Historical: Petrodvorets Classic 0113
We’re happy to announce the beginning of the historical section of our site. We’re still adding and adjusting new watches behind the scenes, but we’re also going to be selecting one older watch at a time and looking at it in detail. After almost 10 years of looking for this oddity, we finally have it in hand to take a closer look at. A big thank you as always to Raketa for supplying some of the additional historical data as this model did not appear in catalogs due to the factory’s transition to their current production processes.
This watch features many components together that were delegated to other lines at the time of its production. One of the most immediately striking things about the watch is the contrast between the brilliant white dial and incredible swaths of solid blue. It’s an amazing dial on par with watches such as Sinn’s 556 Mother of Pearl that costs an order of magnitude more than this watch did in 2014. Watches in the quartz line for Raketa ran $325-500 USD back when this watch was sold. I believe that if Seiko made such a dial, it would easily cost over a thousand dollars in their Presage line.
The dial truly is the winner of this watch as it completely steals the show when you gaze in its general direction. It’s bright, subtle, loud, and quiet all at the same time. I fondly think of powder snow glistening when I look at it. Maybe there’s a layer of ice concealed underneath that pokes out and shines just a moment as it catches daylight. Swirling it around in the sunlight produces the most beautiful patterns and combinations of light and shadow. It both captures and emulates the feel of something just on the surface of a foot of snow with untold depths just below. Using a natural material is such a smart choice for this watch, pearl produces colors and textures that any artificial process has not come close to emulating. Raketa has always done well using natural materials both in the past and present. This website was launched alongside the Big Zero Malevich in 2020 and it signaled a return to form for Raketa, bringing back beautiful natural materials for their dials and accents. The Petrodvorets Watch Factory’s other line, Imperial Peterhof Watches, focuses exclusively on their history of lapidary excellence. Natural materials have their drawbacks such as breakage, but at the benefit of organic beauty and individuality of each surface and angle, in addition to making every piece one-of-a-kind as a result.
Sitting against the icy dial are bright sky blue batons at the hour markers. Here we find yet another departure from pretty much every other Petrodvorets Classic lacks: marker surrounds. From any distance you can see stainless steel in high polish running their way around each baton around the dial. Raketa also chose not to include “кварц” (QUARTZ) between 7 and 8 o’clock, rendering this dial an even more exceptional specimen. It may have been due to the limitations of dial printing and the material of pearl. Here is a comparison of a Petrodvorets Classic from the same time period:
Notice the lack of кварц on the dial, the size of the logo, and the orientation of the hour markers below 6.
It’s not distortion or damage: the mid case for this Petrodvorets Classic has an abrupt “squeeze” from the sides, as if Raketa wanted to make an ice cream sandwich with the dial. This protrusion is highly reminiscent of stepped avant-garde case designs from Roger Dubious and Gerald Charles. While not as finely finished as their Swiss counterparts, the case has had distortion free polish applied to the sides while lavishly finishing off the dial bezel and case top section metals in a beautiful brushed finish. It adds a welcome dimension of interest to the case that other models since have lacked.
The little crown on the end was typical for Raketa during this time period. Capped in their signature red, it looks like a small kremlin proudly sitting alongside the case. The crown has only two positions with its Ronda 763 beating away inside one time per second. The choice of a Swiss mechanism may seem strange, but it remains common practice today for many brands of all nationalities due to the complexity of setting up a manufacturing line of chips and boards. Quartz mechanisms make good “grab and go” watches and Ronda’s movement here will keep time to around a minute per month if let run continuously. Like many quartz movements, the life of the battery can be extended by leaving the crown in the open position.
From this angle it is easy to see the differences in finish and design between two models less than a year apart.
I wouldn’t ever advise swimming with vintage watches, and largely even though many of these watches were made in the last 10 years- Raketa produced only a handful of rated swimming watches at the time and most of the watches it has produced are good for light rain and little else. This edition has a 10 ATM rated screw-down caseback yet has a generic push-pull crown with single gasket. While it’s true that screwed cases have less general wear and tear than traditional snap-back cases do, the lack of additional seals around the crown and crystal prevent this watch from being swimming rated. Indeed, I would not advise any owners of any non-modern Raketa to swim with them. Coupled with the lack of replacement parts and I think it’s safe to assume that it is a bad idea.
I hope Raketa comes back to this model in the future. Right now they are very big into stone dials and their upcoming releases only look to get bigger and bolder. A new winter model with a Russian Mother of Pearl dial may be something to behold if they can get the design this interesting a second time around.