My passion is pocket watches but I just couldn´t resist this beauty. It´s about 7 inches tall and some 4 inches wide and made of black marble and the plates and columns are brass.
Regards
Krister

Movement.

Hi Krister,

That is a neat little clock and it looks like its running. I can see why you couldn't resist it.

Enjoy.

Bill
It´s running very well and are in good condition. Keeps close to "railroad time" with the 8 day movement.
Regards
Krister

The serial number is 19 thousand and something and no Geneva stripes. That's odd by my recollection.

To anyone who doesn't know what this is, it is made to sit next to the driver in a T-34. It's a tank clock, and probably the all-around ruggedest production clock ever made. These tanks were shooting at Russians in Stalin Grad and at Americans near Da Nang. It's easy to adjust, fairly easy to maintain and works extremely well when it's just siting down in one place.

Although on second look I notice the first wheel does not have a bushing for the arbor. Perhaps this was the civilian model. That's funny. No matter where you go, it the same clock everywhere.

Frank
I´m not sure that the number shown in the picture is the serial number since there is another number on the barrel plate.
Then you confuse me by stating that the T-34 was shooting at Russians at Stalingrad. Wouldn´t that be Germans? Then again maybe they did but certainly not officially.
Anyway, it´s a very nice clock.
Regards
Krister

Oh, I forgot to thank you for the information about that kind of clock sitting in a T-34, even if this is the civilian version.
Regards
Krister

Ah, it is I that should be thanking you!.

Jeg Elsker Krister!

When I saw your post I knew exactly what it was and clicked it with lightning speed to see if there were any good photos. :-D

Then I found that it was almost what I thought, just not quite (Yes!, I learned something new! *** ). I did not know there was a civilian model. But the "H" after the model number on yours and the stylized symbol of a dial with two watch hands suggests that it was made for distribution by the government (instead of given to the Army).

These clocks were almost a dime o'dozen for a few years after the fall of the CCCP. The story is that as the Divisions were de-activated the soldiers took whatever they could.

I bought many to give as presents or use as raffle prizes at Horological Meetings I used to attend (four clocks for $10, $7 shipping). There were also a great many helicopter clocks for sale although I don't know which were for the HIP and which for the HIND. One is an alarm clock, rattrapante-chronograph, w/dual time-zone indicator and has some type of gauge that I suspect is a crude "Turn back" indicator all in one very accurate timepiece. That last clock was actually very expensive. About the cost of the average Hamilton 974.

I could write five more paragraphs worth of dull and didactic stories but I'll just post these pictures and get outta here:





*** - Truly one of the great aspects of this chapter club over the years! :-D

Frank
It´s always nice to get additional information because no one is ever fully educated.
Since this clock is marked Made in USSR on the dial, I think it was made for the export market rather than the domestic one, suggesting a post war production. That doesn´t make it less interesting in any way.
The movement in the nice big picture you posted seems to be made in the first quarter of 1958 if Molnija was consistent in there marking system.
Frank, jag älskar dig också! (In a brotherly fashion of course).
Regards
Krister

Dear Krister, hahaha, Your analysis is seems quite good. Here's the pics of the insides of the other two clocks. One has a different barrel bridge.







Best regards,

Frank

Frank
Talk about sturdy housing! They can probably take any abuse imaginable. By the way, how do you wind them? I can´t see any winding arbor in the back. Perhaps turning the knurled ring on the front?
Thanks for sharing those pictures.
Regards
Krister

This topic started at 1306 hours, the 28th of September. As I write this it is almost 0050 hours on the 5th of October. Rounded off that's 154 hours, or 7 1/2 days.

Did I do the math right? Anyways it does seem apparent that it's almost 8 day unless I lost a day some where. When I first read this article Krister "Jaeg elsker" Olsson it had only been posted for a few hours.

I decided then to try a one-off experiment, the Molnia against the Eurochron. I set the Molnia within a second of the Eurochron. Here is what I see, 2 1/2 minutes in almost eight days. It's the CL-AK-47 of timekeeping.

And the Molnia is about 20 sec slow against the Atomic clock. I wonder how long they're supposed to go?

Frank
It appears to have gained a couple of minutes in the last two days, suggesting that it´s "running on fumes". Interesting experiment. I´d say it will stop tonight or early tomorrow.
Regards
Krister

Yep. Well, still going, about one minute fast. Fumes you say...

Wow! Still going, 1.5 minutes fast. I may have to call up my Russian friend and ask him how many days these things were supposed to run.

Yeah, big tank, lots of fumes!

Hah, finally it stopped five minutes ago.