Description
Soviet mechanical Raketa wrist watch with 24-hour dial, cream dial with blue numerals and a black second-time-zone ring
MADE IN USSR!
Raketa (Ракета, meaning “Rocket”) with a true 24-hour dial: the hour hand goes round once a day, so 24 (midnight) sits at the top and 12 (noon) at the bottom. The even hours 2 to 24 are numbered in blue on the textured cream dial, with a marker at every hour. The dial is signed «РАКЕТА» in Cyrillic with «СДЕЛАНО В СССР» (Made in USSR) beneath the centre, and the hour, minute and centre seconds hands are blue.
Around the dial runs a black ring numbered with the odd hours, 1 to 23 (the numbers that fall between the even hours on the dial). The ring is turned by the second crown, so it can be set to a second time zone and read together with the main 24-hour time.
The case is chrome-plated with a stainless steel snap-on case back stamped 051. Two crowns: the one at 3 o’clock winds and sets the watch, the one at 4 o’clock turns the black ring.
Manufactured at the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, USSR. The case back carries a short number only, not a date, so it cannot be decoded to a year; the «СДЕЛАНО В СССР» dial places this example in the Soviet years, probably the 1980s.
The watch is mechanical and does not need batteries to operate.
Original Soviet Raketa watch has mechanical lever movement and manual winding. Caliber 2623.H (stamped on the bridge) is the Petrodvorets 24-hour movement with centre seconds.
CONDITION: the cream dial is clean and the blue hands and numerals are crisp. The chrome-plated case is bright with light wear, and the crystal is clear. The case back shows light scratches and some oxidation around the rim and the case-back notch (see the case-back photo). The bracelet shows light wear and small scratches on the clasp.
CASE SIZE approx. 40mm (excluding crown)
LUG WIDTH 18mm
CRYSTAL Acrylic
TYPE Mechanical
MOVEMENT 2623.H
FUNCTIONS 24 Hours, Minutes, Seconds, second-time-zone ring
This watch has recently been serviced by a professional watchmaker and keeps good time.
Comes complete with a stainless steel bracelet with a folding clasp (18mm).
This watch ships from 🇺🇦 Ukraine with tracking number
Modes of payment:
- PayPal
- Credit Cards (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover)
- bitcoin
We guarantee the item you receive looks and works exactly as advertised — or your money back.
About the watch factory
The Petrodvorets Watch Factory «Raketa» was founded by Peter the Great in 1721. Factory was producing wide range of items, including jewels for watches since 1930.
Factory was devastated during World War 2, restored in 1949 and was making “Pobeda”(Victory) and “Zvezda” watches. In 1954 renamed into Petrodvorets Watch Factory.
Since 1962 “Raketa” watches are produced which became the trade mark of the factory.
The Petrodvorets Watch Factory is one of the rare watch factories in the world that fully manufactures its own movements from A to Z, including hairspring and escapement.
Other band names produced on the factory include Baltika, Leningrad, Mayak, Neva, Pobeda, Raketa, Rossiya, Svet, Start.
Read more about on of few surviving Soviet watch factories on factory’s website.
