This Slava 2428 is a manual wind watch, with a central sweep seconds hand, a weekday and date calendar and a quick date change pusher at 2 o'clock. It has nice sparkly bar hour markers. The watch is a current Russian version of the Slava 2428 -- somewhat de-jewelled -- with the jewel count reduced to 21. I think it used to be more jewels, probably 26 if memory serves.
Note the characteristic Slava pip (this time it's a red square) seconds hand. The case is brass with some kind of coating which is very durable -- much more durable than chrome plating.
It is an affordable watch, cost me the equivalent of US$25 when I bought in February 2012. It was not very well set at the factory because it is consistently running at +46 seconds per 24 hours but I never bothered to adjust it better.
Slava movements are known for their "poor man's hack" -- if you turn the crown clockwise as if to move the hands backwards it is possible to stop the seconds hand (and therefore the movement) altogether by maintaining a slight effort on the crown, although it is a non-hacking movement, which could be useful if you wanted or had to set the time very precisely.
The caseback with nothing on it, except some number, not a serial number but some kind of identification number which should be used in conjunction with the precise date of manufacture and not by itself, as a fully functional serial number would be, as per tradition in Soviet and Russian watchmaking.
Calendar issues
Recently - a week or so ago - almost two years after I bought it -- the watch developed a calendar trouble. One day, out of the blue, the date refused to change. Now it does not change automatically, and it cannot be changed by either advancing the hands or using the dedicated date-change pusher at 2 o'clock. I am sure it is something completely repairable but I would not undertake any repairs myself and it is impractical to go to a watchmaker. The weekday continues to change as if nothing were wrong with the calendar.
Generally speaking calender issues with current Slava model is something of a recurrent theme. I have no fewer than 3 current Slava models that either developed, or had from the outset, some calendar troubles. I may even do a post on it on this blog in the future. I wonder if the reduced jewel count has something to do with it. To be fair, this one had this problem only after the two years of use and daily winding so may be it just needs some cleaning and oiling.
The movement. What do we see here? No markings of any sort - a late Russian era movement, the balance wheel is not yellow in color. But I like the movement even in this version. I think it is a neat clean movement and pretty reliable too (barring calendar problems). You can see a large balance wheel, a large center seconds wheel under a large bridge and, last but not least, the twin mainspring barrels which utilize the remaining space "under the hood" most efficiently.
More pictures below.
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