Raketa 24H "Pilot" Pics

18540 Views 43 Replies 24 Participants Last post by robbra, Apr 15, 2010

Sodiac

Discussion Starter · May 22, 2009

6

камрады (which I'm hoping means "Comrades"!):

I was messing around with the камера (camera) and took some photos of my Raketa "Pilot", with its new "CoolWatchStraps" Kevlar-like strap.

The darn strap was nearly as much as the watch at $30.70 with shipping (ouch!), but what price love?!

What do you think?

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1 - 20 of 44 Posts

watch22

· #2 · May 22, 2009

Looks nice.

Is it hard to get used to a 24-hr watch? I'm afraid I'd wake up at 2:00 in the afternoon, have lunch at midnight ....

Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 22, 2009

watch22 said:
Looks nice.

Is it hard to get used to a 24-hr watch? I'm afraid I'd wake up at 2:00 in the afternoon, have lunch at midnight ....

Nah, it's a piece o' cake! First couple of times are weird, but after that, no problemski. I have about half-dozen 24H watches and wear them all the time, and almost always on the weekends.

Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 22, 2009

Dave8 said:
Looks amazing. Can I ask where you purchased the watch from? Thanks.

Zenitar on eBay, $39.00 plus shipping. I bought several watches from him, including 2 other Raketa 24H watches and 2 Raketa 24H pocket watches.

Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 23, 2009

Dave8 said:
Thanks. That strap fits the watch perfectly. Beautiful combo.

Edit: Does this version have lume? Ive read that other 24h Raketa watches don't.

This one has a little bit, like a Komandirskie, it fades pretty quick. About what you'd expect for the price...

Somewhere else

· #6 · May 23, 2009 (Edited)

I'm really curious.

This watch looks brand new.I heard that Raketa went out of business, and was bought by a company that makes inferior watches with Chinese movements under the Raketa name. What type of movement does it have? Any chance of a photo?

BTW, the dial is very nice. One of the best I've ever seen in a 24 hour watch.

Oldheritage

· #7 · May 23, 2009

Well, from what I can gather from their website they still use the same mechanical movements these days. I do know about Slava, they have a Chinese "clone" that indeed makes cheap Chinese watches with the Slava Svozedie (or something like that :roll

branding.

Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 23, 2009

6

Somewhere else said:
I'm really curious.

This watch looks brand new.I heard that Raketa went out of business, and was bought by a company that makes inferior watches with Chinese movements under the Raketa name. What type of movement does it have? Any chance of a photo?

BTW, the dial is very nice. One of the best I've ever seen in a 24 hour watch.

It is brand new, as are all my other Raketas. Here's a photo I just took of the movement, I don't know if it's Russian or not, perhaps a more experienced WUS Russian expert can tell?

And here's a photo of the "lume" from the Raketa 24H Pilot. Note that only the hands have lume, the numbers are illuminated from ambeient lighting:

Here's a photo of the Raketa 24H pocket watch, along with a photo of the pocket watch movement. These were bought brand new also recently from Zenitar:

Here's another Raketa 24H watch. Note the difference in the hands; I've found that the Raketa watches of this style with the "thin" hands are not as accurate as the Raketas with the "thicker" hands, such as the Pilot.

But, they're all just as much fun, and at very low cost!:

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Vaurien

· #9 · May 23, 2009 (Edited)

Oldheritage said:
Well, from what I can gather from their website they still use the same mechanical movements these days. I do know about Slava, they have a Chinese "clone" that indeed makes cheap Chinese watches with the Slava Svozedie (or something like that :roll branding.

There is still a site on the net of Raketa; I think they are still living - working maybe.... :roll:

About Slava, I don't know if they are still producing watches, and with which movement; but chinese Slava fakes are another thing: they are quite recognizable and the logo is different! :-|

@ Sodiac: fine Raketas! And the combo is beautiful!
@watch22: I found quite simple to read hours on 24h Raketas. The important things to read time at a glance are: numeric indexes, and big numbers!

CCCP

· #10 · May 23, 2009

Nice timepiece!
I like this 24 hour Raketa :-! "Pilot" watch!

Dr Watchmaker

· #11 · May 23, 2009

Raketa is certainly still alive. If you want to buy genuine Raketa - follow their advice:
http://www.pchz.narod.ru/market.html

G Shock

· #12 · May 23, 2009

It's the same as the yellow?
The russian knows better nice 24H watches.It's worth it all the money.:-!

Any other watches or brands which have 24H models are excist?

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phd

· #13 · May 23, 2009

The pocket-watch movement you showed looks franken: it says "2628" on the main bridge. 2628 is a regular (12hr) day-date movement, but has many parts interchangeable with the 2623 (24hr) movement. If this is new from Raketa, they must be hitting hard times....

Somewhere else

· #14 · May 24, 2009

Sodiac said:
It is brand new, as are all my other Raketas. Here's a photo I just took of the movement, I don't know if it's Russian or not, perhaps a more experienced WUS Russian expert can tell?

While I'm not an "expert" on Russian watches, I've worked on several Raketas. This is the Russian made Raketa movement without question. What puzzles me is how crude the finishing is compared to the Raketa pocket watch below.

Just a few points: there is no brush finishing on the bridges, the rachet wheel is completely unfinished, there is no shock absorber on the third wheel and so on. The movement is very basic.

Let's compare it to the movement that is in your pocket watches:

This is a very nicely finished movement, well up to Swiss standards. Also, the shock absorbers for the balance seem to be inca bloc, but those in the top photo are not.

