# Soviet Era "Craba"Watch



## kennyf (Nov 25, 2009)

i recently found a surprisingly unique watch at an estate sale where the widow commented on her husbands foreign service deployments after WWII,as to the reasoning for such a diverse selection of merchandise.this find at first seemed like one of those lucky mishaps where old junk turns out to be a treasure found for less-than-a-dollar,on someones front lawn,during a weekends yard sale.seeing the distinctive soviet hammer and sickle,top centered on a watch face,brought an attention diverting double take back.once actually registering that thats really what was seen did a realization of its actually being some kind of russian interest collectible maybe.so inspection revealed that this wasnt any replica or a tourists collectible either.but it turned out to be a rather interestingly mysterious watch at the time.

to compliment the hammer and sickle below center was a faded CCCP in red also.the back also was stamped with a star inside a star a CCCP and the words MOCKBA KPEMAb.the front was also looked upon again with more attention to details.and a day of the week window accompanied by the typical date of the month on its right reading BTP 19.then the appearance of a manufacturing companies name neatly below the CCCP was evident..Craba...even without the movement of hands and its apparent well used worn appearance it was a must buy.so for fifty cents the watch was now mine.

so for an hours worth of inspection and a careful cleaning did this frustrating research embark on its trek here.my inabilities to find much more than forum postings from others wanting to similarly identify theirs is finally leading to this postation.

i want to know as much as i can about these watches.but once the movement of the hands from the pin came.did it begin to inaccurately try to keep time..so as research proved not very fruitful,and a want to restore,did it end up at a watch repaier.low and behold he wont attempt to fiddle with it unless i wont care if it gets broken since its craftsmanship was of questionable integrity,solely based upon its soviet heritage and the historical track record of poorly made items.so i care and end up buying a band and wearing it.then for some reason it starts keeping time properly.maybe its self winding.cause i never winded it myself..but i cant find anything that looks like it..its red spotted second hand only leads to confusion.nothing much resembles its appearance close enough to even gauge its family..but the widows comments bring her husbands service in the area from 62-74 off and on..

hopefully someone can shed insight into this and help identify its placement or appointment into the communist hierarchy.and how to get the date correctly displayed.or just where or whos the most authoritative on this subject.anything or link would be helpfull..thank you for reading this and all potential suggestions and advice


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## Chascomm (Sep 9, 2005)

The first thing you need to know is that Ð¡Ð›ÐÐ'Ð transliterates as SLAVA. Your searches will now be a bit more fruitful.

The 'cartoon dial' (big bold logo or slogan) Slava watches, such as yours were made during the Gorbachev era, when things were getting a bit more free and easy, but with a new kind of partiotism being expressed in terms of what the USSR seemed to be evolving into; thus watches proudly announcing 'Glasnost!', 'Perestroika!', 'Demokratiya!' etc.

Such a dial on a self-winding Slava is a bit unusual. Generally they were hand-winding. It's hard to say much more about your watch unless you can post a picture of it.

BTP is Tuesday. You will find a small pusher on the side of the case for rapidly advancing the date, however the only way to get the day right is to wind it on to the correct day and then set the time to match.

Your experience with the watchmaker is typical. You need to search around to find the non-Swissophiles. Slava watches are actually extremely robust and the Swiss could learn a thing or two from them. Although Slava took the lead in the Soviet development of electric and quartz watches, their mechanical watches were made for ordinary workers. In spite of this, they feature a double mainspring which is quite an exotic design.


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## kennyf (Nov 25, 2009)

Chascomm said:


> The first thing you need to know is that Ð¡Ð›ÐÐ'Ð transliterates as SLAVA. Your searches will now be a bit more fruitful.
> 
> The 'cartoon dial' (big bold logo or slogan) Slava watches, such as yours were made during the Gorbachev era, when things were getting a bit more free and easy, but with a new kind of partiotism being expressed in terms of what the USSR seemed to be evolving into; thus watches proudly announcing 'Glasnost!', 'Perestroika!', 'Demokratiya!' etc.
> 
> ...


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Kenny, try a Google on "USSR Time" and follow through, select the search box and enter Slava, you'll most likely find your watch in the listing there. Charles tell it like it is, we don't know a LOT about many of the Soviet watch factories, but knowledge outside the SU is expanding all the time. :yes:

Note that current offerings bearing the name "Slava" or CIABA" are most likely NOT made in the SU, and are made mainly in China using Chinasian movemnets of a different design and quality to the original Soviet CRABA?CIABA/Slava brand.


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