More Slava 2428

The only Slava watch that I currently wear in rotation with my other affordable timepieces is this Slava cal. 2428.

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.

Molnija Pocket Watch OBL Dial

And now for something slightly controversial (maybe not, it is just a watch).

From my collection comes this Molnija (read: Mol-nee-yah) pocket watch with none other than Osama Bin Laden on the dial.

The greenish dial shows Osama Bin Laden and an American flag under him at 6 o'clock where the small seconds hand is.

But there is more. As you can see for yourself the Al-Qaeda leader appears to be in cross-hairs or something. So what is the message that the watch tries to convey? Probably none. Or to each his own.

And the American flag detail at 6 o'clock.

Molnija pocket watches are powered with the cal. 3602 (or 3603) Molnija movement, a large pocket-watch movement, related to, and derived from, premium European movements of the early 20th century.

Movement shots.

The movement has yellow (brass?) plates -- such movements were made in the 2000s, but with markings. There's some number, it is some kind of movement identification number but not a serial number, RU for Russia, the caliber designation - 3602 and a Molnija watch factory logo next to it. 

For a much bigger picture of the movement, try this link. 

As I was preparing to make this post to this blog I thought it would be interesting to do a little Internet research to see (i) if I could find other mentions of this watch on the world wide web and (ii) if there were any other watches featuring Osama Bin Laden.

About a year ago I already found a picture of the same watch, that is with the same dial but in a different Molnija case -- the one with the upper lid / duster -- a hunter case. It was being sold on ebay and I was able to find the lot again because I bookmarked it at the time. But strangely the picture of the dial with Osama on it has in the meantime disappeared although the picture of the back remains. On the other hand I found out that this watch got a mention in a 2002 Reuters report as printed (or just posted online) by the Daily Times of  Pakistan -- information that can be useful in dating the watch. My guess therefore is the watch was made before, or early in, 2002 but after 9/11 2001.

Here is what the report says.

Watch featuring Osama bin Laden

A Russian-made pocket watch featuring Osama bin Laden and an American flag is displayed in front of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The pocket watch was selling for about $25 along the Sino-Russian border days before the first anniversary of 9/11. —Reuters

And there is this picture.

Same watch from the year 2002 but in different colors, the dial appears to be white, the hands gold-toned, Osama Bin Laden very much the same.

The Reuters report fails to mention the target signs on OBL though (and I can see why it would fail to mention that). 

I also saw that Osama Bin Laden had made it to the dial of at least one other watch. Chinese watches named for some reason Nanci (?) have a line of watches with portraits of (in)famous people on the dial - Che Guevara, Marilyn Monroe, etc. and Osama bin Laden is also there.

Slava 2428 Day-Date Handwind

Another watch from my collection is this Slava utilizing the Slava 2428 movement in its current Russian version with 21 jewels only. It has a centrally mounted seconds hand, a day and date calendar, a quick date change pusher and only manual winding.

I have had it since January 2012, wore it for some time after I bought it, even grew to like it, then rotated it out of my wind-and-wear daily set (of about 8-9 watches) due to new arrivals competing for wrist time and retired it to rest among my "collection" pieces. It didn't cost me too much money yet was not that cheap either, I think about US$70 bought new from a Slava store here in Moscow.

It has some interesting, though simple, features both case-wise and movement-wise.

The dial is chrome-toned to match its brass chrome-plated case and has some kind of an embossed motif showing a large Cyrillic letter C (corresponds to the Latin S) which stands for Slava and some kind of a rising sun pattern. Other than that there is nothing remarkable.

One of the mildly interesting features is that it has an exhibition snap-on back which I think is a rare combination because exhibition case backs tend to be screw-on case backs. You can even see some of the rather plain and undecorated movement. In fact, you can see most of it, devoid of color as it is. Still a great but dying-out movement surviving on existing and already growing old and depleting inventories.

What you can also see through said exhibition case back is Slava's famous twin mainspring barrels - an uncommon feature, especially in cheaper watches, which allows one to easily identify Slava movements.