Vostok

Rugged watches, military Watch, the Amphibia army watch - diver watches
Vostok ( Восток, East) Watch Makers, Inc. produces mainly inexpensive, rugged military and diver mechanical watches at its factory in Chistopol, Tatarstan, Russia. It also makes clocks and watch movements for other watch brands.
The Vostok Company was founded in 1942 when one of the Moscow watch-making plants of the First Moscow Watch Factory was evacuated to Chistopol, a small town located on the Kama River in Tatarstan. Only defense equipment was produced during the war years, but as soon as the war was over the company started making mechanical wrist watches. However, the Company did not begin using the "Vostok" brand name until the 1960s. The company was appointed an official supplier of watches for the Defense Department of the Soviet Union in 1965. This year also marks the creation of the well known Komandirskie ("Commander's") watch.

The experience gained through development of the army watch led to the Amphibia, a stainless-steel watch able to withstand a 200 meter depth (20atm). By 1980, Vostok Watch Makers was producing 4.5 million timepieces per year.

Watches issued to the military were marked "ЗАКАЗ МО СССР," meaning "By Order of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR." These models were subject to rigorous quality control and sold exclusively through Voentorg stores, which catered to military personnel with identification only. (Today, these models have become sought-after collectibles.)

At turn of the 21st century, Vostok launched a line of 1940s-style replicas called the Kirovskie K-43 collection. Vostok also began producing a "luxury" line of watches called Kremlevskie. Both lines are made of stainless steel, produced in limited quantities, and aimed toward a more affluent consumer.

In 2004, Vostok Watch Makers began supplying movements to the Koliz Company of Lithuania, makers of the Vostok Europe brand of timepieces.
2000, Vostok Watch Makers Inc. is the leader of the domestic watch and clock industry on volumes of release and sales of men's watches. Release of the female watches, an expensive, prestigious man's watch, and a quartz alarm clock are begun.
2001, The factory became the owner of "The Russian National Olympus” the prestigious premium in a nomination "To Technology. A science" and the winner of "The Russian organization of high social efficiency" competition in a branch nomination.
2004, The company "Koliz Vostok Co. Ltd" was founded as a joint venture between the Russian movement- and watch-maker "Vostok Watch Maker Inc." and the Lithuanian enterprise "Koliz Ltd." offers the world market a new generation of automatic watches based on the traditional Russian watch-making technology and new designs from Lithuania. The first collection of the new watch brand Vostok Europe was introduced at Basel, Switzerland.
2006, "Amfibia" brand, featuring modern-style diver watches, launched.
2007, Updated Komandirskie debuts to public.

Volmax

Russia wacthes, Pilot-Aviator watches for men.

Company Volmax, based in Moscow, Russia, internationally markets Russian-made watches. The Volmax brands are Aviator, Buran, Sturmanskie, and Russian Watch Factory (РЧЗ).
Volmax was formed in 2002 by former employees of the First Moscow Watch Factory (commonly called "Poljot"). With the partial demise of the First Moscow Watch Factory ("FMWF") in late 2004, Volmax acquired some of the old equipment to continue producing FMWF movements. Non-chronograph mechanical movements are produced in-house, while chronograph movements are produced by another Russian firm, MakTime.
The Volmax brands Aviator, Buran, and Sturmanskie are named for models originally produced by the First Moscow Watch Factory.
In 2005, Volmax announced the creation of a new brand, Russian Watch Factory (in Russian: Русский Часовой Завод, or РЧЗ). The logo of РЧЗ is the three letters surrounded by a pentagon; this design pays tribute to an early logo of the First Moscow Watch Factory. The first model released under the new brand name is called the Patriot (Патриот). According to Volmax, the new brand will feature colours and shapes from watches of the 1930s and 1940s, but enlarged cases for today's customer preferences.

Company Volmax came to international attention when Miramax selected an Aviator watch as official merchandise associated with the movie The Aviator.

Poljot

Pilots wristwatch from Russia/ cosmonaut Watch
Poljot a brand of watches from Russia produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory.( Poljot Russian: Полёт, literally meaning "flight"),
On April 12th 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. During his historic flight he wore a Shturmanskie pilots wristwatch (a transliteration of Штурманские which actually means "Navigator").
This watch was not specially commissioned for the flight, they were standard issue to all air force pilots at the time. The success of the mission however lead to the factory being awarded the Poljot (Russian: Полет) name in 1964.

In 1965 cosmonaut Alexei Leonov wore a FMWF Strela (СТРЕЛА, arrow") chronograph during his historic first space walk, thus cementing Poljot's place in space history. As with Gagarin's first flight, Leonov's watch was not specially commissioned. The Strela replaced the Shturmanskie as the standard issue pilots watch. In the late 1970s, the Strela itself was replaced by a new breed of chronographs based around the (then new) 3133 movement (a Russian variation of the Swiss Valjoux 7734). Poljot 3133-based watches continued where their predecessors left off and were taken into space by cosmonauts from Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine. On the hand of cosmonaut V.V. Polyakov, a Poljot 3133-based watch set a space record for the longest space flight in history.
ring the Soviet era, Poljot watches were marketed in the United Kingdom under the brand "Sekonda". Today's Sekonda company, a British distributor of ubiquitous fashion watches, has no connection to any Poljot products.

Fakes
Poljot Watches being popular in Russia and abroad, do suffer from many counterfeits. It is actually very difficult to find real ones, even in Russia. Poljot Watches are temporarily not produced. The only real "Poljot" watches available are coming from old stocks, that are still being sold. But these stocks are coming to an end with just a few thousand left. "Golden Poljot", "Poljot Elite" are fake Poljo

Raketa - watches

Soviet and Russian watches, military watches, Red Army, Soviet Navy... durable watch, watches for aviation
Raketa Watches are Soviet and Russian watches manufactured since 1962 by the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in Saint Petersburg - the oldest factory in Russia. It was founded by Peter the Great in 1721 as the Peterhof Lapidary Works to make hardstone carvings. At its beginning the factory produced objects made of precious and semi-precious stones for the Tsar and his family. In the 80's the production of Raketa was 4.5 million watches a year. Raketa watches were used by the Red Army, Soviet Navy, for North Pole expeditions and by civil Soviet population.
Raketa Wristwatches; pocket watches; watch for polar explorers; watches for divers; hours for the navy; hours for the army; watches for aviation; chronographs.

April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin made the first flight in the history of mankind in outer space on the rocket Vostok 1. In honor of Yuri Gagarin the Petrodvorets Watch Factory named its watches "Raketa" (rocket in Russian). However, At the height of the Cold War, the name was perceived negatively in the Western Countries, since Raketa was associated with the launch of a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missile R-16.

Before the Petrodvorets Watch Factory began to produce clockworks, it produced technical stones for military manufacturers and "jewels" for the watch industry. In 1949 the factory produced its first watches under the names Zvezda and Pobeda. His own original model under the brand Raketa appeared in 1961. The factory created its own mechanism - «Raketa - 2609N». On this basis, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory produced more than two dozen versions Raketa movements: with automatic winding, with calendar, with 24 hour scale for polar explorers, antimagnetic watches in case of a nuclear attack, watches for the military. Mechanical Raketa watches, produced in Petrodvorets were exported to all the communist world and considered one of the most durable and reliable movements in the world.