# Poljot Prices Are Insane! What Is Going On?



## beau t (Jul 25, 2005)

I am a newbie here but not in the WIS world. I discovered Poljot 3-4 years ago and since then it seems we have a fad going on. For those of you who are new, I hope you didn't pay $300 for an Aviator.

Every 17 jewel hand wind was $79 and every chrono was $175. Everything else was in between.

Why is this? It is ridiculous!

Since my Poljot phase I have moved on, but recently I came across a fellow that had the Ocean Chrono and fell in love with Poljot again.

Does anyone where to get one for under $200(new or used)? Don't get me wrong, I very much adore the brand. It is just the prices have sky rocketed.

Beau T


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## Xantiagib (Apr 22, 2005)

The prices indeed have rocketed but this is because the Aviator is issued as a brand on its own and part of the Volmax line-up - Volmax are putting saphire crystals and ETA movements on some of the watches, quality control is much higher and the prices are even more astronomical...

Aviators can still be found in stock at some retailers (the poljot badged ones)

or on fleabay... grab one if you find one


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## DynamiteD (Apr 21, 2005)

I first saw and liked the look of the Poljot Shturmanskie Okeah round about Christmas time. It was available on various websites for around the Â£100 mark. I prevaricated for some time, then finally bought one a couple of months ago for the best price I could find at the time... Â£140 including shipping.

Sadly Roy did not know how long it would be before he could get hold of one, but his price would have been Â£149 plus shipping.

It's the very same watch. A 40% increase in 6 months is silly.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I havent been following exchange rates but this could be a reason, I bet the reason is the watches costing more from suppliers and retailers having to up the costs to keep margins the same...

Did you guys read the thread from John (JoT) when he was looking at a Poljot in Moscow?

Roys price Â£150

Moscow price Â£280 ( I think, something like that)


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

There is now a UK distributor for Volmax watches. The problem I have is that they wan't double the price that I have been paying from Russia and my Russian supplier now says that I have to buy them from the UK. I'm debating whether to drop Poljot and Volmax watches.


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## pda4live (May 6, 2005)

Roy:

Bad news indeed


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## rsykes2000 (Dec 3, 2003)

Roy said:


> There is now a UK distributor for Volmax watches. The problem I have is that they wan't double the price that I have been paying from Russia and my Russian supplier now says that I have to buy them from the UK. I'm debating whether to drop Poljot and Volmax watches.
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Protectionism wins again at the expense of the retailer and consumer


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Roy said:


> There is now a UK distributor for Volmax watches. The problem I have is that they wan't double the price that I have been paying from Russia and my Russian supplier now says that I have to buy them from the UK. I'm debating whether to drop Poljot and Volmax watches.
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pda4live said:


> Roy:
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> Bad news indeed
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Bad news indeed









I hope this won`t effect you stocking Vostok`s


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I think we have seen the end of an era, as many will know the 1st Moscow Watch Factory i.e. Poljot is no more.

Volmax, a company set up in 2002 by former employees of Poljot in a building on the 1MWF site are producing watches under the brand names of Aviator, Shturmanskie and Buran. Poljot labelled watches are still being produced by Volmax using the stock they purchased from 1MWF.

The movement situation is even less clear. All I can say for certain at present is that another Russian watch company called "Maktime" (a producer of garish gold watches since 1996) completed a deal with the 1MWF earlier this year and bought the Calibre 3133 machinery. This has since been moved to their factory in Moscow and they have started producing Calibre 3133's and it's variants. These movements are being sold to Volmax and others (anyone noticed "Pilot" watches with the 3133? I have yet to find out if this is Volmax or another manufacturer). The movement will retain the Poljot name so it is possible that Maktime have the rights to the Poljot brand.

What has happened to the production of the 2609, 2614, 2616, 2624, 2627, 2628 etc movements? The short answer is "I don't know". Volmax are still producing watches with these movements, speculation is that they are using the stock they purchased from 1MWF. I fear they will be consigned to history once the 1MWF stock bought by Volmax is exhausted.

The whole process sounds like a classic Russian style privatisation to me, in my experience I have come across many state owned or part-privatised enterprises with huge Soviet era infrastructure and hundreds of employees. As the free market economy develops they become unsubstainable. Factories like 1MWF are not viable so are broken up and sold piecemeal.

Volmax are going up-market; on my last trip to Moscow I spent time looking at the new watches ... the finish seems better, bracelets are better, you now get fancy new boxes and so on. The other thing that struck me was the increased use of Swiss movements ..... and prices are rising ..... the end of an era.

