I'm not sure I'm ready to buy a Soviet/Russian product, but I certainly have noticed that Soviet chronometers (mostly Kirova) which bear a striking resemblance to the Hamilton Model 21 are readily available for a small fraction of the cost of a decent Model 21.

Can anyone here speak with some knowledge about the quality and reliability of these pieces, and/or the difficulty of getting them repaired?

I have owned and sold several, and still own one as a keeper. I can't answer for the technical aspect of the chronometers, but mine have all been excellent timekeepers. I believe they are based upon the German marine chronometers, GUB and A Lange & Son. The Russians looted East Germany and took a lot of the equipment back to the Soviet Union. Notice that the Germans and the Russians use the "integral balance" by Guillaume.

They can be repaired here in the USA.

Because the prices for these are so low, there is the question as whether it is less costly to simply buy a new one as opposed to trying to have one repaired.

Luckily, My watchmaker friend, Mr Vladimir Gelfer (who is also 68 years old) was transported from Belarus to the Moscow Watch Factory and "learned" watch making on these Ships Chronometers made largely for Russian Submarines. He probably worked on mine which is a early 4 digit serial number and truly a Cronometer. If you want one "cheap" (I paid $355.00) you may have to hurry, because they are goin up very fast. But in the meantime, Vladimir knows these very well, can service them and is very very proud of their accuracy and workmanship!

Also you should look at the Poljot and Kirov Deck Watches which can out-perform the Hamilton 22.

Vladimir told me he was instructed how to make these at their factory* in Moscow in the mid-1950's by Swiss engineers, and these Cronometers are NOT COPIES, but are certainly Swiss-inspired in their design.

(* Vlad also told me this Factory which had some old Hampden Watch Company Machinery too was relocated numerous times by the Russions during the second world war to keep it out of German Hands.)

Poljot Deck watch and my Russian friend Sabina who chases these things down for me.

David nice price and it looks in great shape 2000.00 or more for a model 21.Looks like the russian is a better deal.David what year was yours made?I have thought about getting one but a lot of the russian seller's on ebay dont take paypal and you wonder after it get's shipped it make's it here in the USA but I see you had good luck what seller did you deal with.

Mine was made in the early to mid 1950's. Sabina is in Vladivostok. You can reach her at;
pallada11@yandex.ru

David,

I recently bought one of these chronometers from Sabina, I'd ike to talk to you about it if possible off-line. Can you contact me at mjohnson at mgmtsysconsult dot com.

Michael, I e-mailed you my home phone number at your hotmail email address.
Dave

Hi,
I was wondering if the gimbaled chronometer are still available from your contacts.
I am interested in picking one up.
Cheers
Gary

Gary,

Sabina's handle in ebay is lastochka2, she currently has one listed at this time, it is missing the top lid of the box.

I've also bought from mmely.ru (who is also in business together with demaxgo).

Both of my Russian purchases (nmrely.ru/demaxgo are actually Ukranian but I'll put them in this category for this message) have been safe.

I would mention that the purchase from nmrely.ru was a reconditioned chronometer (1959 year), where it appears that they do this to almost all of their chronometers. They typically refinish the boxes and brass. Some may find this desireable, some may not. I was not real happy with the quality of the finish, so I'm having it redo by Gary Sellick. They currently have a Hamilton done this way, I'd stay away from this one, you could get other ones in better locations. I would suggest them for any Kirova/Polot.

As for Sabina's, this one was never used, it came straight from a warehouse where it had been the last 30 years and was still in the factory sealed container. As you can imagine, nothing wrong with it.

Good luck chronometer hunting, it consumes a lot of my time.....

As a word of caution, be sure to specify that they use EMS as the shipping option, this will allow you track it and will give you a good turnaround time, I did have one package that took three months to get here, causing me to be a bit nervous.

Michael,
Thank you for the reply.
I live in Australia so I hope this will not be a problem. I will look them up and compare prices.
Cheers
Gary

Michael,
The one that Sabina is selling looks ok but would Gary Sellick be able to replace the top lid so that it would look close the the original ones?
It maybe the other option to get one a bit cheaper.
Gary

Gary,

I'm pretty sure that Gary would be able to replace the top on it without any issues. If anything, you might want to contact him directly (phone is best for him). He currently has an inner box of my Kirova which could be used as a template/reference if he does not have one already. Mine is about the same vintage as the one you are referring to (which is no longer on ebay as of this morning).

Be Warned:
It seems the lovely Sabina has recently relieved the last six or so of her ebay buyers of their money and failed to deliver the merchandise. She is no longer a member of ebay.

re: Sabina - eBay name lastochka2
actually,with eight negative feedbacks in a row , clearly an intended and planned fraud,her very cute attributes hiding a black dishonest heart, though for sure she's not the first LOL

Black heart hidden in an angel costume. Probably could peddle those salvaged Soviet trinkets to any guy I know if it were face to face. I would most likely be just as easily taken.

