Raketa 24H "Pilot" Pics

Oldheritage

· #21 · May 26, 2009

Re: I really like the face of the watch

You're right. We don't really use AM and PM but 9:00 and 21:00.

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Frode

· #22 · May 26, 2009

I wonder about the lume. (I'm a lume freak...:-d ).

Seems to me some only have lume on the hands, whilst others have on the numbers too (cool).

Anyone have knowledge about this?

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T

Beautiful Pictures! What Kind of Camera was Used?

Great pictures by the way, very professional, what kind of camera and lens combination are you using. I have great difficulty photographing my watches, I do not get the lighting right, too many reflections. Can you elaborate on how the shots were taken?

Thanks Again,
Tim

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Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #24 · May 26, 2009

Frode said:
I wonder about the lume. (I'm a lume freak...:-d ).

Seems to me some only have lume on the hands, whilst others have on the numbers too (cool).

Anyone have knowledge about this?

Very few of the Raketas I've seen (and own) have any lume at all. The Pilot has a touch of lume on the hands, which last about...10 seconds, literally. I guess for 40 bucks, you can't have it all!

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Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #25 · May 26, 2009

Re: Beautiful Pictures! What Kind of Camera was Used?

Tim7 said:
Great pictures by the way, very professional, what kind of camera and lens combination are you using. I have great difficulty photographing my watches, I do not get the lighting right, too many reflections. Can you elaborate on how the shots were taken?

Thanks Again,
Tim

Thanks for the kudos, but to be honest, it's not the camera, I think it just takes a lot of trial and error. I do take product photos for a website I run, but I'm a hacker, not a photographer!

I can tell you this -- taking photos of watches is definitely the most difficult and challenging type of photography I've experienced! It's all about the lighting -- it is very important to precisely control the light to avoid reflections and to get the light in the right places.

I'm a rank amateur at watch photography. I've learned a lot just looking at the other photos taken by WUS members, most of which are awesome.

I do have a photo studio set up in my basement, which helps a bit, because I have many different pro lighting sources, but again, those are designed for very different subjects of other types of products.

I've found that setting one light on the side, with a much dimmer (2-3 stops) light set farther back and behind the watch, can help. The light will bounce back to the lens so you have to be careful to set the light source at an angle that will illuminate the watch while not blasting back into the lens.

It's also very important to create some devices to hold the watch steady at different angles. I set them on a flat box and lay a piece of cheap fabric over the box. I bought a bunch of fabric remants at Walmart.

Some WUS photographers use a light box, and one day I'm going to make one out of a cardboard box, cutting out the sides and adding some translucent fabric.

Also, it's important to have some black non-reflective paper, like construction paper, to hold over the face to dampen reflections. You can see the effect this has as you look through the viewfinder.

Honestly, the camera doesn't matter much, as long as it's on a tripod (a must) and has enough manual features to allow a large depth of field (I start with about f18) and long enough shutter opening to let in the light at that small aperture.

I use either a Fuji F31d digicam (no longer made, but highly acclaimed) or a Nikon D70 or D200 with a 60 mm Nikon macro lens. I use a polarizing filter sometimes.

I may take 50 photos to get one or two decent ones, trying all different settings. You never know what will look good until you pull out the memory stick and look at the results on the computer screen.

Photoshop does the rest -- cropping, sharpening, and tweaking the exposure and color cast.

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Tim7

· #26 · May 26, 2009

Lume Question?

Hello Again,
Do the numbers and markers have any lume? I have a couple of inexpensive Russians coming in I believe they are Vostok's and you can't go wrong for the money, even if you have to wind them up. I'll see if I like them when they come in. I have all of sudden taken a liking to some of the Russian watches, because they look so different and are out of the ordinary of what you find everyday, and a lot of them are priced right. Watch buying is addicting, and now with decent looking cheaper watches, I'm in trouble!

Thanks,
Tim

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Sodiac

Discussion Starter · #27 · May 26, 2009

Re: Lume Question?

Tim7 said:
Hello Again,
Do the numbers and markers have any lume? I have a couple of inexpensive Russians coming in I believe they are Vostok's and you can't go wrong for the money, even if you have to wind them up. I'll see if I like them when they come in. I have all of sudden taken a liking to some of the Russian watches, because they look so different and are out of the ordinary of what you find everyday, and a lot of them are priced right. Watch buying is addicting, and now with decent looking cheaper watches, I'm in trouble!

Thanks,
Tim

Most Raketas that I've seen have no lume. This one has the "thick" hands, as I described above, with a small amount of lume on the hands only, also as described and illustrated in the photos.

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raketawatches

· #28 · Mar 18, 2010

Sodiac said:
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?

