Amazing Electronika Watches Collection

Here is an amazing collection of Elektronika watches by a forumer from watch.ru forum.

In a box...

1996 Electronika 01 Quasar Clock

Here is my Electronika 01 Quasar Clock bought as new in 1996 but no longer used.

The clock is still in working order and I even managed to set the time and make it run without an instruction manual which has long been misplaced.

The clock has an alarm and shows current times in two modes - hours and minutes and minutes and seconds.

Powered from the mains 220 V.

Time indication is a nice green hue but not very bright; it's possible that the vacuum display has degraded a bit after 20 years.

The rest is in the video.

But the video is in Russian, so here's a little re-cap.

First, I introduce the clock saying that it is a 1996 electronic clock.

Then I power it - my 2008 ford focus has a 220 V outlet in the back of the center console.

After that I try to figure out how to set the time and make it run and I eventually succeed.

The clock is fully operational after 20 years.

Electronika 77(A) х 3

Three Electronika 77A watches.

Two of them are Electronika 77A (with the "A") and are more recent, one chrome plated, the other yellow to resemble "gold-plating".

And the third one is an Electronika 77 (without the "A") and is older and rarer and was already mentioned in this entry on the blog.

 

Batteries are now replaced in all three, you can see the process in the latter half of the video.

Since the video is in Russian, here is a recap in English.

The three watches are Electronika 77s being clones of the 1970-80s Hong Kong Kessel/Montana watches, the latter still existing today in a cheap China version.

They show time, date, day of the week, have an alarm and a timer and also play seven tone melodies, I think, some American classics from the late 19th century (Yankee Doodle is there apparently).

Then I show how I replaced the batteries and set the time.

My Summer Choice: Electronika 53V

The summer of 2016 has been very hot and humid in Moscow so far.

The temperature has been hovering around plus 30 degrees Celsius for much of the summer, only today it is a bit cooler but still a respectable +25 C.  

This kind of weather wreaks havoc on leather straps as you are permanently sticky so my watch choice under the circumstances is my Electronika 53V old school digital watch already catalogued on this blog.

The plastic strap on this model is not the easiest thing to use but I think I can just cope with it.

And the photo video below shows how I once performed a battery replacement job on it.

In fact it is still running on the same battery.

HoroLex: Лето. Жара. Электроника 53В: Мой летний выбор - Электроника 53В . Помучился с пластмассовым браслетом, но вроде приноровился. Часы на ремнях берегу на зиму, в ...

Electronika 5 29367

Electronika 5 29367 digital watch ca. 2000.
Has an alarm signal, an hourly chime and also plays two melodies - Turkish March by Mozart and A. Griboedov's Waltz, the latter being available also in a truncated form for use as an hourly signal on the hour.

They don't make them like that anymore.

VreMax: Electronika x 8

Fixed photos in this post as they were no shows.

VreMax: Electronika: Some of my Electronika watches from Belarus. Not all of them, mind you, only 8 - a small part of my collection of Electronika watches, only...

Now all are visible again.

Some of my Electronika watches from Belarus. Not all of them, mind you, only 8 - a small part of my collection of Electronika watches, only those that I bothered to fit with bracelets. Bracelets are both Chinese stainless steel and Vitebsk bracelets (not ss). 

What have we here. Actually, Electronika ChN-54, Electronika 77A chrome and gold-toned, ChN-04, ChN-01, Electronika ChN-55, Electronika 5 and Kamerton 65. 

For a bigger picture, click this link, when picture opens click once more on photo for a still bigger picture.

Old-school electronic watches is what I like and am going to do a series of posts on them soon.

Electronika 53V x 2

An Electronika 53V old-school electronic watch from my collection.

The letter "V" means it's water resistant.  

In fact, I already mentioned it once on this blog in this post: Summer mode.

And now a more detailed entry with photos... photos may be a bit dark but they are all I've got.

I have two of them. 

One of them has a characteristic plastic strap attached -- I am not sure it is a good idea to dis-attach it ever again (for instance, to facilitate battery replacement).  

The other one is separate from the strap yet. 

It is in a little clear plastic bag, plus a manual and the strap which you attach yourself..

The case shows names of the world oceans in Russian. 

It also says "water impervious" but the Electronika 53V is by no means a diver's watch, more like 30 atm protection, that is, against splashes, maybe, some running water.

