Recently, I was doing the usual trawl through Ebay and could not find anything in my usual searches (Russian or East German watches) that was interesting. So when that happens, I just do a vintage watch search to see what else is being offered. If it looks vaguely interesting and is not too expensive I might make a bid on something. Needless to say, something took my interest and I made a bid and won it for a modest sum ($8). When it arrived, the first thing I did was take the back off to see what the movement was expecting to see a basic swiss job but there inside was a Poljot 2614. Result! It runs perfectly and keeps excellent time. I gave it a clean and removed the scratches from the crystal and it looks great.

Then, I realised I had a very similar watch in my collection that I picked up years ago, a Montine International with the same movement. So, here are some photos.

Valtine

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Montine International

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Sekondtime

Poljot 2609 H, isn't it? I just picked one up myself, and yours is the only meaningful reference I can find via google. Is there any chance this is a Poljot case and dial (I haven't seen anything that looks the same yet, but don't think I've seen all the available catalogues) or was Poljot simply a temporary movement choice for some 1970s short-term watch-making entrepreneur?

Mine also seems a rather great watch, running at under +10/ day with a run time of virtually 48 Hours, although I did pay more than twice as much for mine as you have for yours!

 

Probably the best designed and executed watch movement ever to come out of First Moscow. That goes for the date, day/date, and automatic versions, too.

There is a list posted somewhere of manufacturers who used soviet watch movements in their watches. Maybe someone will supply a link and we can check to see if VALTINE and/or MONTINE is mentioned.

 

Montine International seems to have been a brand founded by a certain Clifford Bruce McGuire in 1971 probably within the context of Clifford Enterprises, a travel retail business. My understanding is it distributed products such as watches, perfumes etc. to airlines and airport shops. By all accounts Montine sold some half million watches per years at their height!

In 1975 McGuire introduced a more "luxury" brand, Montine of Switzerland, which used Swiss mechanical movements - although these were actually assembled in Crawley, England.

The Montine brand was relaunched by McGuire's son in 2011 with mixed success, it seems.

 

Although Montine had a Crawley, West Sussex address, it was only a unit on an industrial estate and was likely to be only a storage and distribution unit.

Montine International's business model was to supply watches at affordable prices at a time of recession in the 1970s. In order to do that, they could not have made or assembled the watches in the UK. Most Swiss manufacturers were struggling by this time and this is when the Hong Kong factor kicks in. It was cheap to produce in Hong Kong and it had a stable government under Britain. Some Swiss manufactures sent parts to Hong Kong for assembly there. Dials and cases were produced in the colony. This is when we also see a number of other brands emerging from Hong Kong.

Montine of Switzerland may be different however. These were higher spec, higher price watches and were probably made entirely in Switzerland.