Sunday, May 08, 2005

A Machine to Slice the Time...

A watch is a small device to compute time based on a counting system. A watch is one the most typical "personal" object. The market associates a majority of individuals throughout the world. A watch was likely always a jewel too before the 70's. The quartz oscillator technology and electronic integration made watches so cheap and so common that a watch is not necessarily a jewel nowaday.

The industry of complicated mechanical watch movements survived easily as a watch is certainly much more attractive as mechanical jewel than a simple electronic device. The mechanical watch industry survived in Europe and the Swiss Jura valleys of course, but also in Japan, USA, China and Russia. They are mostly associated to luxury and everlasting objects.

Russia is a special case. I discovered two months ago that the traditional watch Russian industry is remarquably dynamical there, on a basis of a know-how developped and strongly maintained in the 70's. Russian watches are well known from watch lovers who likes their diversity from very simple to top productions. Their amazing number of different versions, deco, series are really fascinating.

A wrist watch is defined by a caliber, a case, a dial, occasionaly a bezel, a back, and a strap or a bracelet. Altogether it will give a final design and will inspire a global feeling. The variations are infinite : steel-on-steel, gold-on-leather, polished or satin, dark or clear dial, chronograph, date, moon phase, complications...

Here is some selected pictures I took yesterday night of my last acquisition. There are several vendors in Germany on the net. They are really efficient and trustly. None can be found in French department stores or jewellers. I think you already known that soviet story of something reporting to the police in Moscow his watch stolen ?:

"- Two Swiss soldiers attacked me and robbed my beautifull Russian watch!"
"- I think you wanna say that two Russian soldiers attacked you and robbed your Swiss watch?"
....

The quality is really not related to the relatively cheap prices ans I experienced amazingly nice and precise Russian watches.

Recommended!

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The Poljot Sturmanskie new in the box


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The dial design is similar to the Sinn Civil chronograph. This inspired the seller in Germany calling this watch the Sturmanskie (navigation) "Zivil"


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On display over a
brochure "Midair Collision Potentials", edited by the Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New-York,1987....The cold war back to the future...


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Sturmanskie (navigation)


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Details of the deployant clasp


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The watche case back with the crystal showing the P3133 movement, a Russian derivative of a Swiss Valjoux 7734

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"Russkie Chronograph"

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The dial appears radially brushed under this light


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A fully stainless steel polished for this Sturmanskie


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The case back

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The bracelet clasp


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On a enroute navigational charts with a Fisher Space pen Astronaut model


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Flight plans

A next post will show another Sturmanskie watch of the same type but in a completely different style. A gallery is already open at ImageShack here.
















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