Two of my friends became interested in Soviet vintage watches after I showed them a Raketa World Time. There is something about this watch that just captures your attention and makes you want to acquire one. Right now.
Perhaps an excellent wrist presence at 43mm? Or a perfectly legible beautiful dial? What is sure is that this model is becoming more and more popular, and there are less and less samples in good condition. In this article we’ll go through the main characteristics of this watch and give you some buying advice.
Table of Contents
Intro: are we talking about a real worldtimer?
As you can imagine, Soviet designers didn’t invent the concept of a worldtimer watch: it existed since the 1930’s. Worldtimer mechanical watches feature complications that allow you to determine local time in multiple locations and are considered really high-end timepieces that can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Raketa Goroda (Города: cities), on the other hand, has no complications at all, besides its rotating bezel. One may even think that it turned out to be less complex than initially planned: the dial has a 24-hours indication, but the movement installed in the watch is a regular 12-hours 2628.H. Was it decided to replace the movement in order to make the production of the watch cheaper or the indications are there to facilitate the usage of the rotating bezel? I’m afraid we’ll never know. What is sure however is that you’ll have a hard time using the Goroda as a traveller’s watch.
This being said, you can still use it to determine approximate time difference between cities. Let’s imagine it’s midnight in Moscow. If you turn the bezel to set Moscow to 12 o’clock, you will notice that Buenos Aires is located at 18… And this is correct, as Buenos Aires is 6 hours behind Moscow. More often than not though, there will be no exact match due to Daylight Saving Time adjustments and historical changes. Feel free to check it out by yourself, that’s a fun exercise! You will find a translation of all the cities in the end of this article.
Elements of the Raketa Goroda
This watch was produced in the 1980’s (edit: production seems to have started in the end of the 70’s). References can be found in various catalogues from this period.
Dial
The dial is the first weak point of the Raketa World Time. It’s rarely in flawless condition, with either patina spots, sun burns, cracks or simply missing paint. So you need to look for the best possible condition.
Dial color & hour markers
Dials on Raketa Worldtimers come in different colors:
- Blue (most common)
- Bordeaux (less common)
- Green (even less common)
- Chocolate brown (rare)
All dials feature 24 hour markings at the edge, the “Raketa” inscription and “made in USSR” (СДЕЛАНО В СССР). There is a framed window for day and date.
Possible variations:
- “Raketa” can be written in italic (“hand-written” version) or in capital letters (capital letters were used on later models). See the green dial above for an example.
- The dial may feature the State Mark of Quality. See blue and bordeaux dials above.
- Hour markers (and the window frame) can be either golden or silver in color. In principle, the color of hour markers should match the case.
- Inscriptions can be in English (this is the “export version”). In this case, cities on the bezel and day of the week are also in English.
Case
The second weak point. The case on this watch is either chrome-plated or gold-plated and is tricky to find in good condition. More often than not, some plating is lost either on the sides or at the back of the case. Ask for pictures of the sides and of the back to evaluate the damage.
Note: on the latest models, the case can be with titanium nitride coating (check out Lucidor’s watch, aimed at the Italian market yet with cyrillic writing).
Worldtimers with blue dials can come in chrome-plated or gold-plated cases (hour markers and hands will match the case). To my knowledge, bordeaux, green and chocolate brown are encountered only in gold-plated cases.
Hands
Hands usually look like on the left watch above. They match the case color (chrome-plated cases with nickel-plated hands & gold-plated cases with gold-plated hands). This is the version that is present in catalogs.
However, sometimes (~10% of watches) I also encounter a different set of hands, visible on the right watch above. You may notice that the hour hand is significantly longer and touches the outer edge of hour markers. Furthermore, these hands have a “slit” at their base. I haven’t been able to find these hands on any other model by Raketa, and they fit the World Time rather well, so I think they may be original.
Watch out for hands from other models. Another attention point is the length of the second hand, it must arrive at the outer edge of hour markers (I’ve seen a few watches with shorter, incorrect second hands).
Movement
Raketa Goroda is powered by a manual-wind 19 jewels movement Raketa 2628.H with 18,000 beats per hour, stamped “SU” as Soviet Union. This is a very sturdy and simple to service mechanism which usually has quite a high level of precision. Power reserve can exceed 40 hours!
First position of the crown lets you wind the watch. Second position allows you to set the time. If you pull out the crown to the third position, the date will advance. The day of the week is set by simply turning the hands until you have the correct day.
Caseback
The usual caseback does not have a serial number. It has the following markings: “Пылезащищенные” (dust-proof) and “Противоударный баланс” (anti-shock balance). Later versions have a more elaborate caseback with a serial number, a dome, and markings “Сделано в СССР” (made in the USSR) and “Ракета” (Raketa).
