Vintage Pobeda mechanical watch, ZiM factory – blue dial with small seconds, complete with box & passport, from January 1996

Pobeda mechanical wrist watch – 15 jewels

Legendary Soviet brand trademark Pobeda.

Based on a French design, the Pobeda’s simple, 15-jewel movement was cost-effective, reliable, and easy to manufacture and maintain. Full-scale production commenced at the First Moscow Watch Factory. Joseph Stalin chose the name Pobeda (Victory) to celebrate the end of the war.

Manufactured at the Maslennikov factory (ZiM), Samara, Russia

This example has a deep blue dial with a fine leather-grain texture, silver Arabic numerals in a flowing typeface, a minute track, two faceted gilt starburst markers at 12 and 6 o’clock, and a small-seconds hand with a crosshair at 6 o’clock. It is signed ПОБЕДА below the 12, with СДЕЛАНО В СССР (“Made in USSR”) along the lower edge. The hands are silver-tone. Inside is the hand-wound, 15-jewel ZiM calibre 2602.

Although the dial still reads “Made in USSR”, the factory passport dates this watch to January 1996, when the Maslennikov factory in Samara (formerly Kuibyshev) was trading as GPP “ZiM” and the USSR was already gone.

The cushion-shaped case is chrome-plated, with fixed lug bars and a plain stainless steel snap-on case back numbered 002193.

It comes complete with its original grey plastic box, embossed ПОБЕДА on the lid, and its factory passport. The passport is issued by the Samara Watch Factory (GPP “ZiM”, Samara) for the Pobeda with movement 2602 to GOST 10733-79, and gives 15 jewels, a small-seconds hand, a daily rate of −25 to +65 seconds and a power reserve of at least 36 hours. It carries the same watch number as the case back, 002193, a release date of January 1996 and the factory inspector’s OTK stamp, and the warranty coupon is still attached.

Condition: the dial is clean and bright, and the acrylic crystal is clear. The chrome plating presents well from the front, with light wear and a little discolouration on the case edges, the fixed lug bars show some tarnish, and the case back has light scratches. The box and passport show their age, with folds and wear to the paper. Everything is as shown in the photos.

The watch is mechanical and does not need batteries to operate.

Original Pobeda watch has mechanical lever movement and manual winding.

MANUFACTURED: January 1996 (release date on the passport)

CASE SIZE approx. 42.5×36.5mm (with crown)

CRYSTAL Acrylic

TYPE Mechanical

MOVEMENT ZiM 2602, 15 jewels

FUNCTIONS Hours, Minutes, Small Seconds

This watch has recently been serviced by a professional watchmaker and keeps good time.

Comes complete with its original box & passport (numbers match) and a new Nagata leather strap.

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We guarantee the item you receive looks and works exactly as advertised — or your money back.

The brand name Pobeda was chosen by Stalin himself in April 1945, he gave the order that the first watches be ready for the 1st year of Victory celebration.

The first prototype came out of the Penza factory by the end of 1945, and the first model for the public came out of the Kirov Watch Factory in March 1946.

Note:
In the Soviet Union, a product brand was not necessarily exclusive to a particular manufacturing site (this changed though in the 60’s when each factory got its own brands), and during its lifetime, production of Pobeda watches was shifted between the following plants:
• Penza Watch Factory (Пензенский Часовой Завод): for a few years from 1945
• First Moscow Watch Factory (Первый Московский Часовой Завод): 1946 to 1953
• Petrodvorets Watch Factory (Петродворцовый Часовой Завод): 1946 to nowadays
• Chistopol Watch Factory (Чистопольский часовой завод): 1949 to the c.1950
• Second Moscow Watch Factory (Второй московский часовой завод): 1953 to 1964
• Maslennikov Factory (Завод имени Масленникова): c.1951 to 2004