Caliber 2209 is a Soviet stunner
Caliber 2209 is a Soviet stunner
23 jewels gold plated and at the time was the slimmest watch movement.
Under Stalins order Russia started producing watches to cut dependency on Swiss movements and eventually soviet watches dominated the wristwatch market.
The 2209 can be found in many Russian watches as it was in production from 1963 to mid 1970s and as most will know, the soviet mode of production created abundance. Apparently there are people to this day with NOS parts bins assembling these to sell.
What's your favourite caliber, brand or even country of origin?
I'm a big Sea-gull head. The ST19 is beautiful. ST25 skeletonized movements are fun/hypnotizing. The ST2130 (ETA 2824-2 clone) has a 4 hz sweep and outstanding timekeeping stability.
I also have a soft spot for the 7120 / Tongji Chinese Standard movement, the first one I ever took apart. Very much like Soviet movements, designed to be good, reliable, and produced in quantities of millions.
For Soviet/Russian movements, shout out to the Slava 2427 with day and date, and to the Vostok 2431 with a 24-hour hour hand.
I've been meaning to get into Chinese wristwatches, is Sea-Gull supported by the CCP? What I am mostly interested in is "the people watch" kind of movements. I will probably buy a pre Sea-Gull movement (WuXing)/(Five Stars) or a Dong Feng
I don't know what their current status is vis a vis the party. The Tianjin watch factory for sure started as a state enterprise in the 50s. Sea-gulls from the 80s and 90s (ST5, ST7) were still definitely in the People's Watch territory, at the higher end. Of the modern movements, the ST19 chronograph movement is a direct descendant of the movements Tianjin made for the People's Liberation Army Air Force in the '60s.
The Tongji standard movements are true people's watch movements. You can get new old stock Shanghai 7120 watches for peanuts on aliex, and bare movements for even less. Merkur is an interesting aliex brand making new, vintage-inspired watches with those traditional movements in them too.