Raketa Hydrofoil Boat Cruise August 2014

In more detail here - Moscow River Cruise

WUS Thread: 293 Years of PChZ Exhibition

Raketa watches...

293 Years of PChZ Exhibition -- link to WUS thread containing a link to pictures from the exhibition.

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Moscow River Cruise

A river cruise on a Raketa: the North River Terminal -- the Bay of Happiness -- the North River Terminal.

On August 9, 2014. Weather: +28C, sunny.

Approaching the North River Terminal.

The North River Terminal in Moscow.

It appears to be under some heavy repairs...

... or maybe even beyond repair.

On the embankment. 

Ticket for the cruise on a Raketa.

Quay No. 6.

A view across the water.

The ticket, reverse side.

Quay No. 7 - ours. The Raketa is going to dock here soon.

There she is!

She is coming in to dock.

The Raketa 185 is docked, all aboard. By the way, Raketa 185 is one of only 7 Raketas remaining in operation in Russia (apparently) and one of only three in Moscow. It is 40+ years old, definitely. Still going strong.

Some other river cruise ship.

She is leaving before we do.

My Okeah chronograph -- Ocean on the River so to speak.

St. Petersburg Watchmaker Counters Sanctions by Refusing to Sell Abroad | The St. Petersburg Times

St. Petersburg Watchmaker Counters Sanctions by Refusing to Sell Abroad (link to source)

Turns out M.  Jacques von Polier of the Raketa Watch Factory is a patriot.

Russia's oldest and largest mechanical watchmaker says it will stop selling its most prestigious self-winding watches abroad as long as the "decadent" West continues to impose "unfair" sanctions over Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

Jacques von Polier, the French CEO of the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in St. Petersburg, said the company will refrain from selling to foreign retailers its upmarket Avtomat (Automatic) watches, which use the wearer's wrist movement to wind automatically.

"The sanctions are totally unfair. The world wants to make Russia the only guilty country in the Ukraine conflict, but the situation is not simply black-and-white. The sanctions are pouring oil on the fire," he told The St. Petersburg Times on Monday.

No more Raketa watches for the decadent West

The company, famous for its nostalgic Soviet-style Raketa (Rocket) and Pobeda (Victory) brands, said in a recent press release that it had decided to "answer to the decadent Western countries" because "workers of the factory are shocked by these rude and unfair sanctions."

Von Polier, who has been trying to restore the aging factory's Soviet prestige since joining in 2009, said the refusal to sell the Avtomat watches, which can retail for more than $1,000, would have little effect on his business. Indeed, for the Russia-focused company, the move is a nifty piece of PR.

"There is so much demand in Russia that we don't need Western markets"

"There is so much demand in Russia that we don't need Western markets," he said, adding that the measure is at least partially a marketing gimmick to jump on a groundswell of patriotism in Russia as the country's standoff with the West continues.

Marketing opportunities

Petrodvorets seized the marketing opportunity early. Around the time of the annexation, it released a special-edition "Crimea Victory 2014" watch, which had originally been intended to commemorate 70 years since the peninsula's liberation from the Nazis in World War II.

Von Polier, whose great-grandmother was born in Crimea, said by phone that "for me, Crimea has always been Russian."

Petrodvorets also said it was recommending a law to Russia's parliament to forbid state officials from buying Western-brand watches as presents for employees and associates.

Petrodvorets is Russia's only producer of a complete mechanical watch movement, and Von Polier said it would continue to sell parts — specifically, springs and escapements — to watchmakers in Switzerland to fulfill demand after Swatch Group announced it would stop selling movements to competing brands.

"We are proud that we are one of only four or five manufacturers in the world that can produce such movements," he said.

The same article in the "Moscow" Times. 

Russian Watches in Pictures

Some Soviet and Russian watches in nice pictures.

Zaria

Vostok Amphibia "Ministry" or "barrel" case

Raketa Automatic

Gagarin's Sturmanskie watch -- first watch in space!

