Vintage 1980s Poljot with Rare Stainless Steel Case - A Review

As a collector of Soviet Watches, I can tell you that most of them are very utilitarian pieces. Most of them will have chrome or gold plated brass cases, and basic finishing. So, when I found this Poljot “Aeroflot” that had a stainless steel case and an automatic movement on sale from a seller in Moldova for $170 USD, I was very intrigued. I’ve been wearing it for two months now, and I’m finally ready to review it.

First, an explanation of the name. They nickname this the “Aeroflot” because a lot of people believe these were issued to Aeroflot airline employees. After going through the forums, it appears that this isn’t the case, although there is a rare version of this watch that does have the Aeroflot name and logo printed on the dial.

First let’s review what differentiates this from all the other Soviet Watches in my collection, the case. It has a polished finish, and the quality feels on par with Seiko 5’s from the same era. That’s something than cannot be said for every other Soviet Watch in my collection. Lug to lug is 45 mm, and the lug with is 18 mm. The crown is NOT stainless steel, and we will come back to talking about the crown a little later.

On wrist, it feels comfortable, and does have some weight to it unlike many other of my Soviet pieces that feel almost weightless. It also fits my fairly skinny wrists quite well. I honestly like wearing this over my 1980s Seiko 5, as the case back is much slimmer. This makes it hug my wrists a lot more compared to my Seiko 5, whitch looks a bit odd from certain angles. Note that the bracelet I have on it is aftermarket and not factory, so I won’t speak about it.

The dial is black colored, with a moderate sunburst effect. It is plain, but legible. Combined with how the case looks, this watch will definitely pair well with both casual and formal wear, much Iike the old Seiko 5’s. There is a date wheel at 3 o’clock. There is no quick set date position, so in order to set the date, you have to shuffle between 12 am and 8 pm. The lume on this watch doesn’t light up for more than a few seconds, probably due to age. Finally, the dial is in the Latin rather than Cryillic. This indicates that this was an export model, and most of the ones I’ve seen for sale are like this. The crystal is acrylic, so I expect it to scratch pretty easily over time.

The movement is a Poljot 2616.2H automatic movement. It has hand winding (whitch Seiko 5s from that era don’t have), and a power reserve around 40 hours. In terms of finishing and quality, it’s probably right around the base entry level movements from Miyota. It is a tough movement however. The watch slid off the arm of the chair a month ago, and it’s still running fine. It’s been gaining around 20 seconds per day, which is very good by Soviet Watch standards, and pretty good by cheap watch standards in general.

A reason you may not want to pick one of these up is that if something breaks, you may be in a bit of trouble. A lot of these for sale online are missing their original crowns, because if they break, they are almost impossible to find. I truly believe they only made one crown for every watch they made. The same is true for the crystal, almost impossible to find if it cracks or gets too scratched. If you do need a crown and/or crystal replacement, your best bet is to buy another one for parts.

All in all, it’s been a very good watch. Despite its flaws and low parts availability, I still think if your interested in acquireing a vintage Soviet timepiece, this should definitely be on your list. If the designers at Poljot were trying to make a watch to compete with the Seiko 5, they did a pretty good job.

This is my first review, so if you have any suggestions on how I can improve future reviews I’d love to hear them in the comments.