Greetings comrade, The party has noted the disappointingly  few Russian watch threads on this forum.  The lack of Soviet representation here can be blamed on the devious capitalist Photobucket plot and the deceptive, superfluous appeal of bourgeois Swiss watches.  Representatives of the All-Soviet Workers and Peasants Watch Collective wish to demonstrate a few examples of Soviet precision and reliability. This demonstration will prove once and for all the superiority of Soviet watchmaking; the perfect balance between cost, aesthetics and mechanical design! Whilst waiting for my first rep to arrive, I got impatient and discovered the market for Soviet watches. It's one of those easy traps that noobs like me fall into: cheap, funky designs, cool historical associations. In total I now have 7 Soviet/Russian watches and the total cost was still cheaper than one mid-range rep. It was pretty hit and miss but I'm glad to say there were more good ones than bad ones and many lessons were learnt! So let's start off with a group shot: I tried to collect Soviet watches across the spectrum (one with metallic bracelet, two divers, four dressier watches) and across different brands (three Vostoks, two Raketas, one Poljot and one of the Sputnik commemorative watches).   The Soviet Divers Here is my Vostok Amphibian (1980s) and Vostok Komandirskie (1980s).  Very simple watches, no date display, no rotating bezel. Possibly waterproof when new but I wouldn't risk it nowadays. They do have screw-down crowns with waterproofing though. You can clearly see the design influences of Fifth Fathoms and Submariner in them. I am terrified when trying to wind these watches as the screw-down crown does feel a bit flimsy when winding or setting the time. Very delicate procedure. Putting  a bond NATO strap on a Warsaw Pact watch seems very contradictory but you cannot deny a diver watch with a Bond NATO strap is a good look regardless of ideological clashes.   The Franken Sputnik Watch Ah the Sputnik watch. One of the most counterfeited Soviet watches. It was made to commemorate the first orbiting artificial satellite by humanity: the Sputnik. The historical value of a gen Sputnik watch makes it a hot collector's item. After doing some research, I am inclined to believe mine is a genuine watch (very scratched up case) but it has a new shiny franken dial. The seller was upfront about it and lists that on the description so no deception there. Furthermore, the hands have been replaced; the original would have "necktie" shaped hands.  Lastly, the movement is stamped with the date of production "4-56" which means fourth quarter of 1956. Problem: Sputnik 1 was launched in October 1957! Either this is a complete fake or they used old stock movements to make this watch in 1957.  Whatever the case, I'm not too fussed. Apart from the historical significance, it also has a very unique seconds subdial. Instead of the conventional small seconds hand, it features a rotating disk with a hole. As the "hole" rotates, it displays the seconds at intervals of five. Pretty cool! One thing however, I notice the watch stops on any sudden movement. The watch can be restarted by tapping the case at 4 o'clock (near the balance wheel). It seems that the balance wheel is perhaps slightly misaligned or dirty so it gets stuck sometimes and needs a flick to restart it. Anyone has any ideas on what is happening? Does it require servicing or just dismantling and putting it back together? Input welcome! This is not the only Sputnik watch out there. There were many other designs made and collectors do try to get them all. But the aesthetics of this one does it for me.   The Russian "Perpetual Calendar" My dear sister gave it to me as a graduation gift. As you can see on the dial, this was made in Russia, not USSR, meaning this watch was made after 1990/1991. I really like the strange design with lots of numbers on the dial and Cyrillic day display. This is not a true perpetual calendar, of course. It is more of a manual calendar, if you align  the year wheel using the crown at 4 o'clock. Say you want to find out the what day was 26 Dec 1991, the day USSR collapsed, just align 1991 to December and refer to the top half of the dial. Look for 26 and it should be aligned to the day. The years only run up to 2000 so it is pretty much useless today. I just align it to my birth date and leave it at that.  Another interesting feature I learnt about Raketa movements is that there is a quickset for the date which is done by pulling the crown one step further. There is no quick set for the day display so you have to turn the hands through multiple days to get to the right day.   The Soviet Beauty Ah, such a beautiful 1970s Vostok dress watch! Bought a light tan leather strap on sale from cheapestnatostrap and it seems to fit really well. Overall this is a very well-built watch: sturdy crown, intricate hands, beautiful detailed dial, Roman numerals and keeps time well. Surely this must have been too bourgeois for Soviet sensibilities? Will be wearing this beauty to my next dress-watch-worthy event.   The Soviet Lessons I have been relatively lucky and made the right choices for most of this collection. The two here are beautiful in their own right but each carry a lesson for collecting vintage Soviet watches. On the left is a 1980s Raketa dress watch with my own leather straps. The lesson here is that however new they look, these are very old watches. On delivery, the day wheel must have been damaged or misaligned, I'm not too sure. Basically, as the hour hand moves past 12, the date wheel jumps fine but the day wheel only advances by a tiny bit each day. Any help/input is welcome! I haven't open it up to investigate as I want to practice tinkering on other watches first to build my confidence.  The one on the right is a 1980s Poljot. I got this watch purely to round off the collection with at least one watch with metal bracelet. Lesson two: Soviet watches are cheap for a reason. The bracelet feels extremely light and flimsy. Furthermore, there are actually no pins in the links so I can't resize them. So this watch sits rather loosely on my wrist.   Final Thoughts I absolutely adore my Soviet/Russian collection. It has been an educational journey. I've had to research the sellers. Research and scrutinise the watches. Compare them to confirmed gens. Follow the market to determine what is a fair price for these watches. Learning the history of the watches and their factories. Here are some things I've learnt so far: 1) Just like reps, you need to buy the seller. Look up their feedback and decide if you trust them or not. Of course feedback is not 100% reliable all the time but it is a fair indicator. 2) If possible, go for the watch that has recently been serviced. This will save you a lot of time and money. Especially in London where they charge at least 60 quid for a full service. 3) Research the watch. For reference, http://www.ussrtime.com/ is a website listing one man's impressive collection. A meticulous, well-kept catalogue which serves as a good source for comparison pictures. I often use the photos there to compare with eBay lsitings to see if they are the genuine article/franken/fake. Well that was my Soviet collection. Do share yours here too!