International Man: World's 1000+ Watch Brands and Whatchmakers A to Z

World's 1160 Best Top Watch Brands and Watchmakers A to Z


Over 1000 watch brands on the International Man website, with links to websites or points of sale, some of which even work.


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Electronika 5 29367 Electronic Watch

Another Electronika 5 29367 watch from my collection though this time not as Leader 10.

Electronikas are electronic -- or digital -- watches made in the USSR in 1970s-80s and then in the Republic of Belarus until about 2009. In essence, they are old-school electronic watches, although some are more advanced than others though they never go into Casio's territory for better or for worse. But some models have features that even Casio has never had (I think) such as both automatic and manual accuracy correction. 

This watch is my Electronika 5 29367 made in 2000. Bought much later as a NOS specimen. Still working fine. The Electronika 5 29367 is probably the longest produced model -- from the 1980s right up to 2009. Photos are clickable. 

And as luck would have it, it is time to replace the battery (and look at the innards). 

The bracelet is made by the Vitebsk Instrument Making Plant.

It has the picture of a horse on the face -- perfect for the Year of the Horse.

As to detailed specs and watch controls you can find them in the manual (see below) in Russian.

Here I would like to note only two interesting features. First, you can turn the display off by pressing and holding for 2 sec button one (upper right). When the display is turned off, data are preserved and the watch continues to keep time and all functions continue to work. Second, there is an easy and convenient way to turn on the hourly signal (or chime) simply by pressing button 3 (lower left). 

The back can be easily removed by prying it open gently. 

Under it, there is another flat back which functions as a resonator, remove it too.

With the old battery.

Fighting Replica Watches With Hidden Laser Images & Nanostructuring via forbes

Fighting Replica Watches With Hidden Laser Images & Nanostructuring via @forbes

New way to protect genuine watches from copying and distinguish them from fakes using laser technology, etc. 

GooBing Detroit

GooBing Detroit

On Detroit and its changes. Urban decay.


I know what it feels like -- I have to fight the weeds, the wood rot and decay at my dacha every year year in year out.

Smithsonian: Pocket Watch Wearable Tech of its Time

The pocket watch was the wearable tech of its time

An article not about the pocket watch per se but about the pocket watch too... and the wristwatch. And about how the pocket watch predated the wristwatch and was, like, a man's watch while wristwatches were strictly for ladies.

Clocks began to transform everyday life as early as the medieval period, when church bells sounded the hours, letting villagers know the pace of the day. But timekeeping began to weave itself into day-to-day life in an entirely new way as clocks became more omnipresent and portable. Affordable pocket watches weren’t common until the 19th century, but once they arrived, they quickly invaded the world of commerce. When you could time your actions with those of a remote trading partner, new styles of just-in-time commerce could emerge.


Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/pocket-watch-was-worlds-first-wearable-tech-game-changer-180951435/#7wr1eDJZmy5UXcEh.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Clocks began to transform everyday life as early as the medieval period, when church bells sounded the hours, letting villagers know the pace of the day. But timekeeping began to weave itself into day-to-day life in an entirely new way as clocks became more omnipresent and portable. Affordable pocket watches weren’t common until the 19th century, but once they arrived, they quickly invaded the world of commerce. When you could time your actions with those of a remote trading partner, new styles of just-in-time commerce could emerge.


Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/pocket-watch-was-worlds-first-wearable-tech-game-changer-180951435/#7wr1eDJZmy5UXcEh.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Yantar 6973 Mechanical Alarm Clock

From my collection is this Yantar mechanical alarm desktop clock.

This Yantar (meaning "amber") is of the 2002 vintage but was bought in 2012 as a NOS specimen in a box and with a manual.

The product lineup in 2002.
 

 No need to call these phones -- the factory is no more.

WUS Thread: New Arrival: Camel Chronograph 3133

New arrival: Camel chronograph 3133.

WatchUseek thread - a Camel 3133 chronograph ca. 1993 bought! Congrats to emoscambio!

Actually I mentioned the Camel Trophy Poljot 3133 once before on this blog in my post on Curiosity 3133. 

Nick Knows: Nick Reviews: Casio CA-53W Calculator Watch

Nick Knows: Nick Reviews: Casio CA-53W Calculator Watch: I like a good bargain. If it's good value, I really can't resist. That's why this was something I really couldn't turn down...

Someone called Nick reviews a Casio CA-53W Calculator watch... which I have too and wrote about in this post.

A Collection of Russian Watches

Another fine collection of Russian and other watches with excellent photography that I found on the net -- Paul Delury's.

Capturing Time: Russian Watches

Also from Paul Delury:

Watch Photo Collections -- Russian and other watches

Watch Photography with Paul Delury, including Photographic Basics.

I am going to study it myself (God knows I need to) and am adding the links to my watch links collection, see the side bar on the right.

Vostok Amphibia Compass Bezel 2007

Another one of my Vostok Amphibia(n)s by the Vostok Chistopol Watch Factory.

With a compass bezel... not everyone likes it but I don't mind it... you can still use it to mark time. It rotates.

This is a Vostok Ampibia wrist watch with a Cal. 2416B automatic movement -- self-winding but can be hand wound as well.

The movement is like this one (but not this decorated version of course).

...

Date of manufacture is marked as 10.07.07 -- tenth day of July in the year of our Lord 2007. 

