The must-have Macro Loupe for all watch lovers

Iconic watch art prints. Made in Switzerland, lifetime guarantee

I've already mentioned this hexagonal Slava model here, a very 70s-80s shape with its curved horizontal sides. But here the colors are reversed: the dial is black while the flange is off-white with the hour markers. Curiously, it often seems to me that the dial isn't black at all, but only very dark blue or green. The result is that the watch gives a rather different impression, much less of a dress watch and more serious, since it displays not only the minutes but also the hours. On the other hand, it's amusing to see this combination, since the dial indicates "21 jewels" in Russian, while "Made in the USSR" is indicated at 6 o'clock in English.

The case back is stainless steel, clipped onto the chrome-plated brass case.

The soundtrack I would choose for this watch would be "Sabakistan" (The Land of Dogs) by Gromyka, for its exotic atmosphere of a world that is not ours (and yet...).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSaioxh70Ms

The serious Slava arched hexagon - figures

This post-Soviet Poljot offers classic elegance and excellent legibility despite its gold hands against a cream dial. The 38mm diameter case is made of gold-plated brass with a 32mm opening.

The movement is a 17-jewel Poljot 2614.2N with a date function and a 46-hour power reserve. It operates at a frequency of 21,600 A/h (3Hz).
The word "Russia" is inscribed on the dial at 6 o'clock. The case back is marked "water resistant" and "stainless steel back" in English, contrasting with the Russian dial inscriptions.
This watch displays a distinctly 1990s aesthetic with its gold plating on the hands, numerals, bezel, and lugs. The winged crown logo is in the same vein; nevertheless, the watch remains a classic design with a tried-and-tested case and a well-known movement derived from the 2609N, produced since the 1970s.

The music I would associate with this watch is "Love Is The Answer" by Scorpions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm146F__4TU

To get out of darkness, into the light

I really like the shape of this case, which is somewhere between a square and a circle. Its straight lugs give it an even more dynamic feel. The faceted gold and red hands and hour markers against a dark brown background contribute to this impression of raw energy, even though the Tchaika brand from the Uglich Watch Factory is known for its refined and delicate timepieces.

To get a general idea of Tchaika watches, you can watch Alexander Brodnikovsky's presentation of his entire collection outdoors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxylHXQ7GI4. These are all watches designed for a Soviet female audience.

The steel case back is screwed down with a six-pronged ring. The movement is a 17-jewel Tchaika 2609N. Produced by the Uglich factory, it is in fact identical to the Moscow 2609N movement. The caliber is marked with the Tchaïka brand logo (a X depicted within a shield).

The song I would associate with it is "L'enterrement de la guerre" by DDT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2cdzL1jH48

When Power Rhymes with Elegance

I quite like this unassuming little watch; it's rather quirky. It has a kind of cheap, 80s feel to it. The tachymeter is a complication designed more to spark the imagination than to be truly useful. Who, after all, uses that scale to measure the time it takes to travel a kilometer? And thus deduce the speed of an object? Perhaps bus passengers, bored on a long journey, watching the kilometer markers tick by outside their window. Or maybe the driver of a vehicle whose roadworthiness certificate is long overdue and whose speedometer is malfunctioning?
It reminds me of the anecdote about the new owner of a used car at a ridiculously low price who proudly shows off his new ride to a friend who asks him how he manages if the speedometer doesn't work at all. "It's very simple: when I'm driving at 30 km/h, the rearview mirror vibrates; when I go 60 km/h, the steering wheel shakes; and when I go 80 km/h, my teeth chatter!"

So, pushing the speedometer to 1,000 km/h is taking logic to the extreme. What vehicle can reach 1,000 km/h while measuring the time between two kilometer markers with a watch on its wrist? (That represents 3 seconds on the scale.) Even the speedometer on Neil Armstrong's watch stopped at 500. 1,000 km/h is as absurd as a child's dream. And perhaps that's the meaning of this watch: the dream of a child bored in the back of a car on an endless journey.

