Raketa, which produces watches at its factory in Saint-Petersburg, Russia has created a watch with an unusual counterclockwise movement.
The Russian Code 0302 comes in a 39.5 mm stainless steel case, with a tall box-type sapphire crystal on the front and a flat mineral crystal on the caseback.
As you can see from the applied hour markers, the time is in reverse compared to a common 12-hour analog watch dial. This was achieved by creating a counterclockwise movement of the hands, which is powered by Raketa’s in-house caliber 2615R automatic movement. According to Raketa, “The engineers of the Raketa Watch Factory inverted the movement of the hands by changing the construction of the 2 most important parts of the mechanical movement: the mainspring barrel and the anchor module.”
Apart from the redesigned construction of the mainspring barrel and anchor module, the watch is a typical automatic movement with hand winding that beats at 2.5Hz, has 24 jewels, and has a 40-hour power reserve. Each movement is tested in 4 positions to an accuracy rate of -10/+20 seconds per day before leaving the factory.
The movement is 100% manufactured at its own factory, according to Raketa, and the finishing is industrial and has a special nano-coating, Neva waves, and a unique print on the rotor.
The Russian Code is water resistant to a depth of 50 meters and is delivered on a textured black leather strap with red contrast two stitches, a 22 mm width at the lugs, and a quick release mechanism.
In the center of the dial is a display of the constellations over St. Petersburg on the morning of April 12, 1961, when Yuri Gagarin made history by becoming the first man to fly into space. Textured polished indexes with two types of coatings (light rhodium on even and dark on odd numerals) convey an extra 3-dimensional aspect to the already multilayered dial.
Another interesting design feature is that there’s a red synthetic ruby inside the crown, visible through a cut-out in the crown, in the shape of the company’s logo.
Raketa says, “Behind the elegant design lies the revolutionary concept that time should move in harmony with the natural counterclockwise movement of the planets in our Solar System. Therefore, just like the planets around the Sun, the hands of the Raketa “Russian Code” rotate in a counterclockwise direction around the dial.”
Retail is approximately $2,100 (1,950 Euros).
Photos by Raketa.
