Raketa
Raketa
Raketa ("Rocket") wristwatches, have been manufactured since 1961 by the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in Saint Petersburg. The Petrodvorets Watch Factory is Russia's oldest factory, founded by Peter the Great in 1721. Raketa watches have been produced for the Red Army, the Soviet Navy, and for North Pole expeditions, as well as for civilians. Today, Raketa is one of a handful of global watch brands that produces its own movements from start to finish.
History
On 13 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin made the first manned flight in outer space on the rocket, Vostok 1. In honour of this achievement, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory named its watches "Rocket"; Raketa in Russian. However, at the height of the Cold War the name "Raketa" was perceived negatively in the West, as the word was associated with the latest generation of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles, the R-16. During Soviet times it became one of the most produced watch brands in the world. In the 1970s the factory produced about five million mechanical watches per year.