The date window is positioned at 4:30 for discretion and originality. It's a rather good choice. The stainless steel case is 40mm in diameter and 14mm thick. The bezel is fixed. The movement is automatic, a Seagull ST1612. It has a hacking seconds function for easy and precise time setting, and also a quick-set date function. The blue dial complements the orange hour markers, numerals, and strap. The luminescent material is insufficient as it fades very quickly.

This isn't a precious or precise watch; it's more of a fun watch that allows you to dream on a limited budget, as is typical of the Kelton brand. As they say, "If you change your style, change your Kelton."

The music I would associate with this watch, as the brand suggests, is the soundtrack from Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation https://youtu.be/PZmL630oQQ8?si=S75uankSwN3u35D0&t=315

The Kelton mile, a completely impossible mission

This Poljot automatic export version is luminous; the case, the dial, the hands, and the hour markers all contribute to making it dazzling, the queen of the day.

It features a faceted case, type 1721, from Moscow's first watch factory, secured by a steel case back with a six-prong clasp. The case measures 37 mm wide and 13 mm thick.
The movement inside is a Poljot 2616.2H automatic, with 23 jewels. It's a very comfortable watch on the wrist and dazzling to behold.
The soundtrack I would associate with this standout watch is Blondie's "Atomic," or rather, its more modern version performed by Sleeper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaLMFRt9few

The dazzling morning sun

This late 1980s model, the 4168731, breaks the mold in several ways: the date is at 12 o'clock, and the black dial is gridded with horizontal lines that connect the hour markers in pairs according to a vertical symmetry. It looks as if a physicist on the phone, obsessed with symmetry, is sketching symmetries between the markers on the dial.

The brass case is circular, 35mm in diameter, with a simple snap-on steel case back. I really like the dauphine hands because they are very legible and elegant against the black dial. They resonate with the rounded edge of the dial.

The movement is a 19-jewel R2614, a derivative of the 2609H with a date function.

The soundtrack I would associate with this watch would be "L'homme et le chat" by Nol, a rock classic from the same era. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jaL79kDUzPM

Symmetry in the deepest night

Here are my favorite chronographs from the Soviet era given to the Aviator Officers and the Navy Officers (with another caliber that had the hack stop second but equal to the 3133). The 3133 is the descendant in some way of the 3017 of the famous Strela first watch worn in space during extra vehicular activity. The 3133 is a Valjoux 7734 with a few more jewels and great reliability added to what it already was! Here are some of my models

Les navigators, Ocean 3133

In 1980, tritium in watches was commonplace so since this watch is Russian and from an unlikely era, I imagine that the luminescent material is highly more radioactive... and I like it. It looks like a pressure gauge from a nuclear power plant with its arrow indexes and crude hands. I am lucky enough to own the model with Poljot written in Cyrillic which, for sure, gives it power and makes this watch work as soon as I pick it up. It commands all eyes with its resemblance to a Tag Formula One from the same era. Its bakelite bezel and its typical shape of the fifties divers recalls the Blancpain except that my Полёт is not water resistant to fifty Phatoms and dates from the eighties. An automatic 2616.2H movement animates this improbable watch and it purrs. The strap provided with it, which is probably not the original one, is a leather strap that gives me a sado maso biker look... so I put a nato strap on it (Daniel Craig) to give me the appearance of a KGB agent infiltrating the English.

The Fifty Phatoms of the East

We would like such a beautiful watch to be automatic but Poljot equips almost all of its chronographs with the 3133 inspired by the famous Valjoux. Reliable and quite pretty, this movement allows this watch to be precise and relatively thin for the time, date, a chronograph and, a small manual function, a crown at 9 o'clock that turns a bezel with a second time zone under the sapphire crystal. It is a replica limited to 300 copies of a Russian naval officer's watch from the 80s.

I call this watch The Masked Clown because of the blue that cuts the dial and the red hands. I like it because it has the face of a Russian Speedmaster or the Universal Genève Compax Exotic that is impossible to have.

That's exactly what's good about the Poljot brand! Rare elegant watches that seem to be worth 20,000 bucks but that remain totally accessible.

For a sailor's watch, it could be waterproof to 30+ meters because its waterproofing keeps me from taking it to the beach and on adventures. The straps provided by Poljot are beautiful but of poor quality. If I could find a gray one, as beautiful but a little more resistant to time, that would be great.