How to buy a Raketa World Time?
I hope you are convinced that Raketa Goroda is a great watch to have in the collection. Here is a checklist in case you wanted to buy one:
- Dial: is it the correct design? There are so many listings on eBay where the dial has been replaced. If the dial is correct, carefully examine its surface for defects and damages.
- Bezel: try to find an unscratched one.
- Case: check the sides and the back for possible losses of plating.
- Colors: color of the case should correspond to the color of hour markings and hands.
- Language: bezel, markings on the dial and the week day should be in the same language (Russian or English).
- Movement: 2628.H as pictured above, stamped “SU”. As usual, ask for service history.
- Caseback: does it look like one of the versions above?
- Bracelet: I don’t think that there was a specific bracelet for this watch. In catalogues it is shown on leather straps of different colors. I find that it’s easier to wear this watch on a vintage Soviet strap (like in the first photo of this article), but it looks great on any quality leather.
I hope you found this article helpful. As usual, this is a work-in-progress, so if you notice any discrepancies or want to add some information, please get in touch or leave a comment below. Also feel free to show your worldtimers in the comments area!
Add-ons
Known variations
While doing research for this article, I came across some interesting variations of the Worldtimer. All of them seem to be legit:
- Early version with day only (no date), powered by a 2625 movement. Source: Vilos / forum.watch.ru.
- Version with a white inner bezel with red numbers. Source: Alchron / forum.watch.ru.
- Export version in a black chromed case and Cornavin branded dial. Source: Alexander Brodnikovski collection.
- Very impressive version or prototype with the crystal mounted on the bezel. Source: schnurrp.
Catalogue scans from 1985
Translation of cities featured on the watch
- Рейкьявик: Rejkjavik, Iceland
- Дакар: Dakar, Senegal
- Лондон: London, UK
- Женева: Geneva, Switzerland
- Москва: Moscow, Russia
- Горький: Gorky, Russia (Soviet-era name of Nizhny Novgorod, from 1932-1990)
- Свердловск: Sverdlovsk, Russia (Soviet-era name of Yekaterinburg from 1924-1991)
- Ташкент: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
- Новосибирск: Novosibirsk, Russia
- Иркутск: Irkutsk, Russia
- Якутск: Yakutsk, Russia
- Владивосток: Vladivostok, Russia
- Магадан: Magadan, Russia
- П-Камчатский: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia
- Анадырь: Anadyr, Russia
- Самоа: Samoa
- Гонолулу: Honolulu, Hawaii
- Аляска: Alaska
- Сан-Франциско: San-Francisco
- Денвер: Denver
- Чикаго: Chicago
- Нью-Йорк: New York
- Буэнос Айрес: Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Рио де Жанейро: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(Credit goes to BlueSmokeLounge)
Gallery of a New Old Stock Raketa World Time, blue dial in chrome
What’s interesting here, besides the stunning condition of the watch, is the original passport. It provides instructions for reading time zones (in Russian) and indicates the production date: February 1979. Enjoy.
Further reading : learn more about Raketa and Soviet watch industry
Reference
Vintage Watch Inc
Dennis is the founder and editor of Vintage Watch Inc. Passionate about Soviet and Japanese vintage timepieces and a finance professional by day, he proudly wears a Seiko Pogue with his suit.
The export version shown above with English bezel has the calendar in Cyrillic. Additionally the hands are silver instead the markers are gold plated and most likely the seconds hand was replaced (white). They all seem to be signs of manipulation (Franken maybe?). Just an observation: great article!!
Hi Simon, thanks for your comment. Not sure which photo you are referring to, but the blue dial export bezel version above has the calendar in English, as expected (“WED”). The case, the hands and the markers are all silver color. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference though, depending on the lighting conditions, device, etc.
I was referring to “Export version in a black chromed case and Cornavin branded dial. Source: Alexander Brodnikovski collection”. Thank you
Yeah, these are “one of a kind” watches. On that Cornavin quite a few things seem out of place, indeed.
Speaking of “sui generis” watches: here is an interesting Red & Gold Raketa Cornavin Edition.
On the bottom of the dial, it is visible the State quality mark of the USSR over imposed on the “shockproof” indication.
Is this Raketa World Time real or fake? can se that the bezel is in english and the calendar is Russian.
Yeah, this doesn’t look very good to me. Besides the issue that you identified (calendar and bezel are in different languages = franken), the dial is from another watch (and the second hand as well if what we can see on the picture is its round end).
Ok, I suppose that is a no-go for that one.
Great information. What does it mean if the caseback just has a serial number on it? Everything else seems to be correct but it’s just marked in the middle with 007352.
