Raketa “BIG ZERO” 0283
This bold black & white minimalistic design with a Big Zero has become a Raketa classic!
The Soviet watch design that conquered the capitalist world
One of the most famous Soviet watch designs to have crossed the iron curtain and to have conquered the hearts of the western capitalist world was certainly the Raketa “Big Zero” watch. This bold black & white minimalistic design with large numerals crowned with a big zero, gives this watch a unique and timeless quality. It has become a Raketa classic!
Popularised by Gorbachev
This design dates back to the end of the Soviet era. It was first popularized by Gorbatchev, the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the USSR, who opened up the country by initiating a radical series of social and economic reforms known as Glasnost and Perestroika. During an international political summit in Italy, he was asked to explain what “Perestroika” meant. He simply showed his Raketa Big Zero watch and said: “It’s like on my watch: the Russian people want to start everything from zero”. This immediately made the headline of Italian newspapers. Thus began the legend of the “Big Zero”!
Time always starts from 0
When asked what inspired Soviet designers to create this bold design with a big 0, old specialists of the Raketa factory answer that it is simply more logical to start counting time from 0. Indeed, time, like everything else in our lives, always begins from 0.
Breaking the rules
With this radically innovative concept, the Big Zero watch is at the avant-garde of time reading: time starts from 0, not from 12! It directly challenges the worldwide established convention that there should always be a 12 on the dial.
Being classic without being classic
Raketa launched its most emblematic model – the Big Zero – with a different color variation: a black dial and white numerals!
Luminescent coating
A very strong superluminova coating on the hands and on the oversized numerals highlights the original bold aesthetic of this minimalistic and functional design and ensures its perfect readability at night.
The Middle Eastern classic
Raketa has reimagined its most emblematic model specially for the Middle East, under the name of “Big Zero” Arabic with an Arabic dial.
Arabic script
The traditional and emblematic ‘0’ of the Raketa Watch Factory is still present on the dial, while the rest of the numerals are in Eastern Arabic, with a font design inspired by the original Soviet style model. The black and white colour scheme of the new dial is complemented by Raketa’s logo in Arabic script, created by Mohammad Sharaf, renowned calligrapher, in the brand's signature red colour.
Time taking shape
The Raketa Malevich Triptych collection is the result of the Factory's collaboration with the prestigious Russian Museum (in St. Petersburg) which is home to Malevich's entire geometric cycle — the Black Circle, the Black Cross and the familiar Black Square.
Representation of the Cosmos in art
The Malevich Triptych collection emphasises the values shared by Malevich and Raketa: black-and-white minimalism, big zero concept, rejection of generally accepted rules, liberation from conventions, return to the purest forms, Russian origin — these are just a few similarities between Malevich’s Suprematistic concept and the Raketa "BIG ZERO".
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