For today I have the (just received) Sekonda Braille watch for visually impaired people. Now I know there are other makes of Braille watches so there is no exclusivity with Russian watches, but there are quite an abundance of these watches about, mainly raketa’s. Also there are some Slava alarm clocks and the odd Molnija pocket watch I believe.
The power house in this model is a hand wind Raketa 2601.H movement but as you will notice there is no second hand as I assume this would be to delicate . Therefore it has a solid cannon pinion to aide robustness and thicker hands. The idea is the user can feel the hands in relation to the Braille marks. Also it has a flip up hinged crystal for access and on this model the button is incorporated in the crown, whereas earlier models had a separate button.
I was pleased to get this particular one as I’m a fan of early sekondas and this one apart from a couple of scratches on the crystal (which will meet Mr. polywatch soon) is in great condition and in the last 36 hrs has kept perfect time although I must say it does seem weird to me with no second hand as nearly all my collection have them.
If you would like to see more of these watches there is a superb collection amongst other immaculate Russian watches here http://mroatman.wix.com/watches-of-the-ussr Dashiell’s collection is one of my favourites.
Thanks for looking DW.