So I will have to dust off my Russian collection and say "I bought these when they were 100% in-house produced" !


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Can I have my Aviator back?


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

jasonm said:


> Can I have my Aviator back?
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It makes a nice pair with my black one


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I bet









About time we had a chrono group shot.....


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I feel guilty now


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Stop it, I was just kidding!!!!


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

I think I'll have to hang on to the 31628 engine'd one I have in the sales forum if they are going to become defunct









It might well have a dodgy 24 hr wheel from the factory, but at least it's an honest Poljot with a Poljot movement.

I might even raise the price, rather than drop it


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

George the 31628 is a dressed up 3133 ... so it should still be made by Maktime.

But yours is 100% in-house









What's up with the 24-hour wheel? Is it a constant offset with the main hour hand if so you could get the hour hand re-positioned


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

It's the model with the 24hr hand / day-night indicator John. Roy's already had a go at it and decided it probably needs a new gear wheel somewhere - so he sold it with the fault present. It's OK - I'm not looking to get it fixed or anything.

But it is offset a bit. It was about 4 hours "slow" when I got it, it seems to have "drifted" to about 3 hours slow now, so as Roy said to me earlier "it has a mind of its own"









It keeps good time and the chrono functions work perfectly, so its just a bit idiosynchratic. I had the back off last night to ID the movement and its a 31628 and Poljot branded. But I don't know if that means it's come from the Maktime factory or not.

I also understand that the 3133 is a derivative of the Valjoux 7733? or possibly the 3133's are made with the purchased 7733 tooling - the 7733 itself is a Venus cal derivative?

Maybe some truth in there somewhere?


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

George Maktime only started making the movements a few months ago.

I found this a while back ... can't remember where though ... so my apologies to the originator.


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## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

I'll have to read that when I get home mate, my firewall blocks just about all personal website hosts.


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## Xantiagib (Apr 22, 2005)

that diagram is correct - the 3133 is a reworked 7734 (not 7733)

improved and re-engineered as many parts are not interchangeable

has extra jewels (23 as opposed to 17) even then some of these jewels serve both sides so the jewel count should be higher


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## johnp (Jan 10, 2005)

Shame about Poljot, I thought my Aviator chrono (Fortis style) was brilliant value at Â£130 four years ago even with it's dodgy chrono that sometimes jumps a couple of minutes on its dial. John.


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## adrian (May 23, 2004)

I drooled a bit over Moscow Nights with Moljnia movement. When they first appeared to a US distributor they were around 425$ and 300$ discounted in some places. I believed was too much. Right now they cost 750$.







The manufacturer is free to ask whatever he wants. I'm free to refuse to buy.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

johnp said:


> Shame about Poljot, I thought my Aviator chrono (Fortis style) was brilliant value at Â£130 four years ago even with it's dodgy chrono that sometimes jumps a couple of minutes on its dial. John.
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I`ve never noticed any `jumping` on my Ocean Chrono with 3133 or my Sturmanskie Chrono with 31682











adrian said:


> I drooled a bit over Moscow Nights with Moljnia movement. When they first appeared to a US distributor they were around 425$ and 300$ discounted in some places. I believed was too much. Right now they cost 750$.
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I agree Adrian the price of the Moscow Nights is steep especially when the same basic movement is used in Molnia Pocket watches selling for less then Â£30.


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## Xantiagib (Apr 22, 2005)

The moscow nights model is not a poljot its a poljot-international model

this is a company that makes watches from russian parts and finishes them and has a high quality control in Germany - hence the higher prices

do not confuse the two


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## seiko6139 (Aug 25, 2003)

Xantiagib said:


> The moscow nights model is not a poljot its a poljot-international model
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> this is a company that makes watches from russian parts and finishes them and has a high quality control in Germany - hence the higher prices
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Junkers do the same too.


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## adrian (May 23, 2004)

Xantiagib said:


> The moscow nights model is not a poljot its a poljot-international model
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> this is a company that makes watches from russian parts and finishes them and has a high quality control in Germany - hence the higher prices
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Yes, you are right, they are somehow different companies. The cases and movements are made in Russia and inspected in Germany. I wonder how many are rejected. Even if the Nikolay and Gorbachev chronos are nice ones there were a lot of issues with the movements, so the QA doesn't seem that great. Anyway with the price they ask for a Moscow Nights I could buy an Eberhard Traversetolo.


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