Slava Dress Watch, 26 jewels, day/date. Made in the twilight of the Soviet Union!
Slava Dress Watch, 26 jewels, day/date. Made in the twilight of the Soviet Union!
I got this lovely and unusual watch from my tutor / instructor when he retired, probably seven years ago or so. It is original, never restored, only serviced by me after it came here. The servicing I did a good number of years ago, and it could need servicing again, but it runs cleanly and all functions work as they should. When I serviced it, I put in an NOS balance but that has almost no time on it.
Crazy wacky late Soviet design - a mash of elements including gold plating, italicized Roman numerals, gold / yellow dial
side-to-side crystal makes the watch wear larger than the numbers say.
Day / date works very well
Day language is single only - Cyrillic / Russian.
Case plating is quite good, as watch was barely worn, if at all
Comes with original Slava-branded box and issue paperwork
Production date was August 14th 1990, sixteen months before the fall of the Soviet Union.
Being that this is from the USSR (not post-Soviet Russia) the build quality is superior. USSR-made movements have factory markings, slightly better finish, and the ring with the date levers is made in metal, not in plastic (the lever are also polished).
Movement is 21j Slava 2428, a cool movement with some quirks, such as dual mainsprings! That’s right - two complete barrels w/ mainsprings. The idea being that power delivery will be averaged out and give a better accuracy, in theory.
Indirect seconds means that the balance is quite large.
Endshake on the balance is adjusted by means of shims under the balance cock; a primitive solution but hey it works.
Date quickset is pusher at upper right
There is no day quickset
Dial and hands are non-lumed.
This is a wacky one!