The Russian watch for officers.

<p><strong>ZRC</strong> est une maison horlog&egrave;re fond&eacute;e en <strong>1904</strong> &agrave; Gen&egrave;ve (Suisse) par Edmond Zuccolo et Joseph Rochet. N&eacute;e dans l&rsquo;univers des cha&icirc;nes de gousset puis des bracelets m&eacute;talliques extensibles, la marque s&rsquo;adresse aujourd&rsquo;hui aux amateurs de plongeuses-outils iconiques, rendue c&eacute;l&egrave;bre par sa Grands Fonds d&eacute;velopp&eacute;e pour la Marine nationale &agrave; partir des ann&eacute;es 1960.</p>
<h3>Couronne &agrave; 6 h, bo&icirc;tier monobloc et esprit Marine nationale</h3>
<p>Con&ccedil;ue pour r&eacute;pondre aux contraintes op&eacute;rationnelles des plongeurs-d&eacute;mineurs fran&ccedil;ais, la Grands Fonds adopte la couronne &agrave; 6 h, un bo&icirc;tier monobloc et des solutions maison comme l&rsquo;ECS (Easy Clean System) et le CPS (Crown Protection System). <strong>Dans la pratique, la couronne &agrave; 6 h et le CPS emp&ecirc;chent de porter la montre si la couronne n&rsquo;est pas parfaitement viss&eacute;e</strong>, limitant ainsi les risques d&rsquo;erreur avant immersion ; l&rsquo;ECS facilite le rin&ccedil;age pour &eacute;viter la cristallisation du sel sous la lunette.</p>
<h3>Grands Fonds et d&eacute;clinaisons contemporaines</h3>
<p>La collection actuelle d&eacute;cline l&rsquo;ADN historique (lisibilit&eacute;, ergonomie de terrain, silhouette &laquo; outil &raquo;) en plusieurs tailles et niveaux de performance. <strong>Quel que soit le mod&egrave;le, l&rsquo;architecture et la signature &agrave; 6 h rendent la lecture imm&eacute;diate et l&rsquo;identit&eacute; instantan&eacute;ment reconnaissable</strong>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>ZRC Grands Fonds MN64 </strong>&mdash; Hommage aux sp&eacute;cifications Marine nationale, codes historiques de cadran et de lunette.</li>
<li><strong>ZRC Grands Fonds Heritage</strong>&nbsp;&mdash; Gabarit plus contenu (38 mm) conservant la signature de couronne &agrave; 6 h pour les poignets fins.</li>
<li><strong>ZRC Securicode</strong> &mdash; R&eacute;interpr&eacute;tation d&rsquo;un th&egrave;me de la fin des ann&eacute;es 1950/1960, avec &eacute;l&eacute;ments de style historiques.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Positionnement : outil pro, prix et distribution</h3>
<p>La marque revendique un positionnement &laquo; instrument de plong&eacute;e &raquo; au sein de l&rsquo;horlogerie ind&eacute;pendante suisse, avec volumes de production <em>non communiqu&eacute;</em> et diffusion s&eacute;lective (d&eacute;taillants sp&eacute;cialis&eacute;s et vente directe). <strong>&Agrave; titre indicatif, de nombreuses r&eacute;f&eacute;rences acier se situent autour de 2 500&ndash;3 000 &euro;, tandis que des versions techniques en titane d&eacute;passent 4 000 &euro;</strong> ; certaines &eacute;ditions sp&eacute;ciales ou m&eacute;taux nobles s&rsquo;&eacute;tablissent nettement au-del&agrave;. Pr&eacute;sence confirm&eacute;e en France avec des &eacute;taillants comme <a href="https://www.bijouterie-clouzeau.fr/fr/marques/zrc-1904">Clouzeau</a> ou <a href="https://www.berenger.fr/fr/horlogerie-berenger/marques/zrc-1904">Berenger</a>, et sur quelques march&eacute;s Asie/Moyen-Orient via un r&eacute;seau resserr&eacute;.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p><strong>ZRC s&rsquo;adresse aux amateurs de montres-outils au style imm&eacute;diatement identifiable</strong>, qui privil&eacute;gient la fonctionnalit&eacute;, la lisibilit&eacute; et une signature de design forte. Le choix se fera entre un usage polyvalent quotidien (Grands Fonds 300/38), une filiation historique appuy&eacute;e (MN64, Securicode) ou une approche plus technique et extr&ecirc;me (Grands Fonds 3000 Titanium). Les acheteurs sensibles &agrave; l&rsquo;ergonomie appr&eacute;cieront la couronne &agrave; 6 h et la s&eacute;curit&eacute; du CPS ; les puristes salueront la coh&eacute;rence d&rsquo;ensemble. Pour &eacute;clairer votre d&eacute;cision au-del&agrave; de la fiche technique, fiez-vous&nbsp;<strong>aux avis clients Dialicious</strong>, utiles pour comprendre confort, lisibilit&eacute; r&eacute;elle et ressenti au port&eacute;.</p>
<p>(Mise &agrave; jour Ao&ucirc;t 2025)</p>

