Russian made mechanical movement

A unique mechanism

“Raketa” is one of the very few watch brands in the world to have its own movement. The Factory’s designers and engineers have combined the tried methods of the soviet era with more modern technology to produce a movement that is not simply robust and reliable, but also with Russian style decorations.

A unique sound

Raketa’s mechanical movement is very Russian by its engineering design: Russian engineers used original solutions that are often different from that used in Swiss movements. Raketa’s movement is also very Russian by the materials used: all the metal as well as the 24 rubis stones of the movement come from Russia. Even the hair-spring, the very heart and most complicated part of the movement, is cast from a secret Soviet alloy. According to many Swiss specialists, all of the above gives the Raketa movement a very distinctive acoustic signature that is quite different from that of Swiss movements. Here is the unique sound of the Russian Raketa movement beating 18.000 times every hour!

This is the recording of a movement not yet assembled in the watch case. Once assembled in the case, the sound will be slightly different.

Movement complications

Raketa has 1 “caliber” with 4 different “complications”. A “caliber” (or base movement) is a mechanical movement in its most simple form, i.e. simply showing the time (hours, minutes & seconds). “Complications” are additional functions that are added on to the “caliber” and that therefore make it more “complicated”. The Raketa Watch Factory will gradually roll-out more complications over the next few years. Stay tuned!

Movement 2615

3 hand movement with avtomat complication (inside the Raketa Classic BIG ZERO)

Number of jewels:	27
Testing positions:	4
Average rate (s/d):	-10+20
Average running time (h):	40
Frequency/hour:	18.000 / 2.5Hz
Bi-directional automatic winding:	Yes
Stopper of self-winding unit activated during manual winding:	Yes

Movement 2615R

3 hand movement with avtomat & “reverse” (counter-clockwise) complications

(inside the Raketa watch “Russian Code”)

Number of jewels:	24
Testing positions:	4
Average rate (s/d):	-10+20
Average running time (h):	40
Frequency/hour:	18.000 / 2.5Hz
Bi-directional automatic winding:	Yes
Stopper of self-winding unit activated during manual winding:	Yes

Movement 2624

3 hand movement with avtomat & 24 hour complications

(inside the Raketa watch “Baikonur”)

Number of jewels:	24
Testing positions:	4
Average rate (s/d):	-10+20
Average running time (h):	40
Frequency/hour:	18.000 / 2.5Hz
Bi-directional automatic winding:	Yes
Stopper of self-winding unit activated during manual winding:	Yes

Hand-crafted movements

The components of the movement are not made with computer numerical machines (CNCs). They are made by hand using Russian “old school” production methods, by men and women who transmit a little of their soul into each component that they produce. You can visit the “Raketa Watch Factory” and see with your own eyes how our specialists work.

Interesting facts about Raketa watches (using the Raketa Classic BIG ZERO as an example):

8.201 operations are required to produce this watch
103 specialists are needed to produce all of its components
242 components (including that of the movement itself) are on your wrist when you wear this watch model

Decoration of the movements

We take great pride in decorating as well as possible our in-house made mechanical movement and showing it to you through the case back of the Raketa watch. All the decorations, whether mechanical or printed, are made by hand at the Raketa Watch Factory. The decorations try, as much as possible, to convey the story and the values of the watch model in which the movement is assembled. For example, the Raketa “Polar” watch which is made for Polar explorers, has a decoration reminding you of polar (northern) lights that you can see in the arctic sky.

Inside the movement

Disconnection of automatic winding module: The Raketa movement has a function that disconnects the automatic winding module from the rest of the movement when you wind-up the movement manually. This enables to prevent the tiny teeth of wheels in the automatic winding module from wearing out. Indeed, they are not meant to turn too quickly, which they would if they were not disconnected during the manual winding. This function was in particular developed for Soviet cosmonauts: in the absence of gravity in space, the rotor of the movement hardly moves and cosmonauts therefore have to wind the automatic movement manually during their long stays in space.

Rotor (or «oscillating weight»): This “weight” oscillates each time you move your wrist and thus automatically winds up the “main spring” (see below) through a series a small wheels (automatic winding function). The Raketa rotor has 2 particularities: it’s diameter is bigger than that of the movement itself, thus giving you a spectacular view on its oscillation. It is also bi-directional, which means that it winds up the movement in whichever direction it oscillates, thus doubling the self-winding efficiency rate. This was in particular developed for Soviet submariners who often had to stay still during long periods in cramped conditions in their submarines.

Main spring: This is the source of energy of the movement (the equivalent of the battery in a quartz movement). Once this spring is wound up (manually by turning the crown of the watch or automatically with the rotor of the movement), it slowly unwinds in 40 hours by pushing forward all the gear train of the movement.

Balance wheel & hair spring: This module is the very heart of the movement and also the most complicated to produce and assemble. It is responsible for reducing the rotation speed of the gear train to precisely the right speed that is needed to turn each of the 3 hands on the dial. Produced with a precision of up to 0.5 micron (i.e. 0.0005 mm) from a secret Russian alloy, the hair-spring is calculated to oscillate exactly 18.000 times/hour. If it oscillated more (or less) slowly, the watch would then go too slowly (or too quickly)!

Balance wheel axis: This tiny axis (3.2 mm height) must be in conformity with 36 different measures. It oscillates around its 2 pivots (tips) 18.000 times/hour (i.e. approx. 500.000 times/day, 3.000.000 times/week, 12.000.000 times/month, etc). To avoid a premature wearing of the 2 metal pivots (tips) of this axis, they are “sitting” in bearings made out of rubis stones.

Jewels: The Raketa 2615 movement has 24 ruby stones. Their purpose is to reduce the friction at the points of heaviest wear, ex: where the 2 metal pivots (tips) of the balance wheel axis rub against their bearing at a speed of 18.000 oscillations/hour. If the bearings were in metal, the constant friction of 2 metal parts would be quick & devastating. Therefore, the bearing is made out of ruby which is one of the hardest stones on earth.

Gear train: The gear train is made of 13 gear wheels and pinions (a pinion is an axis with teeth). Depending on their diameter and their number of teeth, they turn at different speeds. Three of the wheels are directly connected to the respective 3 hands (hours, minutes, seconds) and are therefore responsible for the precise speed at which these hands move along the dial.

More information

You want more information?

For those of you who want even more information concerning the Raketa movement, we enclose 2 documents that will give you the list and name of all the components inside the Raketa Avtomat movement “2615” and the precise procedure that our watchmakers follow to assemble these components. If you want to see with your own eyes how these components are manufactured and then assembled, we invite you to visit the Raketa Watch Factory in Saint-Petersburg. We will be happy to show you everything!

Assembly instruction

Technical specifications

See all watches Raketa