Sportivnie

Sportivnie / Спортивные
After World War II, the First State Watch Factory focused heavily on wristwatch production. This lead to a proliferation of discrete brands in the 1950s, all powered by First Moscow Watch Factory movements. These brands included Antarktida, Kirovskie, Kosmos, Mayak, Moskva, Orbita, Pobeda, Poljus, Rodina, Signal, Sportivnie, Sputnik, Stolichnie, Strela, Sturmanskie, and Vympel.

The Sportivnie brand (Спортивные, meaning “sporty”) was manufactured in the 1950s and early 1960s, using a modified caliber 2408 movement fitted with a special hacking mechanism. This hacking complication would temporarily halt the second hand any time the crown was pulled out to the time-setting position; the watch would resume normal function once the crown was returned to the winding position. (Most modern quartz watches have hacking complications, but this was state-of-the-art technology in the 1950s; notably, this was the same movement found inside the military-issued Sturmanskie.)

A watch with a hacking movement has two distinct advantages over thier non-hacking analogs: 1) the time can be set more precisely to the exact second; 2) the second hand can be started and stopped on command, allowing for the rudimentary timing of intervals (e.g. sprints). As a result of the second advantage, these watches were heavily marketed to athletic individuals by way of dial designs featuring swimmers, hurdlers, and cyclists.

The Sportivnie case came in two variations: a larger, 34mm design with thicker lugs and one-piece screw-down case-back; and a smaller, 33mm design with thinner lugs and two-piece screw-down case-back. Many dial designs were produced in both case styles (a nightmare/boon for the collector).

The Sportivnie brand was retired in 1964, when all individual First Moscow Watch Factory brands were consolidated under a single trademark: Poljot.