Horological Meandering

asiaassoc
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There were better quality watches for railroad and technical applications

This was a presentation piece. In the 30s and 40s factories also produced a 15-jewel version of the Type-1 movement for industrial and military applications. A photo of a typical early 15-jewels railroad piece is attached. This one was made by the 1st Moscow Watch Factory - Kirov in 1938 (Q-3). It is inscribed on the back: "''Railway of Donetsk No. 18''. Donetsk, a large city in Eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river, is the administrative center of Donetsk province.

There were also military versions of the Type-1 produced in the 30s. These had much more utilitarian cases and dials. In World War Two, Russian soldiers often referred to their Type-1 wristwatches as "Coffee Cans".

After World War Two, a series of technology infusions from LIP in France and from confiscated German factories (see earlier posts on the Type-59 Soviet UROFA-Tutima) resulted in a plethora of world class Soviet watch and clock movements. But that, as they say, is another story...