# I Found An Old Sekonda Watch.



## AlexFord (Apr 4, 2011)

Hey there, yesterday whilst at my parents place for the weekend I helped out with a spot of spring cleaning. On looking through a suitcase that belonged to my grandfather I discovered an old Sekonda 23 Jewel mechanical wristwatch.

Now I know that Sekonda was, before the Iron Curtain came down, largely an importer of Russian timepieces to the west, but I'm no expert on watches and I was hoping if anybody could fill me in on details. Is this a good quality watch? What decade is it from? That kind of thing.

I've been looking nice wrist watch for a while, I was actually looking for an old TAG that my dad had in the eighties when I found this one.

I'll upload a picture too, but as a general description the watch has a two tone brushed metal face, the top half horizontal and the bottom half vertical. A gold rim, and a black strap. The words "Sekonda", "23 Jewels" and right down at the bottom, straddling six o'clock, "USSR" - which I find kind of eerie having been born in 1989. 

Any info would be nice, as this thing pre-dates me presumably, and I don't mind if a moderator moves this to a more appropriate place. I'm new here.


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

It's not an uncommon watch, but it may be a rather nice one. I have a similar watch with the same dial, and the movement has the model number 2209. This was, at one time, an award winning very thin movement, and, if serviced, should continue to keep good time.

Sekonda was formed in the early 60's as a single name to represent all of the Soviet watches exported to th UK. As a result they handled watches from makers such as Luch, Poljot, Vostok etc.

I suspect yours, like mine, may be a Poljot under the skin. If you can remove the back without damage, try and take a large picture of the innards. We may see the distinctive Poljot crown or other makers mark, or movement number.

Also look beteen the lugs (where the strap pins are) on the case for a marking 'au 20' or similar. This indicates that the case is goldplated. Soviet gold plating was, IMHO, very good, (read thick), and often survives well.

Servicing is not expensive, and our host here, Roy, will sell you a new leather strap for a few pounds... then you'll have a classic watch from Soviet Russia.

Thse watchs are still not expensive; 15-25 will buy you a nice one on the bay of tears.. oh yes, very late 60s/early mid 70's?

Welcome to the forum.


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## AlexFord (Apr 4, 2011)

chris l said:


> It's not an uncommon watch, but it may be a rather nice one. I have a similar watch with the same dial, and the movement has the model number 2209. This was, at one time, an award winning very thin movement, and, if serviced, should continue to keep good time.
> 
> Sekonda was formed in the early 60's as a single name to represent all of the Soviet watches exported to th UK. As a result they handled watches from makers such as Luch, Poljot, Vostok etc.
> 
> ...


Hey, thank you for the reply. Exactly the sort of info I was looking for. The image I posted was a large 14MP JPEG (photography student) when I uploaded it to photobucket, not sure why it's been reduced. I'm also not entirely sure how to remove the back. There is an indent in the gold which looks like it has something to do with that on the reverse.

It's all in working order with a strap too, I quite like it really.


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## AlexFord (Apr 4, 2011)

Link to a bigger image.


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

Mine, and what's inside...


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## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

chris l said:


> It's not an uncommon watch, but it may be a rather nice one. I have a similar watch with the same dial, and the movement has the model number 2209. This was, at one time, an award winning very thin movement, and, if serviced, should continue to keep good time.
> 
> Sekonda was formed in the early 60's as a single name to represent all of the Soviet watches exported to th UK. As a result they handled watches from makers such as Luch, Poljot, Vostok etc.
> 
> ...


great info Chris I. It encouraged me to pop the back of my own and have a look for the marks.

Welcome to the forum AlexFord. These are seriously underated watches, and as such are not worth a lot. All the better because you can then afford to build a nice little collection!


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## AlexFord (Apr 4, 2011)

Yes, that's exactly the same as mine. How do I get the back off exactly? I have precision screwdrivers?


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## AlexFord (Apr 4, 2011)

sorry but I had to delete that pic as it was huge ( 2697 x 3065 ) try resizing it about 1/4 of that size and reposting


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

It's a pop off back; put a small screwdriver blade flat into the depression so that the flat bears up against the steel back and lever gently....


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