POLJOT 3133 Sturmanskie what an improvement a case makes

[The Watch Smeller]

Ok, so a while ago I bought a beautiful poljot sturmanskie from OD30 as a present to myself for my birthday. The watch was, as anyone who's bought a watch from Kath will testify a well maintained beauty at a fantastic price.
Now a vintage watch will always have a a few age related defects and this one had a couple. The chrograph pushers had very tiny amounts of plating that though could hardly be seen I knew they were there but it didn't bother me too much. More noticeably was a couple of slight age related stress cracks right on the edge of the crystal at the six posistion.
(please be aware photos were taken on my phone)



Now the plan was to replace the crystal when I found one and that would have been me more than happy. So imagine my excitement upon finding on eBay a seller in Italy who was selling an unused sturmanskie case complete with an unused original bracelet and not only that but the case is one piece stainless steel where my original case is a plated example.
The seller was quick to dispatch and upon arrival the only thing wrong with it was that it had a bit of old sticker residue on the bracelet which soon came off with a damp cloth.



I quickly removed the case back to reveal the beauty that is the 3133 movement. Again I apologise for the quality of the photos !

I removed the two movement screws, two movement clamps and the crown. The crown will be refitted to the movement in the new case as the new case wasn't supplied with one.



With the movement now removed it was just a case of dropping it into its new home and replacing the crown, clamps and screws.


For some reason the new rubber seal supplied was too small and would not sit in the recess without popping out. No matter as the seal on my original case was in great condition so I used that instead.

After replacing the caseback I gave the new crystal a quick once over with a cotton wool pad and some polywatch and it came up a treat

I am absolutely thrilled with the results and cannot believe that I only paid just over £40 for the new parts. The new bracelet is the only gripe I have. It is unbelievably stiff and doesn't want to bend round my skinny 7.5inch wrists without feeling uncomfortable and it's no wonder you never see someone wearing one ! I have ordered a better quality mesh bracelet for it from eBay.

There are purists who would argue that I have ruined an original watch and/or the movement serial number isn't correct for the case which I suspect may be for an Okeah as opposed to a Poljot but I'm very happy with the end result and I still have the original case if I should ever want to change it back. I doubt that will happen through as I doubt very much that I would ever want to part with it






So many watches and so little time.

[is that my watch]

looking great mate made a big difference in looks like the fact you keep the old case for choice if you was to move it on but why would you ever need to

[meijlinder]

Looks great. Good job, who cares if it might be a bit frankenized, you enjoy it.
And as you say, you still have original case if you ever part with it

[OhDark30]

Mate, that's amazing!
*Really* takes the watch to the next level, and such a barg on the case too! :-)
I frankened a Zwesda - good case & face plus a working movement - it's an OK thing to do
Only becomes a crime if sellers are dishonest imo
Enjoy, and look forward to seeing lots more pics :-)

[is that my watch]

Mate, that's amazing!
*Really* takes the watch to the next level, and such a barg on the case too! :-)
I frankened a Zwesda - good case & face plus a working movement - it's an OK thing to do
Only becomes a crime if sellers are dishonest imo
Enjoy, and look forward to seeing lots more pics :-)

total agree think it down to the reason why it's done in this case to improve then seems fine to me think it comes down to that simple thing

1) was it done to deceive to sell for more then bang out of order.

or

2) done because of the love of the watch and the intend to make it look as great as possible well what can be wrong with that I say

[Henry Krinkle]

That looks great. Nice job.

[Ryan]

Well done.

[Strela167]

Great work mate !!

Brought it back to life. Cheers

[iyonk]

Awesome!!

[Henry Krinkle]

Also, I think that is a perfectly legitimate case of frankening. I have no doubt that you would never try to sell it as legit, you have made yourself a better Poljot and will derive greater enjoyment from it.