And it cost me RUB 1,300 in 2007 (US$ 36 at current rates).

I wore it from 2007 to 2011.

Used it often for sauna session - at least once a week, which finally was its undoing. Time keeping became very erratic in 2011, sometimes it would stall for no reason, at other times it would be way too fast -- those sauna sessions, I think, got to it.

So early 2012 I replaced it with this Scuba Dude.  

Wear and tear -- all mine.The thick acrylic (?) crystal can take a lot punishment but it does not go unnoticed.

 

Stainless steel bracelet... of the cheaper variety but serves its purpose. 

Wrist shot.

Back, says water proof 200m, antishock, Amphibia and automatic.

This type of case.

Poljot President 2940 with ST1940 / TY2940 Many Movement Shots (About 30)

My watch Poljot President 2940, which already made an appearance on this blog in this post, is an automatic chronograph.

It is my most worn watch at the moment. I also use the chronograph a lot -- to time certain improving activities.

The stopwatch is actually on now.

I made an educated guess about what movement is inside as it was not stated anywhere in the papers. I was sure that it had an TY2940 aka ST1940 inside -- like this one with 33 jewels (and 33 jewels is not too shabby either).

But it is one thing to deduce even if with certainty and it is quite another thing to see for yourself.

So the back is off and the movement is photographed. Quantity has quality all its own, as the saying goes. In other words, what the photos lack in quality I hope they will compensate by their quantity.

Boy, was I right. It IS the ST1940/TY2940 and a decorated and a polished ST1940 at that. (Chemically) Blued screws are a bonus too. Enjoy.

Watch Your Gum

... or better still swallow your gum yourself.

Modifications of Caliber 3105

Juri Levenberg's German site (and defunct blog) has scans of the caliber 3105 modifications.

Some of which have apparently never seen the light of day.

Well, at least I have never seen them used in any watch. But others did make it, albeit for a short time. 

A base 3105 caliber -- as is known it is the cal. 3133 less the stopwatch and minute counter apparatus.

3105.01 has a moonphase and a moon calendar complication.

Only the date window is at three o'clock in real life.

I am fortunate to have this movement in my Zaria Moonphase 3105.01. It qualifies as a rarity as only two to three thousand were ever made. The movement can also be found in some Volmax watches, in particular certain Buran models.

And now, the caliber 3105.02 - the complication here is a 24-hour scale.

3105.03 with a day/night indicator (and a 24-hour scale?). Seen in some Volmax watches, such as Aviator.

3105.04 -- open heart. Never seen.

This is more or less in the past now.

Watches: Make Mine Small One

An article in the Daily Telegraph on watch sizes. 

Watches: make mine a small one

How big (business)men have small watches... they don't wear socks either. Bye-bye panerai :)

That is if you believe the sentiment expressed...

It starts like this...

Big men wearing small watches can be a truly manly style statement in business – and a quiet status symbol. This was underlined for me recently when meeting some formidable businessmen who have made a serious impact on their industries. Apart from savvy, taste and calm confidence, there’s something distinguished about their style: small, understated wristwatches.

Watch size got completely out of proportion to business attire in line with the economic boom. Post-recession, however, massive watches suddenly looked as incongruous and as brash as 4x4s trekking across the slow traffic plains of the Brompton Cross/ Sloane Square delta. I’m not suggesting we all eBay our Panerais – it’s just a question of a time and a place. And business is where it’s perhaps best to exhibit a certain mutedness.....

Modillion Turns "Dumb" Watch into Smartwatch

Modillion turns any dumb watch into a smartwatch   via @gizmag

A mechanical smartwatch may sound like a contradiction in terms, but a Tel Aviv-based company has come up with a way of making one. Instead of requiring the wholesale replacement of your existing watch, Modillian is a “smart strap” that turns a mechanical or "dumb" wristwatch into a smartwatch by pairing with Android smartphones via Bluetooth...

It's a "smart" watch strap buckle actually. 

Fakewatchbusta

Meet the Anonymous Instagram User Dedicated to Calling Out Rappers with Fake Watches

Funny stuff

Quote.

FakeWatchBusta calls himself “The Horological Batman," a vigilante out there policing these internet streets keeping everyone safe from the scourge that is fake high-end timepieces (“Horology” = the study of watches and keeping time; it comes from the same Greek word from which we get “hour.”) Armed with only an eye for detail and a smartphone, FWB puts anyone flossing a replica watch on blast. He’s had his accounts canceled, legal threats, and a lot of pissed off ballers, but he will not be stopped!

 Thanks also for explaining what horology means. No doubt some get wrong ideas.

Dacha Trophy

Back from my Dacha where I captured this trophy... but only on camera... what is known as the May Beetle (or bug) in Russia and something else elsewhere. 

They flew in yesterday -- must have been having their "flight" -- and were knocking against the lamp on the porch and the lighted windows -- big and crunchy... made tremendous noise crashing into those things so I turned off the light.

It is a large animal.. for a beetle... but not too scary.Check out the "seven leaf" antennas -- it is a male bug.

About to take off -- spreading its wings

When there are a lot of them (like in the past times before pesticides) they are definitely an agricultural pest. But there are not many of them anymore. On the other hand, the fact that there are still some proves it is not too bad with ecology around where my dacha is.

Bonus: my dacha watch and clock -- a Komandirskie and AChS-1V, an aviation clock, used as a desktop clock.