Unfortunatly this one is a fake Raketa watch.... I am sorry. next time before buying a Raketa ask send the link to the factory : info(at)raketa.su and they will tell you if it's fake or not. Zenitar is one of the biggest reseller of fake Raketa(((

Unfortunatly this one is a fake Raketa watch.... I am sorry. next time before buying a Raketa ask send the link to the factory : info(at)raketa.su and they will tell you if it's fake or not. Zenitar is one of the biggest reseller of fake Raketa(((

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raketawatches

· #29 · Mar 18, 2010

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

Unfortunatly this one is a fake Raketa watch.... I am sorry. next time before buying a Raketa ask send the link to the factory : info(at)raketa.su and they will tell you if it's fake or not. Zenitar is one of the biggest reseller of fake Raketa(((

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0jatakk0

· #30 · Mar 20, 2010

Very cool watch, and great choice on the strap. I have the blue-dial version.

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avers

· #31 · Mar 20, 2010

raketawatches said:
Unfortunatly this one is a fake Raketa watch.... I am sorry. next time before buying a Raketa ask send the link to the factory : info(at)raketa.su and they will tell you if it's fake or not. Zenitar is one of the biggest reseller of fake Raketa(((

Fake or not, it was certainly not made in USSR.

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bugeyed

· #32 · Mar 20, 2010

Somewhere else said:
snip

Let's compare it to the movement that is in your pocket watches:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sodiac
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.
snip

I may be misunderstanding your reference, but the "inca bloc" mounts on the balance wheels look identical to me on both pictures.

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robbra

· #33 · Mar 20, 2010

Photos of the Raketa movements on M-Watches look the same as the "rough" looking picture above so maybe it is genuine but not assembled in the factory.

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Chascomm

· #34 · Mar 22, 2010

robbra said:
Photos of the Raketa movements on M-Watches look the same as the "rough" looking picture above so maybe it is genuine but not assembled in the factory.

I think it is beyond doubt that the only source for Raketa movement parts has only ever been the Petrodvorets Watch Factory. These movements have never been 'cloned', however substantial parts stocks seem to have exited the factory via the back door.

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Seele

· #35 · Mar 22, 2010

Chascomm said:
I think it is beyond doubt that the only source for Raketa movement parts has only ever been the Petrodvorets Watch Factory. These movements have never been 'cloned', however substantial parts stocks seem to have exited the factory via the back door.

Absolutely, Chascomm! The problem vexing Raketa now (and expressed by their own posts here) is that, anyone with access to these movements and parts is able to build his own complete "Raketa" watches, completed with the other bits required to build them up, from fair copies of genuine Raketa products to totally absurd designs. You can hardly expect anyone who has a few boxes of movements and parts to send them back to the factory with a card saying "please put them into good use, thank you"!

If you are one of the top brasses at Raketa, you are not going to like these "unofficial" watches, which are more than often being sold under your company name as your genuine products. Not only would they sabotage your reputation (if they are of lesser quality), your sales, which in turn damage your revenue, demands of your products, and worst of all, if everyone thinks you can get a "genuine Raketa" at a bargain price, the very existence of your company as a viable enterprise might be jeopardized as well. In fact you would be most frustrated!

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ecalzo

· #36 · Mar 22, 2010

so nice... great pics...

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robbra

· #37 · Mar 31, 2010

I've emailed Raketa twice about the validity of watches I want to buy on Ebay, over two weeks ago and not heard back. I know they are busy with their new launch but as the dials I want seem in very short supply I can't wait too long:-|.
I would like to know if the old designs like the pilot will be reissued or should I just get one and hope it is genuine?:think:
Unless Raketawatches read this.

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a6a4

· #38 · Mar 31, 2010 (Edited)

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

камрады do not speak), in the USSR товарищи [tovarish'i] in Russia граждане [grazhdane] spoke or друзья [druz'ya] (friends). Sorry if offtop

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Evgeny_the_watchman

· #39 · Apr 1, 2010

I've had bunch of "Raketa" watches in a past (i'm realy don't know is it fake or not - all i know that Raketa factory don't produce serial models now - only custom orders).

There are a whole seria named WW2 (world war two) - 5 watches with German military planes on dial and 5 with Russian. And also a Pilot or Polarnie watches.

Must say this watches been made well, except very poor water resistance. One of this watches i still wear while working at my village house. Watch was hited many times and looks awful but works perfect.

Im attached a few photos:

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Seele

· #40 · Apr 1, 2010

Evgeny_the_watchman said:
I've had bunch of "Raketa" watches in a past (i'm realy don't know is it fake or not - all i know that Raketa factory don't produce serial models now - only custom orders).

There are a whole seria named WW2 (world war two) - 5 watches with German military planes on dial and 5 with Russian. And also a Pilot or Polarnie watches.

Must say this watches been made well, except very poor water resistance. One of this watches i still wear while working at my village house. Watch was hited many times and looks awful but works perfect.

Evgeny,

In some other threads it's been said that those ....-themed ones are definitely fakes; no self-respecting Russian would celebrate what gave the nation so much grief; they are actually of the worst possible taste, thus must be fakes.

Raketa is more than a going concern and a new 2010 collection is due to be out in a matter of weeks.

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