Cold War Era Soviet Made Raketa Manual Wind with Unique Case

On April 13, 1961, Yuri Gagarin made history with the first manned flight in outer space aboard the Vostok 1 rocket. To honour this achievement, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory named its watches "Rocket" or "Raketa" in Russian. However, during the Cold War, the name "Raketa" had negative connotations in the West due to its association with Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles, specifically the R-16. Despite this, Raketa became one of the most widely produced watch brands globally during Soviet times. In the 1970s, at the peak of its production, the factory produced approximately five million hand-wound watches annually.

 Over the years, Raketa watches have been produced for the Red Army, the Soviet Navy, and North Pole expeditions, as well as for civilians. Today, Raketa is one of the few global watch brands that produces its own movements entirely in-house, from start to finish.

What's on Offer

A watch hailing from Cold War era Russia, you can very much see the brutalistic design elements in this vintage Raketa watch. Like all Soviet-made watches it was built to last, although mass produced, Raketa as a company were excellent at creating reliable timepieces with in-house manufactured mechanical movements, something not many watch brands were capable of. One thing that I do like about this watch is the oddly separated day & date windows, one being placed at 3 and one six, a unique touch, I also like the rich white crosshair interrupting the design against a textured black dial. As for the condition, various light signs of wear are visible to the mid-case as well as some light rubbing to the black coated bezel both of which are very minor and only add to the aesthetic of this vintage piece. 

Mechanically the watch is running great and contains the Raketa-made calibre 2628.H manual winding movement with a 45-hour power reserve. A truly brilliant piece with some great significance.