Raketa Russian Code Watch

Marina Milojević | 10.22.19 | 10:23 PM

Russian watchmaker Raketa, which has been manufacturing watches in Saint Petersburg since 1721, introduces the Russian Code model. More recently, the brand entered the European market, and is now sold alongside major Swiss brands such as Audemars Piguet, Omega, Ulysse Nardin or Panerai at Fréret Roy in Paris by the Place Vendôme.

The Petrodvorets Watch Factory “Raketa” is Russia’s oldest watch factory. Founded by Peter the Great in 1721, the factory is producing watches under the brand “Pobeda” (Victory) since the end of World War II. The brand “Raketa” was launched in 1961, in honor of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Raketa watches have been produced for the Red Army, the Soviet Navy, and for North Pole expeditions, as well as for civilians. The brand remains one of the rare watch brands that designs and produces its own movements in-house.

The latest launch from Raketa, Russian Code, challenges the conventional pattern of time-reading. This peculiar watch resonates with the counterclockwise movements of the planet. It offers a new take on time telling, with time moving in harmony with the movements in our solar system. The watch is, naturally, equipped with a special automatic movement that drives the hands in a reverse direction around the dial. The representation of the Moon, located at the tip of the seconds hand, also turns clockwise around the Earth, just like it does in reality.

The reason why hands always move clockwise on a watch dial is the fact they reflect the clockwise movement of the Sun in the sky and the shadow on the ground, as seen from the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, they would go in the opposite direction, but most of early watchmakers who developed first clocks were residents of the northern hemisphere. On the other hand, who said this direction is necessarily the correct one?

The Russian Code timepiece challenges this view by asserting that Sun itself doesn’t actually move – we are the ones that move around the Sun. Secondly, viewed from space, the planets rotate anticlockwise around the Sun, and our Earth even spins around its axis in a counterclockwise direction. Consequently, this interesting watch reflects the natural counterclockwise movement in our solar system, obeying the laws of astronomy.

The watch is powered by automatic movement, caliber 2615R, with two unusual functions. First of all, the winding of the movement is performed by turning the crown towards you, contrary to the usual direction. Secondly, when setting the time, the hands need to be turned counterclockwise. The movement beats at a frequency of 18000 vibrations per hour and provides around 40 hours of power reserve.

The Raketa Russian Code model is made of PVD-coated stainless steel, and it measures 40,5 mm in diameter. The front glass is made of sapphire, while the back glass window is a mineral. This unisex model is water resistant to 50 meters and mounted in a genuine leather strap. Raketa "Russian code" gold model, reference 0224, and black model, reference 0229, are each priced at 1 380€.