Poljot (1st Moscow Watch Factory)

Brands:

Bolshevik Revolution

Watch industry in the Czar Russia consisted just of several small workshops and enterprises. They usually assembled watches using watch parts made abroad. After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the entire watch industry became a part of the “Trust of Precision Mechanics”. These were mainly production facilities, work shops, and warehouses of watch parts and half-finished products which belonged to famous manufacturers such as P. Bure, G. Mozer, Reinin, Dmitriev, and others before the revolution.
 

The Formative Years

By 1926, the supply of watches and watch parts had run out, but the demand for watches by the army, the navy, the railways and ordinary people was on the increase. To meet the demand, the USSR started to buy watches and watch parts from abroad paying in gold. To further correct the shortage of watches, on December 20th 1927 the Soviet government made a decision to establish and develop a watch industry. On December 21st, the Council of Labor and Defense passed a resolution “About How to Organize Watch Production in the USSR.”

At the same time an offer to buy an ailing Duber Hempton watch factories was received from the United States. On April 26th 1929 two purchase contracts were signed. The first one was for the $325,000 purchase of the watch factory with an output of 200 to 250 thousand watches per year. The second, $135,000 contract was for the purchase of spare parts and the half-finished products. After the deal was sealed, a steamboat with American equipment left for Russia in April 1930. Simultaneously, construction of the factory’s main block was already in progress on the previous location of the Krasnaja Zvevda (Red Star) Tobacco Factory on the Voronczovskaja street in Moscow. The factory’s main block was finished within a dramatically short period of time. The work started in February 1930 from digging a foundation pit and finished in June 1930 with the main block construction completed. Installation of main equipment was finished by September 15th of the same year. The factory was named the First State Watch Factory or the 1st SWF (1ый ГЧЗ). Later it was called the First Moscow Watch Factory or the 1st MWF (1ый МЧЗ). Thus, even some of the Poljot watches produced today are sold under the 1st MWF mark.

To start production, four types of watches were chosen: a man’s pocket watch with 15 jewels for the enterprises of the Narkomat (Ministry) of Means of Communications, a man’s wristwatch with 7 jewels for the Red Army; a man’s pocket watch with 7 jewels and a ladies wristwatch with 15 jewels to be sold in the market. The first creation of this new factory were pocket watches called “the 1st type” or K43 with a side seconds hand.

Although at the start, the factory needed some technical help from the American and the German specialists, after two years, it was able to resolve most of the technical issues and continued to develop independently. Almost from the beginning the 1st SWF exported its watches and soon after launch, new production development was started. According to the order of the Chief Military Aviation Administration, airplane board clocks were produced, and in June 1932 a decision to organize stopwatches production was made.

In the same year technical renovation and production line upgrades were started. In 1935 – 36 the factory received over 120 new machining tools from several world’s leading companies and some equipment was made by the factory itself. By 1936 the number of machining tools had increased by 1.5 times. On December 16th 1935, Mr. M. Kalinin signed a resolution to award the name of Sergey Mironovich Kirov to the 1st SWF. From 1935 until 1941, the 1st SWF Kirova produced about 2.7 million of the “1st type” pocket and wristwatches. Today, a line of Aviator and Buran watches is sold under the “1st MWF Kirova” trademark.

Aviation and WWII

The history of the First Moscow Watch Factory is indissolubly connected with the history of Russian and Soviet aviation. All Soviet battle airplanes of that period were equipped with the airborne clocks made by the 1st MWF Kirova. The Red Air Force pilots and navigators flew with watches on their wrists with the “The 1st MWF Kirova” and later the “Poljot” trademarks. Before WWII aviation clocks, stopwatches, navigator wristwatches, automobile mechanical and electric charging watches, navy chronometers, ship deck watches and other watch movements were put into production for the benefit of the national economy.

During the Second World War production defense such as ammunition, aviation glass, aviation clocks, navy and aviation chronometers and some parts for the first Katyusha (lorry-mounted multiple rocket launcher) was organized in the factory.

The War had not yet ended when the factory started peaceful production: in 1943 it started to make machining tools for the watch industry again, and in 1944 – fire-place, table and automobile clocks were produced. In April 1945 the factory stopped ammunition production and started preparation for a new K26 Pobeda (Victory) watch model. Production of the Pobeda with a side seconds hand started in 1946. Josef Stalin approved the name, design and specifications of this watch personally. The watch became very popular, as the 1st MWF was making the K26 model until 1953; and today, it is still in production in other factories around the country.

Gagarin and Space

In 1949, the Sturmanskie (Navigator’s) watches were put into production. They were specially designed for the military aviation and were not available in the general market. The Sturmanskie watch made history on April 12 1961 when the Soviet Union launched the first successful manned space flight. Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, wore Sturmanskie watch on his wrist during that celebrated flight. The watch operated without any problems in weightlessness and became the first watch ever to go into cosmos. Later, this legendary watch was given to the factory museum.

Poljot watches were taken to space flights by astronauts from France, Russia, Germany, and the Ukraine. The 3133 chronograph set a record in longest duration of a space flight by cosmonaut V.V. Poljakov.

The 50s and 60s

By 1955, 1.1 million mechanical wristwatches were made by the 1st MWF. In 1956 production of the first automatic movement watches under the Rodina (Fatherland) brand started. The Rodina watch opened a new line of watch movements with the 24 mm caliber. They have a central second hand. The height of the movement was 6.3 mm, with 22 jewels.

