What watch I wore today

[halfmacgas]

Put this on for the 4 hour drive to Niagara. Falls look majestic this time of year.

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[carlitos]

[LesserBlackDog]

Love that watch. Did it come on the Camo?

Yep, that is the standard bonus NATO strap that is included whether you buy the watch on leather or steel.

[Publius]

What watch I wore today



Something very different from my collection.

I’m not a big fan of digital watches or quartz. But I made an exception for this watch.

This watch dates from the late 1970s, it is the Elektronika-1 B6-02 produced by NII-Zavod in Moscow. It dates from the period when LED watches were the rage before the more common LCD watches caught on. It was the Soviet answer to the Hamilton Pulsar LED watch which was popular in the west.

This is the second digital watch ever created by Russia and the first LED watch. The story goes that in 1976, the American secretary of state Henry Kissinger went to the Soviet Union, in order to discuss the SALT treaties. Kissinger was received by Leonid Brezhnev, who noticed that the American secretary of state wore a very particular watch, a Hamilton Pulsar P2.

So, Brezhnev was intrigued by the watch, and when Kissinger showed his Pulsar to the Soviet leader, he asked Breznev if the Soviet industry was working on a similar product. Brezhnev replied that the USSR was not ready for the mass production of a watch with a LED display but that the Soviet engineers already started a small pre-series production of what would become one of the first digital watches made in the USSR, the Elektronika B6-02.

So, in the evening, Brezhnev ordered the engineers of the NII-Zavod factory to give him two specimen of the pre-series Elektronika B6-02, one would've been given to Brezhnev himself, and the other should've been given to Kissinger. The next day, Kissinger came back to Brezhnev, to discuss other political matters.

And during the talks, the Soviet leader showed him the Elektronika B6-02 now on his wrist. Kissinger was impressed and considered the product very interesting, and at the end of his trip, a B6-02 was donated to him. Kissinger - who was impressed by the build quality of the watch - suggested that it would've been a shame to not export it outside the borders of the USSR, and that such a product would've had all the chances to compete against the then growing technological dominance of Japan on the digital watches market. Yet the B6-02 was exported to the Western market in very limited quantities and did not have the success that Brezhnev and Kissinger hoped, due to the late decision to export the watch. By the time export started LCD watches were already dominating the market over the old LED watches in the West.

Today I enjoy this watch for its unique retro aesthetics. It only displays time and date when you push the side buttons as it is LED and heavy on the batteries (yes it has multiple).


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[Winters]

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[idvsego]

[MENTION=16992]Publius[/MENTION] thats a neat watch. Reminds me of Ultron.

[carlitos]

[halfmacgas]

Trident 2/3

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[Vicious49]

Sub today



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[ajs116]

The Junghans pulling a little weekend duty

[halfmacgas]

Rodina!

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[halfmacgas]

Eh switched for seiko presage spb047 with the enamel dial

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[halfmacgas]

Here it is

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[Publius]

Love the big zero Raketa. A classic!


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[Publius]

What watch I wore today





Breitling SuperOcean Heritage on mesh.


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