Raketa and Russian 24 Hour Watch Review

Background



Pocket watches are as rare as spats these days, but a 24-hour pocket watch? Is there such a thing?

There sure is; welcome to the world of 24-hour timekeeping. 24-hour watches, clocks and, apparently, pocket watches are more popular in Europe than in North America, and Russia has a long history of 24-hour timekeeping due to their 10 different time zones. Think about that one for a minute...

A sub-culture of watch collecting is devoted to the 24-hour watch; actually, there are quite a few more 24-hour watches than most people probably realize. Some are "ToT", or "Twelve on Top" watches, with noon (or 1200 hours in 24-hour parlance) indicated by the standard "12" at the top of the dial.

This puts 0600 in the 9 o'clock position and 1800 hours, or 6 p.m., in the 3 o'clock position and the sweep of the hour hand across the top of the dial, with noon at the top, symbolizes the sweep of the sun from dawn to dusk.

Confused? You shouldn't be. 24-hour timekeeping is pretty easy once you get used to it. Actually, it's very easy until noon, but after that, the hours count up from 13 to 23:59:59. The best part about wearing a 24-hour watch is when someone asks you the time and you quickly read it off while they scratch their head, wondering what's wrong with your watch



http://www.webwatchworld.com/raketa-24-hour/

I used to have a Raketa, long ago in the 70's... not a 24 hours dial but a surprisingly sturdy watch...