Raketa 47817xxx – genuine or fake (AWW 24)

Specifications

Name: Raketa
Model Reference: 47817xxx
Movement: Raketa 2623.H, 24h hand wind movement, 19 jewels, shockproof, (bridge is from another Raketa 2628.H movement)
Time display: 24 hour, minute, seconds
Date: -
Case: Raketa type 478, black chrome plated, rim titanium nitride plated, stainless steel snap case back
Size: diameter 34 mm, 37 mm with crown, 42 mm lug to lug
Height: 11 mm
Face: green, white even hours numbers, 24 on top, white hours and minutes markers, golden hands
Text on dial: [Raketa logo] [State Quality mark of the USSR] СДЕЛАНО В СССР
Text on back: 350
Hands and markers: gold hand
Water-resistance: -
Crown: crown at 3 to set time
Crystal: domed acrylic crystal
Lug: 18 mm
Bracelet: leather strap with buckle, not original

Foreword

I bought this watch for USD 70 (incl shipping) from a seller in ebay, who is usually selling new Raketa-type counterfeits. Stupid! Maybe. I have …, ok, more than ten 24h Raketas, and I had a feeling that this one is real.

Comments

The watch I bought I saw only second time at all. One very similar Raketa was listed last year in UK, but I lost. Here below you see both dial versions. My watch is on the left, last year's lost watch is on the right. The difference is in shades of green on the dial. Mine is dark green in the middle, the other one light green.



I was very disappointed, after opening it -- on the bridge was stamped 2628.H. Of course it is wrong. 2628 is 12h movement with day and date, used in well-known Raketa perpetual calendar watches.

The simplest rule as we all know is - you must have 2623 on the bridge, otherwise it's fake. The eternal question how to distinguish genuine Raketa from the fake is not so simply answered. Some recent threads are representing new views on this topic and I recommend to subscribe to:
https://www.watchuseek.com/f10/did-raketa-produce-its-own-franken-24hr-watches-892631.html

Maybe the best summary is following quote from samun:

samun said:

That that is known to me:
1) from the story of the former worker of PChZ "Even in the 80th years, quite often, in the absence of bridges with the necessary marking at plant those molded that were available, especially at the end of the quarter. So quite really to meet hours with a double calendar and the mechanism 2614H though there has to be a bridge 2628H. And it not cutlet, and absolute original. I can tell it absolutely precisely to you how the person working many years on PChZ," i.e. at plant could put the bridge with the wrong marking
2) in order that from 2609.HA to make 2623.H it is necessary not only to change cogwheels but also to change platinum about the dial party.
3) I know, as to this day in SPb mechanisms 2609.HA are bought and remade in 2623. N. How to modify platinum isn't known to me.
4) In the 90s years was a lot of strange, at plant they could make many cooperatives many strange watch
5) to this day the made mechanisms on so many that some masters collect franken.
-------------
То что известно мне:
1) из рассказа бывшего работника ПЧЗ « Даже в 80-е годы, частенько, при отсутствии мостов с нужной маркировкой на заводе лепили те что были в наличии, особенно в конце квартала. Так что вполне реально встретить часы с двойным календарем и механизмом 2614Н, хотя должен стоять мост 2628Н. И это не котлета, а стопроцентный оригинал. Это я могу Вам совершенно точно сказать, как человек работавший много лет на ПЧЗ,» т.е. на заводе могли поставить мост с неправильной маркировкой
2) для того чтобы из 2609.НА сделать 2623.Н нужно не только поменять зубчатые колеса но и изменить платину со сторону циферблата.
3) мне известно, что и по сей день в СПб закупаются механизмы 2609.НА и переделываются в 2623.Н. Как перетачивают платину мне не известно.
4) 90-е годы было много странного, много кооперативов при заводе они могли произвести очень много странных часов
5) по сей день произведенных механизмов на столько много что некоторые мастера собирают франклены.

Click to expand...

I am pretty sure, that my watch was also produced in „the end of quarter", or some watchmaker just changed the bridge. This watch is genuine I think, because

1. The watch is solidly made.
2. No counterfeit producer will design so boring dial. No tanks, submarines, KGB, Stalin or other nonsense.
3. The case is rare original Raketa type 478, not good for counterfeits - hard to find and small.

Now we know that this watch has 2623.H movement with bridge signed as 2628.H. When was this watch made? I think that in the very end of 80s or maybe in the 90s. On the dial is written "Made in USSR", but as we know the 90s were hard time for Petrodvorec Raketa plant and (I think) easily they continued production of "Made in USSR" watches after USSR was dissolved.

The case is interesting. In the 80s and earlier, Raketa used to use Soviet standard watch model numbers system, valid for all Soviet watch plats. The Raketa catalog in 1986 (some people think it is from 1989) is showing old numbering system.

Next catalog I know is from 1998 (Raketa watch factory catalogue 1998) and has already Raketa's own numbering system, which they used up to the recent plant reborn in 2010. You can still find Raketas in the web with model numbers according to this new system.

The new system has an 8-digit number (plus separately movement number). This 8-digit number formula is:

NNNCRDDD
NNN - case type number
C - case material
R - rim material
DDD - dial and hands design number

My watch has case type 478, is plated with black chrome and rim is titanium nitrite plated. I have no idea, what can be the dial/hands design number. So I my watch model number is 47817xxx (1 = black chrome case, 7 = titanium nitride rim).

This case is interesting. In the 80s and earlier Raketa cases were plated mostly with chrome. In 90s the taste changes and as you can see in 1998 catalog many model are black, plated with black chrome. Additionally, instead of gold, Raketa plated many models with titanium nitride. Titanium nitride looks like gold, but is extremely hard material.

So here we have nice green-gold-black watch, remembering Jamaica's flag J

Summary

This Raketa is very good, I like it, and I'm wearing it in this very moment.
Follow the discussions on genuine/fake Raketas and buy watches you like.