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Thread: Quality Russian brands?

  1. #1

    Quality Russian brands?

    Privet,
    As per the title, quality-wise, are there any Russian brands where watches are on par with brands from other parts of the world known for watchmaking, like Switzerland, Germany, Japan etc? By Russian I don't necessarily mean 'based in' but rather 'originating from' Russia (eg Vostok-Europe is based in Switzerland if I remember correctly?). By quality I mean movement reliability and accuracy, materials used, craftsmanship put into assembly and finishing. Factors such as WR and the originality of design are also important to me. I'm thinking contemporary watches, not interested in vintage pieces.
    Spasibo.

  2. #2
    wind-up merchant OhDark30's Avatar
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    To get a feel for the range of modern Russian watches out there, check out
    www.meranom.com for Vostok, Vostok Europe and Zarya.
    www.poljot24.de for Poljot International, Shturmanskie, Alexander Shorokhoff
    www.raketa-shop.com for Raketa

    Why not ask over on the Russian forum, R?
    The Daves and Is are better on the modern stuff than me (I prefer em small and Soviet :-)
    It's the final countdown! PM me before they're all gone!

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  4. #3
    Cheers.
    A few weeks ago I went through meranom top to bottom and haven't found one piece I'd consider buying (but it won't hurt to return there).
    I'll check the other two sites you're recommending for sure.
    And... uhm... aren't we on the Russian forum?

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  6. #4
    MWC is that my watch's Avatar
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    I'm with kath my taste falls to mainly vintage plus I have strong bad opinions on some of the modern none Russian ..but pretend to be Russian brands V.E being one of the main ones ...but I have found the quality of the vintage first rate ..so have a annoyance that because of it being Russian it has to be inferior... and hell no that is not the case take the chronos that was produced they even improved on the original and made it better to the point of other country's started to use the same sort of improvements in their own movements.. early russian pocket watches use the same sort of moments that was later then used in panerai so yes inferior my behind

    and as kath says the davs have a lot of modern ones between then ... but I have bought a few mainly raketa but luch is going good too and not completely knocking V.E as have bid on a few but think over priced and I have issues with some of the names of the ranges too ..using historic Russian events as their model range names when they ant Russian ..

    did do a thread or two on modern Russian brands in here some where and ary is another to look at ...


    but if I had to pick one would be raketa for sure
    Last edited by is that my watch; Aug 17, 2018 at 05:30 PM.
    sharky
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    rest easy good buddy
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  8. #5
    MWC is that my watch's Avatar
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    poljot still going strong in my eyes too love this one they did

    sharky
    one of the most original good guys their was never anything but a true friend "the daito to my shoto"
    rest easy good buddy
    https://gofund.me/eb610af1

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  10. #6
    MWC is that my watch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rodia77 View Post
    Cheers.
    A few weeks ago I went through meranom top to bottom and haven't found one piece I'd consider buying (but it won't hurt to return there).
    I'll check the other two sites you're recommending for sure.
    And... uhm... aren't we on the Russian forum?
    think meranom is a bit over rated to be honest too as mean fair prices and what not but some time the watches can be a bit middle of the road meh or maybe that just me thou maybe need something fresh and new maybe some thing I ant seen before
    sharky
    one of the most original good guys their was never anything but a true friend "the daito to my shoto"
    rest easy good buddy
    https://gofund.me/eb610af1

  11. #7
    wind-up merchant OhDark30's Avatar
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    Quality Russian brands?

    Quote Originally Posted by rodia77 View Post
    And... uhm... aren't we on the Russian forum?
    Oops! Of course we are (embarrassed smile)

    I’ve set up the 2 forums I regularly visit on tapatalk in different ways:
    here it’s most recent post, there I select a sub-forum to read through :-)


    I hear you re Meranom - this Zarya is the only watch I’ve bought off them


    And Luch of Belarus still make the one-hander. I got one as a gift for my WIS doctor. Woodhome25 is a good ebay seller, £47 at the mo (Luch’s website is terrible)
    It's the final countdown! PM me before they're all gone!

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  13. #8
    OK.

    It turns out a few weeks ago I did visit Raketa website to check out the modern iteration of Copernicus: https://raketa-shop.com/w/en/31-raketa-copernicus -- but found it rather bland and the prices didn't keep me there for long.

    At the moment I like this one: https://raketa-shop.com/w/en/raketa-...omat-n138.html -- I'm pretty sure I've seen it before and discarded it due to the numerals type, but now I don't mind them somehow. It might not be my dream watch or grail, but something cool to own. Size-wise it's like Smiths Everest with its substantial L2L. Looks thick. Price-wise, cool but not that sure if EUR850 cool (and if they can't ship from EU, the price grows to at least EUR1050). The movement hand-winds but doesn't hack.

    At meranom I don't see Zarya, Kath do you have a link perhaps? (I like what you got from there, btw, ).

    Ismy, I now get you about VE and how 'Russian' they are. Also, I'm yet to see anything from them that I'll find remotely attractive. I like this Poljot, too -- maybe I'll soon check the brand in more detail.

  14. #9
    wind-up merchant OhDark30's Avatar
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    Modern Raketa is very pricy - I didn’t realise quite how much - wow!

    Thanks for the Zarya compliments. They seem to be made in distantly spaced batches, so it’s unpredictable what, when will be available
    Dave has a cool Zarya moonphase iirc

    I sold mine to Is - it’s just possible he still has it. I know he’s in clearout mode

    I’m not sure of the state of play with Poljot these days: just who owns what names, and where things are made, or indeed what goes into them. So good luck :-)
    It's the final countdown! PM me before they're all gone!

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  16. #10
    MWC is that my watch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rodia77 View Post
    OK.

    It turns out a few weeks ago I did visit Raketa website to check out the modern iteration of Copernicus: https://raketa-shop.com/w/en/31-raketa-copernicus -- but found it rather bland and the prices didn't keep me there for long.

    At the moment I like this one: https://raketa-shop.com/w/en/raketa-...omat-n138.html -- I'm pretty sure I've seen it before and discarded it due to the numerals type, but now I don't mind them somehow. It might not be my dream watch or grail, but something cool to own. Size-wise it's like Smiths Everest with its substantial L2L. Looks thick. Price-wise, cool but not that sure if EUR850 cool (and if they can't ship from EU, the price grows to at least EUR1050). The movement hand-winds but doesn't hack.

    At meranom I don't see Zarya, Kath do you have a link perhaps? (I like what you got from there, btw, ).

    Ismy, I now get you about VE and how 'Russian' they are. Also, I'm yet to see anything from them that I'll find remotely attractive. I like this Poljot, too -- maybe I'll soon check the brand in more detail.
    I like their gazman duel time and one of those vostok europe v1 but they are way over priced

    pity the the watch kath showed was nos stock I just recently sold it ..pity did not know you was looking for one

    also recently sold a mother Russia too much prefer the vintage ones to the modern copy's a lot of the modern quartz are based on old mech watches
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    sharky
    one of the most original good guys their was never anything but a true friend "the daito to my shoto"
    rest easy good buddy
    https://gofund.me/eb610af1

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