Vintage USSR Raketa seviced ZIM 17 jewel movement, gold on black guilloche dial dress wristwatch

This rare, Russian, USSR, Raketa (Rocket) men's vintage dress wristwatch would be an excellent and unique addition to your vintage watch collection!!

Manufactured in the 1960's, at the Petrodvorets watch factory, the highly polished stainless steel case measures 32.4 mm ( 1.28" ) across, excluding crown and lugs and surrounds a beautiful black guilloche dial that contrasts beautifully against guilded hour and minute hands, gold Arabic numbers, and sub-dial at 6 o'clock.

The manual wind ZIM cal 2603, 17 jewel manual wind movement has been recently professionally oiled, serviced and winds smoothly, is running strong, and keeping good time.

It has a screw-down back and has been fitted with a supple new dark blue 16 mm stitched genuine leather strap with stainless buckle.

Please Note: All of my vintage Soviet watches are serviced and restored by professionals in The Ukraine. Their shops are now shuttered during the conflict there. We hope that peace is restored soon and the brave citizens of Ukraine can return to their homes and that we can, once again, offer their products to you.

About the Brand:

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin made the first manned flight in outer space on the rocket, Vostok 1. In honor of this achievement, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory named its watches "Rocket"; Raketa in Russian. At the height of the Cold War, however, the name "Raketa" was perceived negatively in the West, as the word was associated with the latest generation of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles, the R-16. During Soviet times it became one of the most produced watch brands in the world. In the 1970s the factory produced about five million mechanical watches per year.

Raketa Mechanical Movements:

Over the years, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory has produced more than two dozen versions of Raketa movements. Some have been equipped with features such as automatic winding, calendars, 24-hour models for polar explorers, anti-magnetic watches (for use in case of nuclear attack), as well as watches for the military. Mechanical Raketa watches were exported to many Eastern Bloc and communist countries and are considered one of the most durable and reliable movements in the world. By the 1980s Raketa was producing five million watches a year.

The Petrodvorets Watchmaking School:

Being one of the few watch brands in the world producing its own movements, the factory created the Petrodvorets Watchmaking School, to ensure the transmission of watchmaking expertise to future generations.


The Petrodvorets Watch Factory Raketa, is one of only five watch brands in the world producing their movements in-house from start to finish, including hairsprings and escapements. Most watch brands globally do not produce their own hairsprings, they generally order them from Nivarox, a subsidiary of Swatch Group. This enables the Russian military industry to be independent from western suppliers, especially for producing hairsprings needed in the military aviation industry.

The Petrodvorets Watch Factory:

Raketa is only one of the brands produced by the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, albeit probably its most famous brand. Other Petrodvorets brands include Pobeda and Talberg among others. Before the Russian Revolution (1917), the factory also produced objects made of precious and semi-precious stones for the Tsar and his family. Later, it began to produce goods for military manufacturers as well as "jewels" for the watch industry. In 1949, the factory released the first wristwatches under the names Zvezda ("Звезда", star) and Pobeda ("Победа", victory). The factory's own watches, sold under the brand name Raketa, first appeared in 1961.



THE HISTORY OF ZIM MOVEMENTS:

ZIM / ЗИМ (Maslennikov Watch Factory)

In 1906, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II issued an official decree entitled, “On the construction of military plants at public funds”. The result was the establishment of the Provisional Economic Commission for the construction of the Samara Pipe Factory. The same year, construction began on another plant which would produce aluminum tube and capsule sleeves for three-inch rapid-fire guns. By September, 1911, the factory was completed, and workers celebrated the grand opening of the Second Pipe Factory in Samara, Russia.

The Second Pipe Factory staffed some 2500 workers and was primarily responsible for producing fuses for artillery shells. The factory was so large that a residential village was established nearby. This settlement was aptly named, “Workers”. The plant closed briefly in 1918, then reopened in 1923 under a new name, Maslennikov, named after the first chairman of the Samara City Council, Alexander Maslennikov. (The full factory name, Завод имени Масленникова, is often abbreviated ЗИМ, or ZIM). During World War II, ZIM fulfilled orders from the Ministry of Defense to produce ammunition for the armed forces.

After the war, ZIM began production of civilian goods, namely the caliber 2602 watch movement intended for Pobedas. This caliber entered production in 1950 and continued to be produced until the factory eventually shuttered in the early-2000s. With a production spanning over five decades, this made the ZIM caliber 2602 the longest-produced caliber of any Soviet watch movement.

Beginning in the 1960s, production at ZIM expanded greatly to include electronic devices, medical equipment, sewing machines, and automobile parts. Specialized subdivisions of ZIM were responsible for building residential houses, schools, kindergartens, dormitories, restaurants, and sports facilities. Given the sheer size of the plant and the enormous number of factory employees, ZIM developed an urban transportation route including tram, bus, and trolley lines.

In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, ZIM was in deep financial crisis. By the late-90s, the plant’s total debt reached about 1 billion rubles. In 2005, the factory declared bankruptcy, and by June 30th, 2006, the factory had shuttered. While a few of the original buildings connected to the plant remain today, the majority of the factory now stands in ruins.




STOCK CODE: R-10

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We are Stonehenge Watch Company and have been selling vintage timepieces and new watches on the internet for over 16 years
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