Articles

The Zlatoust K-43: Overhauling a 1955 Pocket Caliber and Repairing Its Notorious Mainspring "He who wants to, finds a way; he who does not, finds an excuse."— Socrates Everyone knows what a "diver's" watch is — a watch for recreational and sport diving. Far fewer people..

One Crown, Two Tasks: The Keyless Works of the Pobeda Caliber 2602 "The simpler a mechanism is to make by hand, the longer it tends to live. The keyless works proves it: a century and a half of the same idea, still ticking."— A bench watchmaker's observation Few assembl..

The Hunchback: Inside the 1MChZ Caliber 2608, a Central-Seconds Cousin of the Pobeda 2602 "And now — the hunchback! One arched bridge, and a movement that makes you take the whole watch apart to change a broken stem. Sturdy as a vault, and twice as much trouble to open."— A bench watc..

Inside the Early Poljot 2609: The Forgotten Engineering of the First Moscow Watch Factory "A movement reveals its maker on the train side. Whatever the dial may promise, the bridges and pivots are where the engineer's intentions are written in steel and ruby."— Workshop maxim ..

Raketa Caliber 2609B: Twenty-One Jewels and the Road to the 2609.NA "Let things have been as they were — for somehow they were. Never was it so that there was nothing at all."— Yaroslav Hašek Anyone familiar with the Raketa 2609.NA — referred to in Soviet techni..

Vostok Caliber 2605: A Seventeen-Jewel Soviet Movement, Laughter Included "The caseback is a sealed record. What is written inside is not always what you expect."— From a watchmaker's bench notes The Vostok caliber 2605 is not a movement one encounters every week. When a friend offered i..

Servicing the Raketa 2603: A Practical Guide to the Post-Pobeda Soviet Caliber "The movement was still running despite everything — that kind of determination to survive deserves restoration..."— Notes from the workbench This Raketa had waited years for attention, technically running but..

The Raketa Caliber 2603: A Transitional Soviet Movement Between Pobeda and Modern Raketa "Old things have history, spirit, individuality. When I repair them, they become part of my story..."— Jennifer Crusie, Agnes and the Hitman Opening the case back of this particular watch revealed a ..