[michele]

Re: Clearance on Poljot, Volmax, Vostok Europe, ...some Russian watch brands & UFOs

Thank you very much, Irina. The mystery about several recent watches is resolved. Hovewer, i still wonder who is the producer of those watches. I'm thinking to buy an Aeronavgator (not from Levenberg though) and i wonder who is the producer.
Also, is this an official Poljot watch?

 

[michele]

Re: Clearance on Poljot, Volmax, Vostok Europe, ...some Russian watch brands & UFOs

<The mystery about the producer(s) of some recent watches cannot be officially resolved as I can´t make any official statement about it. There is/are no official producer/s and any inofficial information must be handled very carefully. In any case in some of those watches old / not regulated / partly used /,etc. movements are used and definitely not all watch parts are of good quality. However I offer some more information that might help.
First: Aeronavigator is not an official Poljot watch.
Second: here is the list of the most known watches that have nothing to do with Poljot or Volmax production (there are certainly not all watches listed)
---------
Pilot
Avia Classic
Kirov with the case other than 650 (Example of the 650 case see:http://www.aviator-buran.com/Buran/2614.html)
Poljarnik
Moscow Classic
Sturmovik
Amfibia (Molnija movement)
Aeronavigator>

This is a bad new, because i have ordered an Aeronavigator just yesterday :-( Anyway, it seems a quite nice watch, and that Molnija caliber seems of good quality - all in all, it is a Russian watch at least for 60%, justy like an Hamilton (that produces the cases in China).
The problem is that there are new watches with Poljot brand (like the one that i have posted) but i'm not sure that they effectively comes from the First Moscow Watch Factory :-S But the production of consumer goods in the world is now so fragmented that you can have a Chinese case, a Swiss or Russian movement, an Italian strap , and it's very hard to understand what is around us. :-S

<The Inhorgenta was a good success for us. It was a very intensive and interesting period of time. It is always good to see that the work we do is appreciated by people and a lot of positive feedback is coming. We organized participation at the fair and our producers and also the distributor from Poland worked all together at the Fair. Very good working atmosphere in our booth and success on the business side.
Red Squary - a very very positive response. My first reaction when I took the ready watch in the hand was a real astonishment. It is solid stainless steel, it is very big, heavy, but anyway elegant and really unusual. Everybody liked it.

I agree, it's a very nice watch. I like it a lot although i usually don't like square or rectangular cases.
I own a Vostok N1 Rocket (black case) since one month, and i think that it worthy of a great success, it's full of personality :-! The only thing that i don't like, is the lack of the quick setting for the date window, that is a feature that must be added to attract more customers.

The Raketa factory (located in Petrodvoretz city near St. Petersburg)) stopped production of movements about 10 years ago. The factory was sold out to one of new-Russian financial groups who were mostly interested in buildings of the factory than in production of something. Nevertheless, there was thousands of movements in the stock of the factory and they used these movements for making cheap watches with Chinese cases and dials. Now they just order complete watches from China with Raketa brand.
To be honest Raketa calibers were most reliable wrist-winding movements from all Soviet movements 20 years ago (including Poljot 2614)..

As far as i know, Raketa is still in activity, although i guess that now it's quite a small producer quite than a big factory. Their website http://pchz.narod.ru is online since three years , and my sensation (seeing several of their movements) is that they are mixing old-stock movements and new (but cheaper - no anti-shock on the escapement wheel) movements, although always of Russian project (caliber 2609 and derivatives).
The cases of those watches looks of Russian production/design to me (substantially the same of the USSR models, but with lower quality), also because they have still a section for the production of cases according to their website.
I have seen also Raketa-branded automatic watches, and they have totally different cases and movements, being definitely Chinese products.
Some news about Slava? Are they still producing Russian movements, are they definitely switching to Chinese movements, or have they definitely stopped the production?
I understand that it's a lot of questions :-D

 

[michele]

Re: Clearance on Poljot, Volmax, Vostok Europe, ...some Russian watch brands & UFOs

