Description
Soviet mechanical Raketa “Navy” wrist watch with 24-hour dial, anchor emblem and rotating watch-shift 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 24, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 are numbered, with a baton marker at every hour. The silver sunburst dial is signed «РАКЕТА» in Cyrillic with the Soviet State Quality Mark beneath it, a blue anchor above «СДЕЛАНО В СССР» (Made in USSR), and black hour, minute and centre seconds hands.
Around the dial runs an inner rotating ring divided into four-hour blocks: one red, two blue and three white. It follows the naval watch system of four hours on duty and four hours off; turn the ring to the start of your shift and the dial shows at a glance when it ends. The small blue grid symbols near 6 and 18 hours mark radio-silence periods, the minutes each half hour when ship radio operators stopped transmitting to listen for distress calls.
The case is chrome-plated with a stainless steel snap-on case back carrying the serial number 200633. Two crowns: the one at 3 o’clock winds and sets the watch, the one at 4 o’clock turns the inner shift ring.
Manufactured at the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, USSR. The case back carries a serial only, not a date; this model was made from the mid-1980s, and the «СДЕЛАНО В СССР» dial places this example in the Soviet years, around the late 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 dial and hands are clean and the chrome-plated case shows only light wear. The case back has light scratches, and there is a small dent in the case rim beside the case-back opening notch (see the case-back photo).
CASE SIZE approx. 40mm
LUG WIDTH 18mm
TYPE Mechanical
MOVEMENT 2623.H
FUNCTIONS 24 Hours, Minutes, Seconds, rotating watch-shift ring
This watch has recently been serviced by a professional watchmaker and keeps good time.
Comes complete with its original Soviet blue leather strap embossed «СССР» (16mm buckle). Original Soviet straps are very rare to find with the watch today. The strap is used: the lining underneath shows wear and discoloration, and it needs a drop of glue where the lining is lifting at the buckle end (see photo).
This watch ships from 🇺🇦 Ukraine with tracking number
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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.