The reverse side. 

No openings on the back side.

You do everything through the "face", such as battery replacement which I am going to show in photos now.

My Electronika 53V x 2 Old-School Digital Watch

Electronika 53V / Электроника 53В

Electronika 5B6-204A

In addition to affordable mechanical watches, cars, radios, etc., I am also into old-school electronic watches and here is a 1984 Electronika 5B6-204A (5Б6-204А) old-school electronic watch from my collection.

Made in 1984 bought in 1985.

If I remember correctly it was me who dropped it and cracked the face glass.

Quality sign on the back.

One of a succession of early Electronika 5 watch models, this Electronika 5B6-204A is also known as the Electronika 30351A.

Electronika 77

Electronika 77, a Belorussian post-USSR electronic watch.

This one is Electronika 77 and not the Electronika 77A, that is without the "A". But there is no difference function-wise.

It is made by the Minsk Electronika plant.

The Electronika 77 (without the "A") is much rarer than the one with the "A". So it's a rarity of sorts.

The watch is a clone of the 1980s Hong Kong electronic watch called for some reason Montana, known in some parts of the world and maybe still in production but in a much cheaper mainland China version. 

Technical specs [in Russian].

The manual below works with it.

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.

Integral ChN-03 Electronic Watch

Here comes an INTEGRAL ChN-03/1.9, an old-school electronic watch from my collection, made by the Kamerton Factory located in a town called Pinsk in Belarus.

 

This one was manufactured as far back as in 2002. Of all the ChH-0Xs, the ChN-03 is the rarest. I have seen it in the flesh only once -- when I was buying it.

Maybe, it is not much to look at and has a usual array of features: normal time mode - seconds, minutes, hours, calendar - month, day, date, year; stopwatch; backlight; 12/24 time display mode; hourly signal, automatic correction; automatic winter-summer time change (can be turned off); and some basic melodies.

Special feature: five (!) daily alarms, independent of one another.  

Video in Russian.

Leader 10 Digital Wristwatch

A Leader 10 old-school digital watch from Belarus... Actually it's from my collection but is made in Belarus by the Kamerton factory located in the city of Pinsk. In fact, it is none other than the Electronika 5-29367 in disguise, i.e. with a new name and on a wrist strap, whereas straightforward Electronikas were mainly attached to bracelets, stainless steel or not so stainless.

There is also a video review available on my channel.

So, Leader 10 (Лидер 10), bought by me for my collection for RUB 400 which is about US$13 in the month of February in 2012 -- almost two years back. 
 

It shows time -- hours, minutes and seconds, date, weekday, has a stopwatch, an alarm, an hourly chime/signal, plays two simple melodies which can also be used to sound the alarm or, somewhat truncated, for the hourly signal. 

Some interesting points about this watch. You can turn off display indication -- you use button one (upper right), press and hold for two seconds -- with the display turned off the watch continues to work, the hourly chime and the alarm are sounded if turned on. This function harkens back to the early days of digital watches when, in fact, you had to press a button to bring up time indication. No Casios or Seikos have anything similar. Apparently this function allows you to conserve some power and make the battery serve longer. As far as I know no-one has yet tested how effective this function is. But it is a thirsty watch; it likes its (electrical) juice and is the fastest to drain the battery of all Electronika watches in my collection, usually in about a year, faster with chimes and alarms on.

Also interesting is that many operating modes and functions in this watch are activated not just by pressing buttons but by pressing and HOLDING them for 2 seconds.

The watch uses a curious method for turning on the hourly signal -- you just press button three (just pressing not holding this time) (lower left) and the indication switches between showing seconds and the date. When the date is shown on the display in normal time mode, the hourly signal is off, but when the seconds are on the display, the hourly signal is on. The hourly signal can just be a beep sequence or an initial fragment of one of the two melodies that the watch can play.

It so happens that the battery has run flat and it's now time for a battery replacement job. The back is a snap-on (pressed) back, you pry it open gently with something, like, a screwdriver or a pocket knife blade.

Under the upper case back there is another flat back which is pressed on by the upper case back to the module and holds it where it should be in the watch. Underneath is some sort of a basic rubber seal. 

The battery is in its place, just move the contact leaf away to get it out or to install a new one, no need to remove the little screw.