Raketa watches: owner reviews and feedback

Raketa, founded in 1961, is a Russian watch brand from the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, whose industrial origins go back to 1721 near Saint Petersburg; it speaks to enthusiasts of atypical mechanical watches, Soviet design, in-house movements and instruments created for space, the poles, the navy or a deliberately different reading of time.

Petrodvorets, Peter the Great and the birth of a space watch

Raketa cannot be understood without distinguishing the manufacture from the brand. The Petrodvorets Watch Factory is officially linked to a much older history, begun in 1721 under Peter the Great, while the Raketa name appeared in 1961 after the first human spaceflight. The word means “rocket” in Russian and immediately places the brand within a technical, national and cosmic memory. This double depth gives Raketa an identity very different from a classical Swiss house founded around luxury or jewellery.

The brand developed in an environment where the watch first had to answer concrete uses: pilots, polar explorers, submariners, cosmonauts, engineers and citizens of a highly structured industrial world. This explains its taste for twenty-four-hour dials, immediately legible displays, robust cases and sometimes disconcerting designs. Raketa today preserves this idea of a cultural tool watch, with a visual language that embraces its Soviet roots without trying to imitate Western codes.

In-house manufacture, Russian hairspring and recent modernization

One of Raketa’s strongest elements is its claimed ability to produce its movements internally, including complex components such as the hairspring. The manufacture explains that it launched a modernization programme in 2011 after a difficult period following the fall of the Soviet Union. It combines traditional machines, contemporary design offices, three-dimensional modelling, component production, hand assembly and rate checks. For a brand positioned at this price level, this industrial depth remains a rare and highly distinctive argument.

The most visible current calibres are the 2615 three-hand automatic and the 2624 twenty-four-hour automatic, with twenty-four jewels, a frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour, or 2.5 hertz, and a stated power reserve of around forty hours. Official product sheets indicate an average accuracy of minus ten to plus twenty seconds per day depending on models. Raketa also highlights a system that disconnects the automatic winding module during manual winding. The brand therefore favours robustness, historical coherence and internal manufacturing rather than a pursuit of thinness or high frequency.

Graphic icons, cosmos and unconventional reading

The contemporary catalogue takes up several historical or cultural signatures. The most accessible watches in the collective imagination are often those that turn time reading into a strong graphic sign: a zero at twelve, planet hands, reverse rotation, a twenty-four-hour dial or an aesthetic linked to the Russian avant-garde. Raketa is at its most appealing when the buyer accepts that the watch is an object of character before being a simple neutral timekeeper.

• Raketa Big Zero — Emblematic model where zero replaces twelve, now one of the brand’s most recognizable Soviet designs.
• Raketa Big Zero Blue — Forty-millimeter blue version, calibre 2615, stated water resistance to ten atmospheres and observed official price of 2,200 euros.
• Raketa Big Zero Grey — Forty-millimeter grey version, calibre 2615, limited production of two hundred pieces according to the recent official product sheet and observed price of 2,300 euros.
• Raketa Big Zero Azur Blue — Anniversary edition limited to sixty-five pieces, forty millimeters, calibre 2615, steel bracelet with additional leather strap and observed official price of 2,300 euros.
• Raketa Copernicus — 39.5-millimeter model with planet hands, aventurine and agate dial, calibre 2615 and observed official price of 2,600 euros.
• Raketa Russian Code — Watch with reverse reading, whose hands move in the opposite direction to traditional reading, powered by the 2615CR calibre according to the official product sheet.

These models do not seek absolute discretion. They work because they immediately trigger a reaction: curiosity, smile, questioning or cultural attachment. The counterpart of this personality is obvious: legibility may require adaptation, case height is sometimes significant, and the most conceptual designs will not suit every use. The right choice therefore depends on the pleasure one takes in wearing a watch that says something at first glance.

Twenty-four hours, poles, space and tool watches

The other major Raketa territory is that of twenty-four-hour watches. This architecture is logical in environments where the distinction between day and night becomes difficult: polar regions, submarines, space or long missions. Raketa built part of its legend around this particular reading of time, visually slower, more circular and very different from a classical twelve-hour dial. The twenty-four-hour display is probably Raketa’s most natural identity complication.

• Raketa Polar — 41.6-millimeter watch, twenty-four-hour dial, calibre 2624A, rotating bezel, screw-down crown, stated water resistance to twenty atmospheres and observed official price of 2,400 euros.
• Raketa Baikonur — Forty-two-millimeter watch designed for cosmonauts, calibre 2624CA, twenty-four-hour dial, second time zone, solar compass, stated water resistance to twenty atmospheres and observed official price of 2,900 euros.
• Raketa Sonar — Watch designed for submariners, powered by a twenty-four-hour automatic movement intended to distinguish day from night during long underwater missions.
• Raketa Amphibia — Modern dive watch from the brand, part of the Russian tradition of marine watches and robust instruments.
• Raketa Pilot — Aviation-inspired watch, more classical in reading but connected to the territory of professional watches.

The new Baikonur illustrates well how Raketa connects space heritage and contemporary use. The dial opposes light and dark zones to make day and night easier to distinguish, the second time zone answers the logic of the International Space Station, and the solar compass refers to a survival logic in case of an unexpected landing. This approach may sound romantic, but it gives real coherence to the Raketa tool watch.

Prices, availability and buyer profile

Raketa’s current positioning is no longer that of the very inexpensive Soviet watch one may associate with the vintage market. New models observed often sit between around 2,200 and 2,900 euros depending on the references mentioned, with in-house movement, sapphire crystal on the dial side, twenty-four-month warranty and international delivery announced by the official boutique. This level may surprise, but it reflects a strategy of revived manufacture, limited production and strong cultural identity. The buyer pays as much for a singular Russian industrial identity as for purely rational watchmaking specification.

The ideal profile is that of an enthusiast who wants a different watch, with strong history, an internally produced movement and a design that does not resemble Swiss, Japanese or German standards. Raketa will suit less those seeking very luxurious finishing, tight chronometer-level accuracy, a very thin watch or a consensual international image. Before purchase, one should check sales channel, delivery conditions, service, warranty, real model availability and size compatibility with the wrist. The brand mainly rewards buyers who embrace its character, technical particularities and historical imagination.

Conclusion

Raketa is aimed at enthusiasts who want a singular mechanical watch rooted in rare Russian industrial history and carried by an immediately identifiable design. The brand stands out through the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, its in-house movements, space heritage, twenty-four-hour dials, graphic icons and refusal to imitate Swiss luxury codes. The choice should begin with use and relationship to symbol: a graphic watch, a cosmic piece, a reverse reading, a polar watch or a space-travel instrument.

Before purchasing, compare style, legibility, comfort, accuracy and service with real owner experience through Dialicious customer reviews.

(Updated September 2026)