Vintage Soviet ZiM mechanical watch – champagne sunburst dial with scroll pattern and stepped gilt markers, from the 1970s-80s

ZiM mechanical wrist watch – 15 jewels
MADE IN USSR!

Made at the Maslennikov Factory – Zavod imeni Maslennikova, ZiM (Завод им. Масленникова, ЗиМ) – in Samara, named Kuibyshev from 1935 to 1991. The plant opened in 1911 making fuzes for artillery shells and began making watches in 1937.

This example carries one of ZiM’s more decorative dials: a champagne sunburst dial overlaid with a fine dark-red scroll pattern, applied stepped gilt markers at the even hours and slim dark-red batons at the odd hours. The ZiM signature is printed in red script, with MADE IN USSR at 6 o’clock — the Latin-script export dial. Gilt hands with a central sweep seconds hand. The movement is signed ЗИМ 15 КАМНЕЙ (ZiM, 15 jewels), the hand-wound ZiM center-seconds calibre.

The case is chrome-plated, with straight lugs and a plain snap-on steel case back.

Condition: the dial shows light age speckling, most visible in the lower half, and the gilt markers have some toning. The case shows plating wear with base metal showing on the lug edges, and the case back is scratched from use. Everything is as shown in the photos.

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

Original Soviet watch has mechanical lever movement and manual winding.

MANUFACTURED: 1970s-1980s

CASE SIZE approx. 41x35mm (with crown)

TYPE Mechanical

MOVEMENT ZiM, 15 jewels, central seconds

CRYSTAL Acrylic

FUNCTIONS Hours, Minutes, Seconds

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

Comes complete with a new Nagata leather strap.

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.

The Maslennikov Factory (Завод имени Масленникова, ZiM) stood in Samara, which was named Kuibyshev from 1935 to 1991. It opened in 1911 as a fuze works, making fuzes for artillery shells, and in 1923 it was named after the Bolshevik revolutionary Alexander Maslennikov, the first chairman of the Samara city council.
Watchmaking began in 1937. During the Second World War the plant made munitions as well.
From the early 1950s ZiM also made watches under the Pobeda (Победа) name, alongside its own ZiM brand. Several Soviet factories used the Pobeda name, so a ZiM-made Pobeda should not be confused with the Moscow-made ones.
ZiM struggled after the collapse of the USSR; watch production ended in the early 2000s and the factory was later wound up in bankruptcy.