<p><strong>ZRC</strong> is a watch brand founded in <strong>1904</strong> in Geneva, Switzerland, by Edmond Zuccolo and Joseph Rochet. Born in the field of pocket-watch chains and later expandable metal bracelets, the brand now caters to enthusiasts of iconic tool divers, made famous by its Grands Fonds developed for the French Navy from the 1960s onward.</p>
<h3>6 o&rsquo;clock crown, monobloc case and French Navy spirit</h3>
<p>Engineered to meet the operational demands of French Navy mine-clearance divers, the Grands Fonds features a 6 o&rsquo;clock crown, a monobloc case and in-house solutions such as ECS (Easy Clean System) and CPS (Crown Protection System). <strong>In practice, the 6 o&rsquo;clock crown and CPS prevent the watch from being worn unless the crown is fully screwed down</strong>, reducing user error prior to immersion; ECS helps flush out salt to prevent crystallization under the bezel.</p>
<h3>Grands Fonds and contemporary variants</h3>
<p>The current collection translates the historical DNA (legibility, field ergonomics, tool-watch silhouette) into multiple sizes and performance levels. <strong>Whichever the model, the 6 o&rsquo;clock signature ensures instant readability and an immediately recognisable identity</strong>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>ZRC Grands Fonds MN64</strong> &mdash; Core diver inspired by 1964, 300 m, bold legibility for versatile daily wear.</li>
<li><strong>ZRC Grands Fonds Hertiage</strong> &mdash; Smaller 38 mm option retaining the 6 o&rsquo;clock crown signature for slimmer wrists.</li>
<li><strong>ZRC Securicode</strong> &mdash; Reinterpretation of a late-1950s/1960s theme with historical design elements.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Positioning: pro tool, pricing and distribution</h3>
<p>The brand&rsquo;s stance is that of an independent Swiss &ldquo;diving instrument,&rdquo; with production volumes <em>not disclosed</em> and selective distribution (specialist retailers and direct sales). <strong>As a guide, many steel references sit around &euro;2,500&ndash;3,000, while technical titanium pieces exceed &euro;4,000</strong>; special editions or precious-metal variants are significantly higher. Presence is established in Europe such as <a href="https://www.soprana.com/zrc-1904/?lang=en">Soprana</a> in Italy or <a href="https://junod-lausanne.ch/fr/collections/zrc">Junod</a> in Switzerland, and selected Asian/Middle-Eastern markets through a tight retail network.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>ZRC speaks to those who value immediately recognisable tool-watch design with functional clarity and a strong signature. Your choice will likely fall between versatile daily wear (Grands Fonds 300/38), an emphatic historical link (MN64, Securicode), or a more technical, extreme approach (Grands Fonds 3000 Titanium). Ergonomics benefit from the 6 o&rsquo;clock crown and CPS safety; purists will appreciate the overall coherence. To refine your decision beyond the spec sheet, rely on <strong>Dialicious customer reviews</strong> to understand comfort, real-world legibility and on-wrist feel.</p>
<p>(Updated August 2025)</p>

Wind of change 's review on his Poljot

To get out of darkness, into the light

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