Poljot Strela Chronograph short review

[Robertf]

This is one of my favourite watches. Its a modern Russian watch, very closely based on the original Sekonda/Poljot Strela as worn by many Russian Cosmonauts, including Alexei Leonov, when he made the first spacewalk ever in 1963 (I think!)

Bought a couple of years ago from ebay, they tend to sell for around £250ish, which I think is great value.



Its a very traditional looking chrono, slightly reminsicent of the Navitimer to me. Its very solidly built, and the fit and finish is excellent. It has a very mechanical feel, the buttons need a firm push to engage. Its a manual wind, which seems to run around 48 hrs on a wind if the chrono is not engaged.
Its a simple chrono, with a 30 min register, at 3 o-clock, whereas the original strelas had a 45 min register there.



It has a clear back, that lets you see the 23 jewel 3133 movement, its a shame they have applied a tacky looking logo to the glass. Not sure what the glass back or the crystal are made of, but my children managed to shatter it by dropping the watch a while back, so its probably not sapphire crystal!



Its a nicely chunky watch, about 40mm in diameter and 13mm thick. Lug width is 19mm and the strap it came on was a terrible, cheap poljot leather one. Replaced with a slightly thicker leather with white stitching which really looks great to me. The lume is pretty poor.



As I said one of my favourite watches, and I would strongly recommend it as a more traditional looking alternative to say a hamilton khaki. Its really comfortable to wear.

Thanks for listening to my first very short watch review!

[Robertf]

Just been using the chrono on this watch today, and I noticed that the 30 min dial jumps forward by minute rather than a smooth sweep. Not that unusual I know but I never noticed it before on this one!

[R1@160@alltimes]

Thanks for the review....

[vman]

Good watch. What most people do not know is that Soviet Union had a modestly successful watch industry with several factories which managed to produce millions of mechanical time pieces. In fact many original Soviet watch makers were trained by American professionals. However, watches produced on the other side of the iron curtain were not known for style...

But the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Rock on and enjoy what you got.

[LuvMyRolex]

I saw these on eBay recently and they look really good. Thanks for the useful info. Keep enjoying it. The strap looks great and really suits it.