Soviet craftsmanship

C

Cypress

Well-known member
A lady at work recently gave me a 1955-vintage Soviet watch as a present.
I had no idea that there was a cult market out there for Soviet vintage watches.
Or that people who really know about watches consider the old, vintage Soviet era wrist watches to be on a par with Swiss quality - at about a tenth of the price.

Wrapping up, my vintage Soviet watch is beautiful and is keeping absolutely meticulous time, comrades!

Mechanical Movements of the Cold War: How the Soviets Revolutionized Wristwatches

Though it’s hard to believe, there once was a time when workers in the Rust Belt were delighted to have their jobs—and themselves—shipped overseas. Shortly after the stock market crash of 1929, the Soviet Union purchased a bankrupt watch manufacturer in Ohio and moved the business halfway across the globe to Moscow, employees and all. The international maneuver wasn’t viewed as a competitive threat to American industry—after all, the company’s products were already outdated and the recently established Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) lacked any prior watchmaking culture. Yet within a couple of decades, the Soviets had transformed this single workshop into one of the world’s top watchmaking centers, second only to the venerable Swiss enterprise.

continued https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-the-soviets-revolutionized-wristwatches/
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guno said:
I collect soviet era watches and military medals

their engineering was top notch
Click to expand...

There is really a niche market for Soviet era kitsch. But, as you say, some Soviet engineering was top notch. Even if they totally lagged in a lot of other areas of consumer products.
I saw a documentary recently where some NASA engineers were interviewed. The US government had purchased some vintage Russian rockets, and the NASA engineers were totally surprised and taken aback at the quality of rocket design and engineering, which is some cases was light years ahead of what vintage American rockets were capable of.
 
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