What is the cheapest decently built Russian Watch with a Pilot style?

[milesthng]

I know vostok komandirskies are great value!

I have one on the way to me now but russian watches are so addictive.

I am now into pilot style watches!

Something like these? :/




Airforce style mechanical Russian avia wristwatch Poljot Aviator | eBay

US POLJOT 3133 FLUGKAPITAN Limited Edition russian mechanical pilots chronograph | eBay

ZIM Rare Edition Vintage Russian CCCP SPY Pilot wristwatch. | eBay




Looking for something around those styles! with The best value and quality for russian watches!

I have no knowledge of russian watches apart from the vostok komandirskies so please help and excuse me if i dont know quite abit of stuff :x haha
I am looking for something cheaper as i've been spending way too much on watches! I initially saw these cheap Darch watches but think i can spend more for something with better quality which would last!

Probably happier with a handwinding movement but auto or quartz or anything is great?

so guys.... whats the cheapest Russian pilot watch out there?
In fact it doesn't even have to be russian! It could be german or anything else! (I am abit lost i know)

Thanks!

[sci]

Russian watches are great, no doubt. My daily watch is a Strela 3133 and one of my "special occasion" watches is Poljot-International Strela as well. But if you are looking for a "pilot-style" watch, better turn to German watches. The design of the "Beobachtungsuhr" was defined by Luftwaffe in 1940 to have the best possible readability. The first company to receive the order was A.Lange & Söhne. Of course, the capacity of Lange was not enough to supply the LW, that's why a bit later the order was split between the 5 companies:
A.Lange & Söhne (Germany)
Laco (Germany)
Stowa (Germany)
Wempe (Germany)
IWC (Swiss)
If you want "authentic" pilot's watch, I would advise you not only to turn to Germans, but to one of these 5 (4 Germans) companies, which are the real historical producers of those. The Pforzeihm's Laco have one amazing offer - Miyota based B-Uhr priced around 200EUR:


P.S. From the ones you shown, forget about the ZIM - it's a completely fantasy watch.

P.P.S.
The Russians had also special aviators watches, but the Russian design follows another vision. Here are the recent re-issues of these watches (pictures found in Internet).
From the 50-ties it is 1 gen. Sturmanskie:


From the 60-ties is the Strela chronograph:


and from 80-ties are the Sturmanskie chrono:

[milesthng]

Thnks for the good info and that reply! I've looked at the Laco Miyota before and its a good looking watch! Only thing that turned me away were the green-hued lumed numerals! I dont know why but it bothered me a little!

What about the poljot watches?

[sci]

All the watches I showed (Sturmanskie, Strela) have Poljot origin. The originals of those were produced by Poljot. Today Poljot doesn't exist anymore, most of the re-issues are produced by companies, which could be considered as Poljot offsprings. You can find also original vintage Poljot-produced watch (like 80-ties Sturmanskie), but it would be more fragile compared to modern issue for a daily use. As for the Laco - the green luminous hands and indexes are part of the original design (greenish white). In reality it looks quite good.

[milesthng]

I see! Sorry im so confused! All this time i though poljot was a modern brand name! Also i saw some threads around stating something like the differences between poljot and "pilot" or something?

Is pilot a russian brand as well?

How about this luftwaffe piece?

Luftwaffe military style German vs CCCP WAR2 WW2 watch | eBay

It seems to be vintage but NOS.

Where is the best place to turn to to buy russian watches or german watches and... of all the options you mentioned. such as sturmanskie and strela..

whats the cheapest of the russian watch brands which have a decent pilot styled watch?

[arktika1148]

May be worth a read of these threads

Clarification on Poljot, Volmax, Vostok Europe, ...some Russian watch brands & UFOs

Who is Juri Levenberg?

[sci]

Poljot is one of the brands used by First Moscow Watch Factory. The FMWF is founded in 1930 and existed till 2004. It was also the biggest watch manufacturer in USSR and COMECOM. After the collapse of Poljot, many companies took piece of staff, equipment, brands and image of Poljot. Most notable are:
- Poljot International - a company founded as Poljot representative in Germany. Since 1994 they produce their own models, some of their designs were inherited even from the parent-company Poljot (like the famous Basilika-style watches). PI is operational small manufacturer in Germany, but with real Russian soul.
- Volmax - Owner of the brand Sturmanskie today (acquired from Poljot). They are/were based in the FMWF building with a lot of the Poljot staff. Additionally they make the Aviator and Buran watches. Recently they oriented entirely to Swiss, starting to use Swiss movements and building Swiss Made watches.
- MakTime - It WAS the saver of the Russian watch industry. They employ 200 people from Poljot and bought the equipment to produce the famous Poljot 3133 caliber. I said WAS, because last year they completely stop producing watch movements and release lot from their staff.
- Juri Levenberg - This person is considered "the dark prince of the Russian watchmaking", but honestly I think he did a lot to popularize it. He had close relations to many key players, including the old Poljot factory. He owns the brands "Strela" and "Pilot". Initially the second Strela re-issue from 2004 (the first one was from Poljot-International in 2001) was produced for him from Poljot, afterwards the contract was transferred to MakTime. Today - I don't know. As for "Pilot" - it's not as successful as Strela, but I believe they are good watches. Some consider the choice of the brand misleading, due to similarities to Poljot, but it's a controversial topic.

And as for your e-bay watch - it's completely fake. This was s standard ZIM Pobeda watch (ordinary honest workhorse - never being a military issue and maybe from late 80-ties), which had the dial replaced with this fantasy theme.

[hb5]

This was published by Volmax on the Russian watch forum: "В дальнейшем будем производить часы огр.серий уже на базе "Востока" и одну огр.серию на базе 2612 Полет."

[ObZerver]

In fact it doesn't even have to be russian! It could be german or anything else! (I am abit lost i know)

Thanks!

Why not both - Russian AND German:
Mechanische Uhren: Bei den mechanischen Uhren von Junkers wird neben

Russian Poljot (MakTime) 3133 and 3105 hearths beating strong in German Steel body. All of them Pilot-styled. Best match possible, best of both worlds. No compromise in quality. Assembled in Germany.
Some of them are with gold-plated movements. Most of them are with sapphires.
E.g.


They increased their prices in the last 6 months (the above model was 390 Euro, now it's 550) using the lack of 3133s and 3105s as a reason.
There are also automatics and quartz driven models. Check the above mentioned site.

Just my two cents.