Poljot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poljot

Poljot (Russian: Полёт, literally meaning "flight"), is a brand of Soviet/Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory (Russian: Первый Московский Часовой Завод, ПМЧЗ, Perviy Moskovskiy Chasovoy Zavod). The flagship brand of the USSR's watch industry, Poljot produced numerous historical watches used in many important space missions, including the world's first space watch worn by Yuri Gagarin.

On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. During his historic flight he wore a Sturmanskie pilots wristwatch (a transliteration of Штурманские which actually means "Navigator"). This watch was not specially commissioned for the flight, they were standard issue to all air force pilots at the time. The success of the mission however lead to the factory being awarded the Poljot (Russian: Полет) name in 1964.

In 1965 cosmonaut Alexei Leonov wore a FMWF Strela (transliteration of СТРЕЛА, which actually means "Arrow") chronograph during his historic first space walk, thus cementing Poljot's place in space history. As with Gagarin's first flight, Leonov's watch was not specially commissioned. The Strela replaced the Shturmanskie as the standard issue pilots watch. In the late 1970s, the Strela itself was replaced by a new breed of chronographs based around the (then new) 3133 movement (an original Russian movement similar in functionality to the Swiss Valjoux 7734, but with higher number of jewels 23 vs 17 and lever movement operating at 21,600 bph vs 18,000 bph). Poljot 3133-based watches continued where their predecessors left off and were taken into space by cosmonauts from Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine. On the wrist of cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, a Poljot 3133-based watch set a space record for the longest space flight in history.

The early STRELA history http://www.strela-watch.de/company/strela-history/, goes back to Russian chronograph models driven by the 1st Moscow Watch Factory caliber 3017, a very lofty column wheel chronograph based on the swiss Venus 150 / 152 caliber. The production equipment of the Venus 150/152 caliber with the corresponding drawings and know-how was imported from Switzerland to the Soviet Union in the mid-fifties. The cal. 3017 movement manufactured on this equipment then was a Soviet timekeeping product from the 1st Moscow Watch Factory (1.MWF, renamed to POLJOT after 1964), and one of the first chronograph movements produced in the Soviet Union.

The Early STRELA models

(STRELA in cyrillic: СТРЕЛА = arrow) were some of the first watches that incorporated this new 3017 Russian movement. The watches had two registers, 45 minute elapsed time and constant seconds hand and a central chronograph hand for measuring the elapsed seconds. The watches had a chrome plated case and a stainless steel snap case back. The first model was introduced around 1959 and at first it was only available to the Soviet Air Forces (BBC) and a few higher ranking officials. The childhood of STRELA was within the Soviet military and was based on the growing need for more precision in measuring time in the sky and on the field. These watches were official flight gear and objects of preference given to pilots and cosmonauts over a long period of time.

The design

The STRELA dial and hand design changed over time and came in quite a few versions and models, with tachymetric chapter rings, telemeter ring, with non-luminous and luminous dials. These various models were also issued under a few different names over time but today are all commonly called “STRELAs” by the informed Russian watch collectors. At first there were cyrillic “СТРЕЛА” models in the late sixties, then in the early seventies it was mainly the latin labeled “POLJOT” models, and after that in the later seventies the latin labeled “SEKONDA” appeared. Throughout this transformation the STRELA became more and more available to a wider circle of people like scientists and members of the Russian Railway and so on. At a certain point the watch was available to anyone who had the appropriate rubles. At the end of 1979 the total sum of produced STRELAs, (including СТРЕЛА, POLJOT & SEKONDA) reached 100.000 pieces

All Antique watches are mechanical. Many repairs will not be cheap, as most likely they will require replacement of non-standard parts (unlike most late model watches).

• Antique watches should not be beaten or dropped - because repairs may be expensive.
• Antique watches are generally NOT waterproof. This is because waterproofing was not in general production until the middle of the 20th century for most watches. Therefore you should protect your antique watch from exposure to moisture.
• If your watch becomes wet it should be dried off quickly. Carefully open all covers and use a hair drier to blow dry the movement, dial, covers, crown. This will reduce the amount of rust.
• If your watch becomes wet with any kind of salt water you should immediately immerse or spray your watch with fresh (no-salt) water to remove all the salt from the works before drying the watch completely. Any salt left in the watch will combine with moisture in the air to rust metal components of the movement, case etc.
• Winding any mechanical watch tight may break the mainspring. If you can avoid it do not wind the watch hard.
• When adjusting the hands of your watch, move them in a clockwise direction only. Counter-clockwise adjustments may damage the movement. It is desirable to adjust the hands of your watch at the same time every day. An automatic or self-winding watch should be worn for at least 8 hours a day. It is a mechanical watch in which the mainspring is wound automatically as a result of natural motion of the wearer's arm, to provide energy to run the watch, making manual winding unnecessary.
• If you must adjust counter-clockwise make it for small adjustments only (i.e. for minutes, NOT hours).
• Be careful and gentle when adjusting the movement speed (faster or slower). Don't make sharp movements, and don't touch other components in the movement especially the pendulum mechanism.
• Every 2-3 years it is necessary to service and oil vintage watches. If the course of your watches is worsening and the accuracy of the reduction in the duration of the clock (autonomy) from one fully wound spring - it need a service.
• IF the watch is dirty - allow the watch to run down, don't wind it again until you have it serviced by a qualified watch repair expert. Dust will absorb and remove important lubricants and cause the movement pieces to wear down.
• To clean the case, dial and crystal you should use a cloth that does NOT leave fibers as these may get caught up in the movement. Check with your Watch repair expert to get an appropriate cloth.
• Keep your antiques watch away from magnets. Strong magnetic fields may affect the accuracy of your watch since some vintage watches were made with iron based components in the movement.
• Most Cases and Covers are fine components and will not handle abuse well. The watch should not be shaken, beaten, or stressed.
• Antique watches generally experience an error of up to 5-7 minutes a day. Any accuracy of +- 5 minutes is very good.
• Mechanical watch is not recommended to use for engage in extreme sports, and expose them to excessive vibration loads. Recoil force, which take on the clock, affect their reliability and precision. No matter how perfect was not anti-shock mechanism, there is always the chance of excessive load that details of the mechanism can not survive.
• Watch with calendar. It is not recommended to adjust, the date between 20.00 and 06.00, because at this time involved a mechanism for automatic adjustment date. Translation pointers calendars manually in this position arrows may damage the mechanism. Date changes should be made, relegating pre-clockwise to lower sector of the dial (for example, to position 6 (18.00) hours).
• Chronograph watches. In most cases, these watches contain the "start/stop" button and "reset" button. It is strongly recommended not to press the "reset" if the chronograph is running. Before you use the "Reset" button need to stop the chronograph by button "start/stop". Using the "reset" when running chronograph can damage the mechanism of most models of watches.

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