34-K
The Pobeda “34-K” is the watch that actually got to space first — a month before Gagarin, and on the leg of a dog.
On 9 March 1961 the dog Chernushka flew a single orbit aboard Korabl-Sputnik 4, one of the last rehearsals before a crewed launch. Strapped to her was a 34-K belonging to Dr Abraham Genin, a researcher in Soviet aerospace medicine, who by most accounts attached his own watch without clearing it with anyone — he wanted to see what launch loads, vibration and vacuum would do to a mechanical movement. Both dog and watch came back working. The watch was identified long afterwards from the engraving on its case back, which is both why the story survives and how Genin is said to have got into trouble for it.
What the “34-K” actually is
The Pobeda itself is the USSR’s great everyday watch — a 15-jewel hand-wound calibre derived from a French design, built at the First Moscow Watch Factory and named by Stalin for the victory in 1945. The 34-K is the uncommon variant: the same honest movement in a heavier germetichny (hermetic) case, sealed against dust and moisture in a way the ordinary Pobeda case is not. That case is why one survived a rocket launch, and it is what you are looking for when you shop for one — the stepped lugs and the thicker, screw-fitted back set it apart from the far more common standard Pobeda.
Buying one
Standard Pobeda watches are everywhere and cheap; the hermetic 34-K is neither, and the gap between them is wide enough that ordinary Pobeda movements sometimes turn up in 34-K cases and vice versa. Check that case and movement belong to the same watch, and be wary of a “34-K” priced like a plain Pobeda. Our guide to spotting a frankenwatch covers the general tells.
Every 34-K below has been serviced by our watchmaker, tested, and photographed individually — the watch in the pictures is the watch you receive. See also the full Pobeda collection and our wider space-themed Soviet watches.
-
Out of stockNew!Soviet Pobeda “34-K” in uncommon hermetic case – the actual first watch in space!
-
Out of stockSoviet Pobeda “34-K” in uncommon hermetic case – the actual first watch in space!
-
Out of stockExcellent Soviet Pobeda “34-K” in uncommon hermetic case – the actual first watch in space!
-
Out of stockSoviet Pobeda “34-K” in uncommon hermetic case – the actual first watch in space!
-
Out of stockSoviet Pobeda “34-K” in uncommon hermetic case – the actual first watch in space!
-
Out of stockSoviet Pobeda “34-K” in uncommon hermetic case – the actual first watch in space!