Raketa Kopernik - Copernicus

Luch Quartz

Raketa Quartz Medical - Pulsometer

Raketa for the blind

Raketa Perpetual Calendar (perpetual is 20 years)

Pobeda ZiM Troika

Zaria 3105.01 Moonphase -- a newer Russian watch (but already out of production)

First New Raketa Automatic Bought!

 Not by me though.

A forumer on WRU (watch.ru Russian watch forum) has just bought one of the first Raketas Automatique -- Raketa Avtomat. Could even be a pre-production piece?

Here is the link to the forum post [in Russian], registration may be required to view pictures (not sure about this).

Picture courtesy DenisDevyatkin

I think the movement is the new Raketa 2615 movement, decorated

Raketa Basel World Expo 2014 Presentation

A catalog/presentation by the Raketa Factory, Petrozavodsk, Russia, at Baselworld 2014.

Raketa was not an exhibitor at BaselWorld 2014. But they did make this presentation.

RAKETA BASELWORLD 2014 (link) -- at the Raketa site. In the public domain.

Contents

• Raketa's stars in Basel Marina Krylova and Yevgenia Maleva.

• New models: Raketa Avtomat (an automatic Raketa), Raketa Amphibia (a diver's Raketa), Raketa Zvezda (Star), and new Pobeda re-issues by Raketa.

• New movements: Raketa Avtomat, Raketa 2609 with some decoration, I expect (and hope) this movement will be in the new Pobedas, Raketa 2623.

The Return of Pobeda?

As was noted elsewhere, the legendary Soviet Pobeda wristwatch may be about to make a comeback.

The new (so-called) Raketa may have purchased rights to the Pobeda brand and says it is preparing a run of Pobeda watches for the year 2015, promising to make the first ones available some time in 2014.

They even went so far as to set up a dedicated website, even though not everything works on it, and you can't find the new Pobeda watches on sale yet.

Link to the website: New Pobeda by Raketa

Personally I am not convinced. For one thing, I don't see Pobeda wristwatches without the cal. 2602 movement. Secondly, even though it was once the most widely produced Soviet and then Russian movement, it still is more technically complex and more difficult to make than the simple Raketa calibers, such as the cal. 2609. Then there is also the issue of the sub-dial second hand which is not offered by any of the current Raketa movements.

For this reason, I fear this will be a failure and an insult to the image and memory of the true Pobeda. But we shall see. In the meantime, I am going to stick to late-period Pobedas by ZiM -- my favorites.  

The New Raketa Automatic?

 First the Raketa Amphibian and now the Raketa Automatic.

Apparently Raketa Watches sent a letter to some members of a Russian watch forum (watch.ru), in which it told them about their forthcoming new Raketa Automatic with pictures, including an advertising poster for the new watch due to go on sale early 2014. Here are those pictures. 

Nice touch. Unless, of course, it is another attempt at free Taliban (i.e. guerrilla) advertising by the Raketa company.

Personally, I miss the Raketa of old - before von Polier - with watches priced at $30 - $40 with a wide variety of dials. 

Is This the New Raketa Amphibian?

About a week back a French watch forum did an exclusive with pictures on the new Raketa Amphibia, automatic, with Raketa 2615 movement.

Link: Alexander B. Brodnikovsky's Collection of Raketa Watches and Clocks

In this thread in Russian on Watch.ru, a Russian watch forum, you can have a good look at Alexander B. Brodnikovsky's collection of Raketa watches and clocks as it was displayed recently on the occasion of the 292nd anniversary of the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, the maker of Raketa watches. 

Alexander B. Brodnikovsky's collection is probably the largest collection of Raketa watches anywhere in the world. 

I especially recommend these posts -- where the pictures are:

Post # 10 

Post # 11 

Post # 31 

Post # 39 

Raketa Early Bitcoin Adopter

It appears that Russian watch manufacturer Raketa is an early adopter of Bitcoin currency and may even be the first watch company in the world to do so according this Bitcoin gets big bets from tech industry.

Quote:

While it's unclear whether regulators will sign off on the untested concept, Bitcoin is increasingly finding favour with merchants that range from blogging site Reddit to watch manufacturer Raketa.