Based on a French design, the Pobeda's simple, 15-jewel movement was cost-effective, reliable, and easy to manufacture and maintain. Prior to World War II, during a period of rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union, the Soviet government sought international funding and expertise in developing a domestic industry for timepieces. Eventually the French watch manufacturer LIP was chosen; they established a new watch factory in Penza and licensed several movement designs to the new establishment. One design dating from 1908, the R-26 movement, was further developed and renamed the K-26, with significant alterations to the original design. World War II temporarily disrupted these plans, but after the Allied victory, this watch design was quickly finished at Penza, and full-scale production commenced at the First Moscow Watch Factory. Joseph Stalin chose the name Pobeda (Victory) to celebrate the end of the war.

 

Pobeda watches before and after the fall of Soviet Union

During Soviet times

In the Soviet Union, a product brand was not necessarily exclusive to a particular manufacturing site (this changed though in the 60's when each factory got its own brands), and during its lifetime, production of Pobeda watches was shifted between the following plants:

·        Penza Watch Factory (Пензенский Часовой Завод): for a few years from 1945

·        First Moscow Watch Factory (Первый Московский Часовой Завод): 1946 to 1953

·        Petrodvorets Watch Factory (Петродворцовый Часовой Завод): 1946 to nowadays

·        Chistopol Watch Factory (Чистопольский часовой завод): 1949 to the c.1950

·        Second Moscow Watch Factory (Второй московский часовой завод): 1953 to 1964 

 ZIM / ЗИМ (Maslennikova Watch Factory)

In 1906, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II issued an official decree entitled, “On the construction of military plants at public funds”. The result was the establishment of the Provisional Economic Commission for the construction of the Samara Pipe Factory. The same year, construction began on another plant which would produce aluminium tube and capsule sleeves for three-inch rapid-fire guns. By September, 1911, the factory was completed, and workers celebrated the grand opening of the Second Pipe Factory in Samara, Russia.  

 

The Second Pipe Factory staffed some 2500 workers and was primarily responsible for producing fuses for artillery shells. The factory was so large that a residential village was established nearby. This settlement was aptly named, “Workers”. The plant closed briefly in 1918, then reopened in 1923 under a new name, Maslennikov, named after the first chairman of the Samara City Council, Alexander Maslennikov. (The full factory name, Завод имени Масленникова, is often abbreviated ЗИМ, or ZIM). During World War II, ZIM fulfilled orders from the Ministry of Defense to produce ammunition for the armed forces.

 

After the war, ZIM began production of civilian goods, namely the caliber 2602 watch movement intended for Pobedas. This caliber entered production in 1950 and continued to be produced until the factory eventually shuttered in the early-2000s. With a production spanning over five decades, this made the ZIM caliber 2602 the longest-produced caliber of any Soviet watch movement.

 

Beginning in the 1960s, production at ZIM expanded greatly to included electronic devices, medical equipment, sewing machines, and automobile parts. Specialized subdivisions of ZIM were responsible for building residential houses, schools, kindergartens, dormitories, restaurants, and sports facilities. Given the sheer size of the plant and the enormous number of factory employees, ZIM developed an urban transportation route including tram, bus, and trolley lines.

 

In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, ZIM was in deep financial crisis. By the late 90"s, the plant’s total debt reached about 1 billion rubles. In 2005, the factory declared bankruptcy, and by June 30th, 2006, the factory had shuttered. While a few of the original buildings connected to the plant remain today, the  majority of the factory now stands in ruins.