Message by Norman F (moved from other thread)

I decided in the end to get the Aviator IL2 from Poljot4u.com over the Aeronavigator I was considering since its there's a legitimate brand label and its a real Poljot as opposed to the pseudo-Poljots you've listed. There may be nothing wrong with them in quality terms but it seems to me that a Russian company would want to stand behind them. Sure, I'm paying more but I intend to back a legitimate Russian watch company. Not all is lost; Poljot.com as I mentioned on my own thread here, is opening their own e-store at the end of the month. Its been a chaotic time in Russia but things are finally beginning to take on a shape. And the good brands will survive on their reputation and through authorized sellers while the pseudo-Poljots will be principally eBay brands.

 

[michele]

Re: Clearance on Poljot, Volmax, Vostok Europe, ...some Russian watch brands & UFOs

Message by Norman F (moved from other thread)

I decided in the end to get the Aviator IL2 from Poljot4u.com over the Aeronavigator I was considering since its there's a legitimate brand label and its a real Poljot as opposed to the pseudo-Poljots you've listed. There may be nothing wrong with them in quality terms but it seems to me that a Russian company would want to stand behind them. Sure, I'm paying more but I intend to back a legitimate Russian watch company. Not all is lost; Poljot.com as I mentioned on my own thread here, is opening their own e-store at the end of the month. Its been a chaotic time in Russia but things are finally beginning to take on a shape. And the good brands will survive on their reputation and through authorized sellers while the pseudo-Poljots will be principally eBay brands.

As already said, there isn't a watch less or more "legitimate".
BOTH the watches are theorically "pseudo-Poljots" or "substantially Poljot".
None of them can use the Poljot brand (at least until somebody will definitely buy the Poljot name), both are made by the Poljot's crew, and the fact that they choose different ways of distribution is not important for me (don't forget that ALL the recent Poljots produced in the last years, included some very collectable models like the Okeah, were sold and distributed on Internet and on Ebay).
Oh, anyway, i would prefer that all those watches -Volmax, Moscow Classic, Denissov etc.etc.)- were ALL marketed again with Poljot brand like before. ;-)

 

[michele]

Re: Poljot-Trade

Very interesting situation with Poljot-Trade, based on what you have uncovered with purchases and research (Thanks Michele; we're all glad that it's your cash on the line :-D )

I would guess the Poljot-Trade really is purely a trade company ordering OEM watches from wherever they can get the style that they're looking for (i.e. mostly the old Poljot-Aviator style), hence some watches that appear to be assembled from surplus 1st Moscow parts stocks, as well as those (probably Million Smart) Chinese models that provide an affordable automatic for their product range.

Really they are creating a mine-field for their customers. If I'm looking for an authentic Russian watch, how do I know what I'm getting? If I buy the hand-wind, it's 100% Russian made, but the almost identical automatic is Chinese with a Japanese/Chinese movement O|

The other problem is that the uncertain origins of Poljot Trade's watches cast a shadow over the whole industry.

It must be very interesting working in the old 1st Moscow Watch Factory, with half the tenants approved by the watch industry association, and others definitely not approved. Hopefully the landlord doesn't have to employ security guards to break up the fights :-D (just kidding)

I always prefer to see the substance with my eyes, and definitely i know if some watch is worthy of some expenses ;-) Definitely i don't regret to have bought those watches.
In my opinion, the situation is even more complex than our thoughts. If you look on the catalogue of Poljot Trade (www.poljot-trade.ru ) you will see also a lot of Poljot models, with Poljot name and with Poljot movement, exactly the same models produced some time ago by Poljot!

My opinion is that all the new companies took a part of the old production lines. Or there is a central production and the distribution is assigned to different companies. Oh, and i'm not yet sure that Poljot Trade produces the Aeronavigator and Pilot chronographs ;-)
I have sent an e-mail to one of those companies, in order to obtain direct informations. Hoping that they will reply. :-D