Hi Charles, thanks for your comment. That’s a nice-looking English dial you have there! The correct bezel is also in good condition. Are hands and hour markers gilded? Usually, if they are gilded, the case should be gold-plated too. I also think the second hand is wrong, it shouldn’t be white. Regarding the caseback, I wouldn’t worry too much. I’ve seen a few variations (the ones pictured in the articles, and also a totally plain one), and it wouldn’t surprise me if the “export” version came with a numbered caseback.
Hey, thank you for the informative article! I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking a glance over at a similar model, namely this one:
You’ll note that it has “Ekaterinburg” yet “Made in USSR” which makes me suspicious, yet the quality seems good, the movement is correct, and while I haven’t seen any coloured dial variation with papers, all the coloured dial variations have the same sets of hands.
But I’ll leave it up to the expert!
Hi Michael, thanks for your comment. To my knowledge, there were no blue dial Raketa 24 Hours World Time (only beige). In my opinion, this is a modern dial that wasn’t printed at the Raketa factory. There are quite a few of these fantasy dial 24-hour watches sold on Etsy or eBay…
Hey, thanks for the feedback! I agree that it does look pretty frankened.
I did a bit of digging though and it seems like the bezels around the watch I posted is unique… the inner ring has Arctic stations (Byrd, Bellinghausen etc.) To my knowledge, frankened watches are from various other watch parts, which would imply a Raketa (or other) watch with these Arctic station bezels. I was wondering if you’ve come across a watch like that?
Thank you for your help! Your site has been invaluable for starting watch fan like me!
The bezel with cities on the watch you showed is indeed different from the ones used by Raketa on their 24 hours World Time watches. In fact, the watch you’ve shown is somewhere in the middle between a franken and a fake: while the case and the movement look like authentic pieces made at the Raketa factory, the dial and the internal bezel with cities were most probably produced in China and have nothing to do with Raketa.
Interesting. Thanks for the info!
Excellent article. A very useful reference for any potential buyer of the great watch – many thanks. However, one point confuses me . You affirm that there are only 2 legit types of back cases, ie : the earlier version with the inscription “Пылезащищенны – Противоударный баланс” and the later one with the dome & markings “Сделано в СССР -Ракета”. If you are correct, the splendid blue dial / chromed case NOS with papers presented at the end of your article is therefore not 100% correct as it is fitted with a plain back case ? Many thanks for clarification,
Great question. I’ve handled quite a few more Worldtimers since writing this article and some of them did have either totally plain or numbered casebacks. I guess we should accept that there were several different casebacks installed on these watches.
Hello, there’s a possiblity to get this Worldtimer, I’m just wondering if it’s in such good condition or if there’s something wrong with it… What do you think? : )
Looks like a repainted dial (or from a different watch?). The shade seems too dark and the numbers (7, 9, 11 etc) are not visible, have they been painted over?
I’ve seen a number of these with grey dials and there appears to be a picture of one in your article in the case section. Are these genuine or fake?
Thoughts on this Raketa? Thinking about buying it and looks in impossibly hard to find great condition.
Any way to find out it’s age without the passport?
Doesn’t look bad indeed! Just make sure that the hour markers are chrome and not gold, it’s a bit tricky to see depending on the lighting. There’s no way to my knowledge to determine the watch’s age without its passport. You can get some indications based on typography and movement markings, but nothing really precise.
I just bought a Raketa World Timer. It is chrome case, blue dial. If is near flawless condition to the point that I suspect if it is a replica. Have these watches been cloned?
Very nice and educative article. What is your opinion on this blue dial with capital letters? I cannot find examples of it in the catalogues I have to compare. The caseback is the one from the newer models. The blue is a bit lighter than on the cursive models shown here and seen elsewhere, is that normal? It almost has a similar shine like the Raketa perpetual calender. Also, in which years were those with the newer caseback produced?
Hi Vlad, this is a lovely example which looks totally legit. Raketa in capital letters is correct, and the lighter shade as well. I’ve used to own one of these but sadly sold it; regret it now. Can’t help with the exact production years, I just know that these are the later variants. End of 80’s probably?
Thank you very much for the fast reply and again for the article. Really great information and help for these beautiful and interesting watches.
hallo. I just bought a goroda in chocolate brown. It is fantastic. I wondered how rare these watches are, mostly in this specific color (maybe the quantity out of the total). Great article by the way
Hi there! Great article! I am interested in these watches a lot! I see that there seem to be multiple images of these watches with gray dials. I understand that blue may seem gray in certain lighting, but the image of the bronze watch attached to the link to ebay seems to be irrefutably gray. Do you know how one would track down watches with these gray dials? They look quite stunning