«Slava» met with watch collectors

The theme of the meeting of the Russian Watch Collectors Club on February 24 was the Slava trademark. More than 40 people interested in the history of watches gathered at a traditional venue - the Krugozor Anti-Café. The format of the event was also traditional: several speeches, a collection show and a prize ceremony for the participants who presented the most interesting collections.

The Moscow Watch Factory No. 2 is the oldest enterprise in the Russian watch industry; last year, the Slava brand celebrated its 95th anniversary. Pavel Grankin shared the story of the founding of the 2nd MChZ and, most importantly, the story of the last twenty years of its existence. Perhaps for the first time, so many people had the opportunity to directly understand all the twists and turns that the company went through during the most dramatic period in its history: transformation under the aegis of Globex Bank, liquidation of production, creation of a new look for the brand.

The event brought together enthusiastic and knowledgeable people, so the conversations were very frank. Not a single question remained unanswered, no one tried to hide behind fictitious stories or embellish reality.

In the following speeches, representatives of the Slava Watch Company talked about today and the company's plans, as well as the most interesting models that have been launched or are just about to go into production. Among them were replicas of the "TV", "Time", "Mir", as well as the joint project of the "SLAVA" brand with Ivan Okhlobystin, "Russian Roulette".

The hero of the meeting was the model "Sadko". There was a time when the Moscow Watch Factory No. 2 was preparing to launch watches with this name and a design unique to our industry, but due to the complexity of the case, they never went into production. Today, only 5 prototypes of the Sadko model are known. Now, TD Slava and a group of enthusiasts have almost simultaneously taken on the task of recreating this development in metal. Pavel Grankin demonstrated the Sadko version that TD Slava had prepared for release, and all present received special coupons entitling them to buy the model at a 40% discount.

As usual, the most lively part of the meeting was the presentation of the watch collection. Of course, the second MChZ product was also emphasized here. The tables were filled with all kinds of things: wall clocks (some of which, according to the owner, "grandfather Lenin still remembers"), stopwatches, the earliest and rare pocket watch "Victory" watch and the first electronic watches of the USSR. Everyone was interested in comparing the "TV" of the 1980s with the replica released last year by the Slava watch company.

But the biggest commotion was caused by the historical prototype of "Sadko": it was found even in the collections of the gathered people. Modern replicas of TD Slava were made not from drawings and samples, but from photographs and sketches, and it was interesting to compare how much the company guessed about the dimensions and details of the case design.

At the end of the official section, three participants with the most interesting collections received special prizes from the Slava brand. The first prize went to the rich historical collection of Alexey Balo, who received a collector's watch Slava - "TV" as a reward. The second place went to the magnificent collection of Vyacheslav Murugov, and the third place to the outstanding collection of Anatoly Kaminsky. They received serial models of Slava watches. All 10 pieces presented received commemorative prizes with the "SLAVA" logo, and a special draw was held between collectors and guests of the evening!

The meeting was created in a very warm and friendly atmosphere by the President of the Russian Watch Collectors Club, Leonid Evropeytsev. The participants left with great reluctance.