View single post by Paxman

Posted: Tue Mar 25th, 2008 11:34 am

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Paxman

Joined:	Sun Apr 23rd, 2006
Location:	NorthEastern, Wisconsin USA
Posts:	15957
Status:	Offline

Prior to the opening of the Soviet Union Russian watches were built for the masses meaning they were built cheaply. Of course there are exceptions. As Russia has looked to expand its exports of watches you see the quality coming up in terms of QC and acceptable tolerances. It has been my experience that the Russians are not as accurate or buttery smooth as Swiss driven watches, but they are excellent in their own right.

The design cues in Russian watches are easily identifiable and quite appealing in my opinion. The relative inexpensive nature of many of the watches makes them a great tangent to follow. Russian watches are particularly appealing for the mechanical chronographs and manual wind watches to me. You will find a number a Russian watch aficionados at 3T, and they have far more knowledge than I can offer.

I don't think I would worry about knock-offs too much. Marc from IW is moving away from Russians a bit so he may not have the options you look for. I can also tell you I just purchased a Russian watch from russia2all and was very pleased with the service. R2A is a member of a well known distribution group which works with TT and has several on-line retailers as listed here:

On-line Retailers:
http://www.russia2all.com
http://www.russiansouvenirs.com
http://www.longislandwatch.com
http://www.watchmecca.com
http://www.poljotwatch.com
http://www.watchmann.com