I purchased Kirov marine chronometer many years ago from a gentleman in Kaliningrad who's brother had some connections with the navy stores in St. Petersburg (Sevastopol). Full payment of $500.00 US was required by wire transfer to a bank in Moscow before shipment could be made. The seller claimed the chronometer would be new, unused, and unopened, straight from the navy stores where it had been in storage since the early eighties. It took literally months to arrive (held up in St. Petersburg customs I was told) and I was sure I had been swindled. When it did finally arrive, it was delivered wrapped in a burlap potato sack. The chronometer itself was packed in a roughly fabricated steel box with the lid of the box sealed with soft solder and had to be heated with a torch to be removed. It was packed very securely,double boxed with a velvet cover and was exactly as represented. The documentation was of course in Russian so I paid to have it translated. I ended up with about $650 in the whole project but it is a beautiful piece of engineering and the workmanship is amazing.

I just recieved one a couple of weeks ago from a seller in Kaliningrad, the packaging looks very similar to the above mentioned!
The balance staff was broke inspite of the careful wrapping, it wasn´t corked properly.

SABINA - eBay name - lastochka2- NEGATIVE FEEDBACKS X 8

Period:
Feedback From / Price Date / Time
Good comm. until payment was sent, after that have not got the item or heard f. Buyer: Member id mobbatt ( Feedback Score Of 17) Apr-12-10 13:05
Original 12- Bolt Diving Helmet (#270531342858) US $877.79 View Item
Keep away - took the money and didn't sent anything, Ebay doesn't help either !! Buyer: Member id 6053frederic ( Feedback Score Of 359) Apr-09-10 10:17
Diving helmet # 3182 (#270531315505) US $710.00 View Item
THIEF - item never arrived and seller refuses to communicate. Ban her, eBay!!! Buyer: Member id turnerhooch ( Feedback Score Of 204) Apr-04-10 19:02
Marine chronometer "Polet" # 01223 (#270531917045) US $411.00 View Item
Detailed item information is not available for the following items because the Feedback is over 90 days old.
It never came. I'm out a lot of money. No response from seller. Buyer: Member id zbmaney ( Feedback Score Of 2 ) Mar-24-10 13:19
Fresnel Lens L300-20 , Lighthouse Light Beacon (#270519501001) US $999.00
NOT RECEIVED...NO RESPONSE.... Buyer: Member id raoul.moko (private) Mar-23-10 13:18
Fresnel Lens - Lighthouse Light Beacon Buoy (#270531897925) US $130.00
NEVER RECEIVE THE ITEM AFTER WIRING THE PAYMENT. A CHEATER!!! Buyer: Member id zmxu ( Feedback Score Of 100) Mar-18-10 02:06
Marine chronometer A.Lange # 2101 (#270531293689) US $1,620.00
STAY AWAY! SELLER IS POISON! wired $500 & never rec'd item.(stupid, i know) Buyer: Member id olgaandlola ( Feedback Score Of 4 ) Mar-15-10 12:16
Marine chronometer "Seiko" # 5921 (#270531300325) US $466.00
BOX AVERTISED BUT NOT RECEIVED. 40 DAYS TRYING BUT SELLER DOES NOT REPLY. Buyer: Member id strandopoulos ( Feedback Score Of 26) Mar-05-10 14:38
Marine chronometer "Kirova" # 28884 (#270517035689) US $860.00

I'm going to be very sad if this is all true. I have bought from Sabina previously and did receive the items which I had purchased. In fact, I got one of my pride and joy chronometers from her (un-used and un-run Kirova still sealed in factory container).

Now, granted, it took four months for the items to arrive, they did finally arrive. They were stuck in Customs in Moscow (as it was not sent EMS, which is much more reliable) for almost all of that time.

Communication was difficult and responses were usually slow. Sometimes she would claim that she was in China and did not have access to email. Having worked in this part of the world (Far East of Russia/China), I can tell you that inaccessability to email does ring true.

I don't want to make excuses for her, as I don't know the truth, but once you get this type of feedback for items that may take many months to arrive, it is all but impossible to get this reversed, which would probably explain why she's no longer a registered member.

Unfortunately, there is no way to know from these guys who posted the feedback if the items ever did deliver. I suspect that they have some additional time to wait until they actually do arrive, if ever. I know I had all but given up hope.

Here's the moral of the story, you have to be careful with these guys. I've had some buys that I made the guys ship part of the items before I actually would wire the amount to ensure that they are legitimate, where I specified the parts of the chronometer that I wanted in the first batch (usually the parts that are unique). This has worked for me in the past. For Sabina, I had a good recommendation from another IHC185 member, so I went blind on her and did fine. What I would suggest to all buyers from these guys is to always ensure they use EMS to send the package, as this is light years faster than regular post.

I have bought two chronometers from Sabrina. One Kirova, and the other a Poljot. These were two different deliveries, both of which sustained substancial damage in shipment. I attribute the damage to lack of intelegent packaging. I emailed Sabina to see if she would try and locate some spare parts to repair my chronometers with, she would never answer my emails. I would never do business with this young woman again.