Affordable mechanical pilot watches.

While I was surfing, I came across the Poljot Aviator series. Poljot is a Russian brand. Their Aviator series is quite cool. Yes, they have some resemblance to the Fortis. The price however, is almost day and night. I wonder if the Poljot is worth buying and keeping.


This is selling online for USD150 plus shipping and handling.

Poljot Aviator
Model: #2614-1225481
Movement: Poljot 2614
Case: Solid stainless steel, 40 mm diameter (w/o crown) x 12 mm thick, screw down back.
Crystal: Mineral
Water Resistance: 50m

The Poljot 2614 has 17 jewels. It is hand-wound with date function. It is a 21,600 vph movement. Some people claimed it is possible to adjust the movement to about +2 or +3 sec a day. New, un-adjusted movement is between -20 to +40 sec a day. Power reserve is 38 hours after a full wind (sometimes quoted as 42 hours). The movement can be wound clockwise or counter-clockwise. There is no quick set date. To adjust the date, pull the crown to second position, then turn clockwise to adjust the time. The change in date happens in an instant between +-5 mins midnight.

Update: I went to see this watch at a local watch gallery. The salesgirl told me that there is no screw-down crown. So this watch is splash proof only. Do not use this watch during shower and swimming. I also found out from forum that in order to speed up the process of repeatedly advancing the date, it is possible to set the time back and forth between 20.00 and 24.00. I'm trying to understand, at this moment, from other forummers how they deal with the date setting issue. Also, I want to know whether it is safe to set the time back and forth for this particular movement.

Manual for watch equiped with Poljot 2614 [link]

The Poljot Brand
The Poljot brand belongs to the First Moscow Watch Factory. It has a colorful history dating back to the USSR era. That is more than 70 years of history. The watch factory was started by the acquisition of two watch manufacturers in the United States. The tools and equipments of these two manufacturers were shipped to Moscow. Some of the staff were relocated to Moscow too. There, they transferred their skill to the staffs of First Moscow Watch Factory.

In 2004, the First Moscow Watch Factory dissolved. It was sold to Volmax. Volmax is actually started by some previous First Moscow Watch Factory executives. Today, certain Poljot models are also manufactured in Kiev, Ukraine by Kiev Watch Factory and in Hong Kong by Winsky International, Inc.

The Poljot brand is only sold in Russia. Internationally, they were marketed as Aviator (like the one pictured above), Buran, and Shturmanskie. However, the eStore on the official Poljot Web site will be operational soon. Some watches are already available in the catalogue, eventhough purchase is not possible until they get the payment gateway thingy settled. The Poljot branded watches are available for purchase via the eStore. For example, the following humongous (45mm diameter) manual wind:



For detailed information, please read the Poljot entry in Wikipedia [link]
For milestones and timeline, please read the Poljot official Web site [link]


FORTIS Flieger Automatic selling for approximate USD440.

Fortis Flieger
Model: 595.10.41L
Movement: ETA 2824-2
Case: 40mm stainless steel
Water Resistance: 200m

The ETA 2824-2 movement is a proven workhorse. It is a 28K high beat movement with date function.