Sorry for all these endless questions, but I like these watches quite a bit and I'm thinking of buying one or two of them for myself. Was there any specification about the movement? Did the pocket watch have a see through case back?

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Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 24, 2009

2

Somewhere else said:
While I'm not an "expert" on Russian watches, I've worked on several Raketas. This is the Russian made Raketa movement without question. What puzzles me is how crude the finishing is compared to the Raketa pocket watch below.

Just a few points: there is no brush finishing on the bridges, the rachet wheel is completely unfinished, there is no shock absorber on the third wheel and so on. The movement is very basic.

Let's compare it to the movement that is in your pocket watches:

This is a very nicely finished movement, well up to Swiss standards. Also, the shock absorbers for the balance seem to be inca bloc, but those in the top photo are not.

Sorry for all these endless questions, but I like these watches quite a bit and I'm thinking of buying one or two of them for myself. Was there any specification about the movement? Did the pocket watch have a see through case back?

No problem with questions! The back of the pocket watch looks like this, photo below. I bought the 2 pocket watches and 3 Raketa wristwatches from Zenitar on eBay. He lists the pocket watch movement I guess incorrectly as:

"Mechanical Raketa movement 2610. 24-hours dial,central second hand. Case is 40 mm x h 10 mm, made from stainless alloy neusilber.
Watch comes with the chain. The watch in never used condition! "

The pocket watches cost $40.00 USD. He lists the Raketa wristwatches as:

"Russian 24-hours Arctic Polar mechanical polar pilots wristwatch. Words in Russian: "PILOT . MADE IN THE USSR". 24 hours dial ring - no need to guess AM or PM time! Well-made item. Decorated Russian fully mechanical hand wounded movement watch with 19 jewels in a solid stainless steel chrome plated round case Pilot design. Size of case is 1.6" inch x 1.5" (41 mm x 39 mm). Comes with black leather band. The watch in never used condition! "

The wristwatches usually cost $34.00- $39.00 USD. I find them both to be very accurate; not as accurate as a Komandirskie I also bought from him, which is amazingly accurate and which doesn't vary more than about 10 seconds of the set time over 3-4 days! But the Raketa yellow pocket watch runs within 10 seconds to the set time in 24 hours.

The Raketa wristwatches can vary; as I mentioned, the "thicker" hand Raketas, like my Pilot, seem to run more accurate than the "thin" hand Raketas. The Pilot runs within about 10 sec/24 hours, while my other Raketa wristwatches can vary up to 45 seconds or so within 24 hours. I let them run down and then use the "poor man's hacking" method to set them.

The photo I took of the Raketa wristwatch movement is one of the "thin" handed watches. I don't know if the Pilot watch is different; I had difficulty removing the back on that one, so I didn't try to force it.

To be honest, I don't really care much or mind what type of movements are in them as long as they are Russian. I think the Raketas are a lot of fun, and I often wear the white "Polar" wristwatch while carrying the white pocket watch, and same for the yellow pair.

Also, people seem to get a real kick out of seeing me pull out a pocket watch, and most non-WIS types have never seen a 24 hour watch, much less a 24 hour pocket watch!

This is what the back of the pocket watches looks like:

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cestommek

· #16 · May 24, 2009

Very nice collection comrade...wow:-!i like the "tactical" Raqueta with green numbers

Somewhere else

· #17 · May 25, 2009

=Sodiac;1950165]No problem with questions! The back of the pocket watch looks like this, photo below. I bought the 2 pocket watches and 3 Raketa wristwatches from Zenitar on eBay...

The wristwatches usually cost $34.00- $39.00 USD. I find them both to be very accurate; not as accurate as a Komandirskie I also bought from him, which is amazingly accurate and which doesn't vary more than about 10 seconds of the set time over 3-4 days! But the Raketa yellow pocket watch runs within 10 seconds to the set time in 24 hours.

The Raketa wristwatches can vary; as I mentioned, the "thicker" hand Raketas, like my Pilot, seem to run more accurate than the "thin" hand Raketas. people seem to get a real kick out of seeing me pull out a pocket watch, and most non-WIS types have never seen a 24 hour watch, much less a 24 hour pocket watch.....

Thanks for all the information. I was wondering if maybe the watch with the superior finishing came from a watch with a glass back. Now I understand that some of these watches are older than others, which accounts for the variations in finish of the movements.

Tim7

· #18 · May 25, 2009

I really like the face of the watch

I really like the look of the watch, What diameter is the case? Also it is nice to have a 24 hour watch, it makes you think a bit.

Thank For Posting,
Tim

Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #19 · May 26, 2009

Re: I really like the face of the watch

Tim7 said:
I really like the look of the watch, What diameter is the case? Also it is nice to have a 24 hour watch, it makes you think a bit.

Thank For Posting,
Tim

The case is 39 mm across, 41 mm across the lug width. It took me a while to get used to it. The first 12 hours is the same, i.e., midnight to noon. Then it's like learning another language -- rather than trying to convert, start thinking in 24 hour terms, like 3 pm is 15:00, 6 pm is 18:00 and 9 pm is 21:00.

You get the to point where you can just look at the watch and "know" what time it is when it says, for example, 21:35. If you try to convert back and forth every time, you may never get used to the 24 hour time format.

colt

· #20 · May 26, 2009

Re: I really like the face of the watch

Hi,

I seem to recall that american and british komrades aren't used to using 24h format. In the rest of Europe, it think it is more commonly used, and therefore (maybe) easier to get used to.
regards

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