'Poljot' Sportivnie

[Chascomm]

I wonder if anybody else has seen one of these? (or possibly I'm the only veteran here who hasn't seen one before?)



Recently I was at the watchmaker's when an antiques dealer came in with a mixed bag of old watches. A 1960s Poljot caught my eye so I asked for a closer look. The dial suggested something like a 2409, but the case was too thick. It didn't match any 'Poljot'-branded watch that I knew. The dealer went to get some money, leaving the stack of watches for the watchmaker to look over. The watchmaker opened up the Poljot and we looked inside it. Then he gave his opinion that the dial was the original for this case, which surprised me. The dealer returned and accepted $20 for the watch and I took it away, very happy. I'll be getting it serviced fairly soon.

So here it is. The dial look to be a typical early 1960s Poljot for export.

The words "MADE IN USSR" can barely be read beneath the 6. Probably a good thing on certain markets. The Deco numbers are interesting, and the lumed second hand is rare for this vintage, but the lume dots on the even numbers only is kind of wierd.

The back is the usual export item.

My guess is that the "FOREIGN" stamp was probably added upon entry to the UK.

Now here was the drawcard for me; the 17 jewel Sportivnie movement with hacking function.


The Sportivnie was manufactured until 1962, so the stock of cases and movements would have been used up shortly after, and besides, the 'Foreign' stamp marks it as being sold in the UK, so it must pre-date the launch of Sekonda in 1966. When did they stop using date stamps on the civilian movements? After 1959? If everything is original on this watch, then my best guess is that the last of the Sportivnies were used to broaden the product range for 1st Moscow Watch Factory's early 1960s export push. 'Poljot' brand was only adopted on all their watches on the domestic market from 1964, however it is likely to have been used fairly widely for export prior to that in preference to more Russian-sounding names like Vympel, Kirovskie and Sportivnie.

[3Dials]

Beautiful watch and pictures- thanks for sharing your story. :)

[dedatos]

Dear Chascomm,
Yr puzzle is difficult to answer. My only contribution can be on the matter of latest stamped mechanisms and this again in terms of statistical occurance only; Out of my 11 stamped POBEDAS 1My3, the latest stamped date is that of 1-57 while out of my 7 Sportivnie, one only has a stamped date dating from 1-57 too. So most probably 1My3 has stopped stamping dates somewhere 1967-68.
Now, I have a POLJOT/16j kirovskie mechanism with 'made in ussr' inscription. Given the fact kirovskies were suposed to be discontinued at 1961, this is again a paradox that can be explained by the fact POLJOT was trade-marked for exports earlier than the day it was Branded as factory. In any case, it is known that poljot watches have circulated in ussr earlier than the Brandification of 1My3 as POLJOT. This has hapened on the occasion of first space flights before gagarin (Laika , sputnik) and the Poljot lettering was calligraphic with a rocket tail around poljot. So these were Poljots-1My3 before Poljot! (same has happened with boctoks to a lesser degree)
dedatos
I have Mos

[Chascomm]

Dear Chascomm,
Yr puzzle is difficult to answer. My only contribution can be on the matter of latest stamped mechanisms and this again in terms of statistical occurance only; Out of my 11 stamped POBEDAS 1My3, the latest stamped date is that of 1-57 while out of my 7 Sportivnie, one only has a stamped date dating from 1-57 too. So most probably 1My3 has stopped stamping dates somewhere 1967-68.
Now, I have a POLJOT/16j kirovskie mechanism with 'made in ussr' inscription. Given the fact kirovskies were suposed to be discontinued at 1961, this is again a paradox that can be explained by the fact POLJOT was trade-marked for exports earlier than the day it was Branded as factory. In any case, it is known that poljot watches have circulated in ussr earlier than the Brandification of 1My3 as POLJOT. This has hapened on the occasion of first space flights before gagarin (Laika , sputnik) and the Poljot lettering was calligraphic with a rocket tail around poljot. So these were Poljots-1My3 before Poljot! (same has happened with boctoks to a lesser degree)
dedatos
I have Mos

I think we're close to the answer now.

Max Cutmore in 'Watches 1850-1980' quotes the Horological Journal, February 1960, re the Soviet watch industry:
"In 1956 there were a few exports to India, Siam, Indonesia, China, Poland and Czechoslovakia and in 1960 exports to Western Europe started."

The Horological Journal is published by the British Horological Institute.

Cutmore continues:
"All the models were initially 10 1/2 ligne size with various amounts of jewelling but later other sizes were produced. Although the brand name 'Sekonda' was used there are several movement names including Poljot, Wostok, and Zarja"

His footnotes indicate the Horological Journal, June 1960, October 1966 and September 1968, so we can infer that the Sekonda reference is probably from the Oct 1966.

But here is the most interesting bit:
"The 1961 Bestfit lists those available in America as Pobeda, Kirovskie, Moskva, Sport, Start and Era."

Bestfit is a watch parts catalogue, so my guess is that the above sentence refers to movements, not watches. Were these movements intended as replacement parts for complete Soviet watches with Soviet brands sold on the North American market, or were these movements used in locally built or branded watches?

The answer to this might shed some light on watches sold in the UK prior to Sekonda (1966), such as my Poljot.