# Poljot Zivil Chronograph



## wotsch (Jan 5, 2011)

Dear All,

as I mentioned in yesterday's Saturday thread, I wanted to have another go at taking some photos of my Poljot Zivil chronograph. As the watch has a lot of reflecting surfaces, I've always found it difficult to get decent shots. I've had the watch nearly two years and tried a number of times to photograph it, always with disappointing results. This morning I used a tripod for the first time to photograph a watch. This time, I'm rather pleased with the results, so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

In the first photo, I've successfully managed to slightly blur the background with a shallow depth of field (I think that's what it's called)., You can see how reflective the polished case and dial are:



Poljot-Zivil-10small by wotsch2, on Flickr

The second one, from the same position but zoomed in closer, captures the elegance and balance of the dial. I'm very pleased with the shallow depth of field on this one:



Poljot-Zivil-11small by wotsch2, on Flickr

What I like about the next shot, which is even closer in and from a different angle, is that you can clearly see the hour, minute and chronograph second hand reflected in the dial. It really is almost impossible to get a shot without something reflecting. The watch face is about as far away from being matte as you can get:



Poljot-Zivil-12small by wotsch2, on Flickr

I don't have a Macro lens, so the next one is cut from a larger photo and blown up. It's not a sharp as a macro lens would get it, but you can see the circular pattern on the sub-dials quite nicely:



Poljot-Zivil-17small by wotsch2, on Flickr

This one, taken from above, is the shot with the least reflections that I managed to take this morning. I'd like to know what the text on the dial says. I think the second word is "chronograph", is the first "Russian"? All text on the watch, front and back is in the Cyrillic alphabet:



Poljot-Zivil-14small by wotsch2, on Flickr

The movement is, of course, a 3133. The case back has a small window on the movement, which looks quite unusual when you're used to the fully-open glass backs on modern watches. The watch is in pretty good condition, especially after I had the crystal replaced, but it's not perfect and here you can there are quite a lot of scratches on the case back:



Poljot-Zivil-16small by wotsch2, on Flickr

I hope you like the pictures and the watch!

-wotsch


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## Dazzer (Dec 7, 2011)

Love the photo's and love the watch :thumbsup:

OK so it's no secret I love Poljots.

My favourite photo is the close up with the book text reflecting back in the polished case.

Great work Wotsch.


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## chris.ph (Dec 29, 2011)

i dread to think what you think of a good watch photo after looking at your pictures of that lovely poljot, none of my phots come anywhere near the clarity youve managed to capture


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## dowsing (Sep 21, 2006)

Love this model, great photo's and taste wotsch.


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## Rampant (Nov 27, 2012)

Beautiful - well done on the quality if the pictures. A tripod certainly helps 

Your photos make me want one of my own 

Cheerz

Mark H


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## wotsch (Jan 5, 2011)

chris.ph said:


> i dread to think what you think of a good watch photo after looking at your pictures of that lovely poljot...


Maybe I didn't express myself very well - I *am* very pleased with these photos. I've been less happy* up until today* with my efforts, especially with this watch.

I think the difference comes from three things I did today, after reading the link that Mr. Andy Tims posted here (click). These are:


I used a tripod and the timer-release on the camera to avoid shake (I've previously always just held my breath when pressing the button)

I drew a white curtain over the window to diffuse the light coming in

I took concious notice of the aperture setting and varied it to have some influence over the depth of field


I'm really amazed at how much more satisfying the resulting photos are, especially the sharpness due to the camera being on a tripod and not wobbling even slightly. I think my photos just went up a level and I'm going to try to maintain that from now on.



Rampant said:


> A tripod certainly helps
> 
> Your photos make me want one of my own


My better half has one but I always thought it was for doing portraits so I never thought of using it. It sure makes a difference.

-wotsch


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## Draygo (Mar 18, 2010)

Good stuff, Wotsch.

As I said yesterday on the Saturday thread, it's a lovely watch and a class act. These new photos definitely do it better justice so it was worth the extra work.

I like this a lot - just the right amount of restrained busy-ness, and nice details. I especially like the hands. And this iteration of the Poljot logo is great - cyrillic, with crown, plus wings - and 'applied' its even nicer.

Thanks for posting the new pics. Now you can do the same on that fabulous Sinn...!


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## wotsch (Jan 5, 2011)

Draygo said:


> Now you can do the same on that fabulous Sinn...!


You mean the Damasko? I don't have a Sinn (yet, unfortunately)...

-wotsch


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## Draygo (Mar 18, 2010)

wotsch said:


> Draygo said:
> 
> 
> > Now you can do the same on that fabulous Sinn...!
> ...


Doh! I do. Brain remembered black and red, fingers typed Sinn. At least I got the country right


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Beautiful!! And great shots too! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:


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## Draygo (Mar 18, 2010)

Just as a mater of interest, here's a page from the 2002 catalogue (release time for this model, I think), courtesy of polmax3133 on WUS.










You can see that the similarity with the Gagarin is no coincidence as it seems they were conceived together. I have a Gagarin (although a much later version) which I like... But the non24hr is cleaner.


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

That's very interesting, I would never spot the similarities. Same case, same chapter ring, only the dial/hands/movement changes.


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## wotsch (Jan 5, 2011)

@Draygo: thanks for posting that! I suspected that the watch was from the late 90s / early 00s, but I never had confirmation of that.

The case seems to be still available in the Poljot Traveller Chronograph - see Julian Kampmann's site, for example. (Can't link directly as it's a commercial site).

-wotsch


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## Draygo (Mar 18, 2010)

wotsch said:


> @Draygo: thanks for posting that! I suspected that the watch was from the late 90s / early 00s, but I never had confirmation of that.
> 
> The case seems to be still available in the Poljot Traveller Chronograph - see Julian Kampmann's site, for example. (Can't link directly as it's a commercial site).
> 
> -wotsch





Kutusov said:


> That's very interesting, I would never spot the similarities. Same case, same chapter ring, only the dial/hands/movement changes.


There's the same DNA in a few still. It's a shame the Traveller has the English text, I think. See also the similarities to my Gagarin, for example. But yours is 38mm isn't it Wotsch? The first Gagarins were too. Mine below is more recent and 42mm.


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## martinzx (Aug 29, 2010)

A great watch & great pictures 

Cheers Martin


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## wotsch (Jan 5, 2011)

Draygo said:


> But yours is 38mm isn't it Wotsch?


It's somewhere between 38mm and 39mm, but it seems larger on the wrist with the thin bezel.

-wotsch


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