also note that in order to change the battery you need to remove the front and take out the module.

The strap is also very different. It will be impossible to replace if I won't find any new old stock ones since it has a weird t shape end (see last picture)

Elektronika 53 movement, very basic: Time, date, day of the week. That's it.

Best function is that you can manually adjust the accuracy in the time setting mode if the watch is too fast or too slow.

Seller wanted about $70 usd for the one on the right. Worth going back for it?

Thanks to the amazing people here and the people over on r/raketawatches I have my first Soviet made watch. Here’s to many more!

https://ebay.us/m/qsNexm

Help! I’ve exhausted my own research with image searches and history of this watch as well as digging in the Russian watch archives and I’m coming up short.

My wife bought this for me as a birthday present, and while it looks great it seems like it doesn’t exist historically. I reached out the the seller in Ukraine and he says it’s original but restored. That said, it can’t be fully wound which gives me pause.

If it is fake, it’s still good looking but I fear my wife was duped. That said, he has listings for this watch on Chrono 24, so maybe it’s legit?

Thanks in advance!

I found this for $2.50 CDN at a thrift store in scenic Peace River back in 2014.

Hardly believed it when I saw it because it was the first mechanical watch I'd ever seen there, and then...well, because I recognized it instantly.

And grabbed it exactly that fast.

I have no idea how an mid-1980s Italian export Paketa/Raketa (exported to italy, I mean) made it to Peace River (population 7200 people), but here it sits to this day.

I own this beauty for almost 5 years now. Manufacture date November 2020 made by Technochas in Belarus. To my understanding they use the same equipment which was used by Integral for Elektronika 5 watches.

This watch is just like a digital watch you would buy 40 years ago: mineral crystal, chrome plated brass case, same module with same weaknesses, incandescent backlight, no water resistance, the original bracelet which was the worst I ever worn (and I say that as a guy who wears Vostok on stock bracelet).

One thing this piece is absolutely superior at - it's 7 melody alarm is hella loud. It puts any Casio in shame. The stock bracelet was the most painful thing that was ever on my wrist, so I swapped it out for a jubilee style bracelet. Anyways this is one of the most unique timepiece I own, and it's a great conversation starter.

Technochas recently switched to stainless steel cases on all of their models, which gives it a 30m water resistance, maybe in the future I'll get another one😉.

At some point id like to get the Chernobyl.
My tank one isn’t winding up, will need a new movement at some point.
Otherwise all of them work fine and keep time.
My favourite is my modded 090. Next is the yellow 650, and then the civil ratnik.
I really hate the Scuba dude for some reason, just can’t stand it!! It’s a 710.

None of them are a gada for me, they mostly live in the box. I take one on a holiday every now and again.

How did i do?

Wrapped her up on the bench today. Petrodvorets, ref. 4351762, caliber 2628.Н — manual wind day-date, 19 jewels.

All original — case, dial, hands, movement, crown. Matches the Soviet catalog spec for this reference (1980s production) down to the details.

Picked her up non-running at a local auction for $40. Now she's back to life.

Full strip, hand-cleaned, fresh lubes, regulated. Runs beautifully. Paired with a NOS ZIM stainless bracelet that suits the case perfectly.

The angular late-Soviet thing really gets me. One of those that I'll be reaching for a lot.

Cheers.

Just got my first Vostok! I have a crazy horse leather nato band coming in tomorrow. Anything I should know about the watch? I’m new to Russian watches.

Not sure of the actual model number, but this was an amazing online find for a cool $25.

I absolutely LOVE the patina on this dial. It almost looks like vellum or parchment paper.

Runs well enough, and no detectable rotor spin whatsoever. Feels fantastic on wrist!

Came with the crappiest bracelet that I promptly replaced with this mesh number. I also think this watch would look amazing on vintage oiled leather.

I will be adding more Raketa autos since this one blew me away.

Finally finished restoring my vintage Slava 2427 automatic from the late USSR era, and I’m honestly impressed by how much character these old Soviet watches have.

This one runs the famous 27-jewel dual-barrel automatic movement with day/date in Cyrillic — a weirdly overengineered little machine from the 2nd Moscow Watch Factory.

The watch was in rough shape when I got it:

• dirty movement
• dried oils
• weak amplitude
• scratched acrylic crystal
• noisy rotor
• worn gasket

After a full teardown, ultrasonic cleaning, lubrication, regulation, and crystal polishing, it’s now running beautifully again. The quickset date works perfectly and the automatic winding finally feels smooth.

What I love most is that unmistakable Soviet design language — practical but somehow stylish at the same time. The black dial with gold accents and the Cyrillic day wheel give it a vibe modern watches just don’t have.

The Slava 2427 is also mechanically interesting because of its twin mainspring barrels, something you usually don’t expect in affordable vintage watches. It feels like Soviet engineers tried to solve problems in their own unique way instead of copying Swiss designs directly.

A lot of surviving examples today are “frankenwatches” with swapped parts or aftermarket dials, so restoring an original one feels especially satisfying.

Would love to hear what other people think about Soviet horology — underrated history or pure chaos engineering? 😄

G’day,

Australian here. Looking at getting a 24 hour watch and a few Russian ones have nice designs.

I figured the best way to go about finding one would be asking from people’s experience and knowledge here as I’ve read about redials and bad quality ones.

Your suggestions and advice are appreciated kindly.

Attached below are a few nice examples. Regards

I heard they made 1000 of these but any additional info would be amazing.