Raketa Wind Rose Watch

This little beauty, actually not so little, with a diameter of 40mm excluding the crown, was one of my first Russian watches. This model is variously known as the Raketa Azimuth, sometimes the Raketa Wind Rose and I have also seen it called the Polaris, Polar Star and Antarctic Star. All names conjured up by enthusiasts, Raketa, did not give their models names. The model number is 4991866 and it dates from the 1980s.

I can’t really remember why I first started getting into Russian watches. I think I had just bought a Christopher Ward C4 Peregrine and first started reading various watch forums when I read about the Vostok Amphibia that Bill Murray wears in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and it all it started from there. This was one of two Raketa watches I bought before my Vostok obsession kicked in. There was something about this watch dial that I was really attracted to. Elegantly designed, pretty, useful (compass and 24 hour markings) and smart, smart enough to wear as a dress watch with a smart strap. Mine currently resides on an 18mm pilot type brown leather watch strap purchased from Time Factors in the UK.

The Raketa Wind Rose Watch has the Raketa 2609.NP manual winding movement with 19 jewels and was made at the Petrodvorets Watch Factory.  Along the bottom of the watch it says “made in Russia” in cyrilic text, this would mean is was made post break up of ther USSR, so it is most likely from the mid-1990s. The Raketa Azimuth is fitted with  a domed acrylic crystal and mine is fairly scratched which I should really have a go at with some Polywatch sometime. Overall though, I would say the watch is in pretty good condition. The dimensions are 40 x 42mm, it is about 11.5mm thick and has 18mm lugs.

The Raketa Azimuth features 2 crowns, one to wind the watch and one to move the internal bezel which has compass markings. This means that is can be used as a “solar compass” – there is  a discussion thread about using a watch bezel as a solar compass in the Watchuseek forums and here. Useful if you are into the whole boy scout thing. I suspect that the crown for setting the time of this watch is not original, the crowns should really match.

There really are some classic old Raketa designs out there, check the “Big 0” or “Big Zero”, the “Copernicus” and I have a funky black-faced art-deco style one, which I will post about later. Be careful though, there are a lot of “franken” watches out there, particularly on well-known auctions sites, but there are many bargains to be had too. It is worth having a look at the current Raketa offerings, there are some interesting designs and they clearly pay homage to the Raketa watch designs of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The prices seem a little steep to me and I have yet to take the plunge and buy one. What the hell do I know!