In 1957, according to a special government order, an elite Antarktida (Antarctic) watch for the participants of the first Soviet expedition to the South Pole was developed. These watches were magnet proof, with a 24-hour dial and the watch movement was based on the Pobeda (Victory) watch movement. A special shield protected it against strong magnetic fields.

In October 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into space. The whole world peered to a slightly flashing small star in the night sky. To mark this event, the Sputnik (Satellite) watch, based on a Pobeda model was produced. Watches were made in two variations: with a central second hand and with a transparent dial, which had a satellite mark instead of a second hand. At the moment, the Antarktida and the Sputnik watches are a collection rarity, because they were in production just for one year.

On October 2nd 1959, the government of the USSR designed the 1st MWF as a leading enterprise in watch exports. Export production share increased from 42% in 1959 to 80% in the 90s. Watches were exported to 70 different countries, including USA, England, Belgian, Italy, West Germany, Hong Kong, Greece, and many others.

In 1959 the first Soviet Signal 2612 alarm wristwatch was developed. In the same year, the Strela (Arrow) 3017 watch was put into production. The Strela was a wrist chronograph with a stopwatch function and a 45-minute counter of minutes. The dial had additional telemetric and tachometer scales. The watch was exclusively designed for the officers of the Air Force and was produced according to strict military specifications. Cosmonauts Pavel Beliaev and Aleksej Leonov also used these watches when they became the first in the world to enter into the open space. During the next 20 years 100,000 of the 3017 watches were made.

In 1960, the first Poljot (Flight) brand watch with 2414 caliber appeared. On April 12th 1961, Yuri Gagarin’s flight opened the era of space travel in the human history. The first cosmonaut took Sturmanskije watch made in 1st MWF into space. Later, production of several models with space names celebrated this flight: Orbita (Orbit) 2415 – in 1962, Kosmos (Space) 2416 – in 1963. In 1961, the factory as first in the country started production of particularly slim Vympel (Pennon) watches with a second hand, caliber 2209 with 2.9 mm height of the movement, 23 jewels, and the 1st accuracy class. The total height of the watchcase was only 5 mm. In 1963, during an international Fair in Leipzig, the Vympel watch was awarded a Diploma and a Gold medal. These watches were in production until 1975, later the technology was passed to the Minsk Watch Factory.

Since 1964, Полёт or POLJOT trademarks have marked the watches made in the 1st MWF. The factory trademarks are registered in 30 different countries and are famous around the World.

In 1965, production of a super slim Poljot 2200 watch with 1.85 mm movement height started. This product confirmed the highest level of skills of the factory’s designers and technologists once again. The height of the watch-case depending on its variation was from 3.5 mm to 4.5 mm.

In 1966, the factory started production of a new basic movement model, a 26 series caliber with anti-shock capability, screw-less balance wheel and flat spiral, and different accessories. New movements were distinguished by small height and long run time.

The 70s and 80s

In 1971, the factory produced 2.5 million wristwatches, and 1.6 million were exported to 63 different countries. In 1972, the factory increased production of wrist mechanical watches up to 2.7 million. Since up to 70% of the production was sold on the export market, the factory decided to design and to put into production a number of new watch movements which could satisfy the requirements of exacting foreign customers and would be useable for automatic technological processes. As a result, in 1972 new designs of watches with the 26 series caliber movement were developed and had a distinct mark of a letter “H”: 2609H, 2614H, 2616H, etc. The factory’s designers, technologists and stylists paid particular attention to its reliability, technological aspects and reparability.

In 1976, the factory started production of new wristwatches with a stopwatch function: chronograph model number 3133. For this development, the factory staff was awarded with a State Bonus Reward. At the beginning, watches were intended for the Navy officers and were produced under the Okean (Ocean) brand name. Later, the factory started to make modifications intended for the Air Force, with a Sturmanskie brand name (model 31659, a watch with a second hand arrester and pointer of time zones) and another Sturmanskie watch with a pointer of time zones (model 3133). The production of these watches was limited and subjected to strict military inspections. Only nine years later, in 1983, watches with a 3133 movement were made available to the public.

At the end of the 70-ies and the beginning of the 80-ies, the factory put into production the quartz 30 series calibers watches, and later - 24 and 16 calibers. The quartz movements were mainly exported to Southeast Asian countries: Hong Kong and Singapore. In some years, export achieved up to 3 – 4 million pieces per year.
 

During the 70 year history, the First Watch Factory kept leading position in the area of man’s wrist mechanical watch production. Today the 1st Moscow Watch Factory also remains the first. Extensive experience, strong design capabilities, enormous technological potential, and spirit of innovation helped the factory to survive during a difficult periods and allow it to face the future with confidence. Today “Poljot” is a leader among the producers of high-class man’s wrist watches, a producer of unique movements, such as the chronographic movement 3133, the alarm movement “Signal” 2612, and the factory’s pride a 6MX marine chronometer. Furthermore, mechanical chronographs and “Signal” analogues today are in production only in several factories in Switzerland.

The high level of technological development, design and the high quality of “Poljot” production are also confirmed by the fact that the administration of the President of Russia has chosen a “Poljot” 3133 watch as an official government award “From President of Russia”.

late 1990s quartz movement production ceases, export of basic ebauches ceases, company refocuses on niche-markets

2000-2003 Several new movements with complications introduced, including 31679 chrono with moonphase

2002 ex-Poljot employees form Volmax

2003 Renamed '1st Moscow Watch Factory', Poljot brand limited to domestic market

2003 begin production of export brands Sturmanskie, Buran and Aviator for Volmax