Onderstaande Engelse tekst vond ik nadat me opviel dat Poljot schaamteloos Hanhart wijzerplaten lijkt te gebruiken. Ik begreep, ook uit andere bronnen, dat zowel Hanhart- als Tutimaspullen door de Russen destijds uit Duitsland zijn meegenomen en dat men heeft geprobeerd in Rusland (o.a. in Kirova) de productie voort te zetten. Later en zeker na de Wende is de Duitse horlogeindustrie weer opgekrabbeld en zijn merken als Hanhart en Tutima weer nieuw leven ingeblazen.
Het merkwaardige is dat de Pojotfabriek nu meerdere chronografen uitbrengt, soms onder de eigen naam en soms met het Hanhart logo. Dat lijkt ongestraft te kunnen. Ik wil de discussie over replica’s geen nieuw leven inblazen, maar ben me hierdoor gaan realiseren dat veel zaken niet zwart-wit zijn en dat de historische context een belangrijke rol kan meespelen in de beoordeling.
Voor de duidelijkheid: de eerste 2 komen beide uit de Poljot fabriek en de derde is een echte Hanhart. En dat de tweede niet klopt (17 steens op de wijzerplaat en een 3133 uurwerk (23 steens) onder het achterdeksel, is voor bijna iedereen duidelijk.
Groet Roelof
Some history.
During the years preceding the war, the Fliegerchronograph (Pilot’s Chronograph) had a really great reputation. It was known for it’s accuracy and durability and consequently was a favorite among aviators of the 1930s.
The matt finished stainless steel case measured 40mm in width (not including the crown), 13mm in thickness, 52mm lug to lug, and had a 20mm band lug width. The crystal was made of mineral glass.
Hanhart (a German company) along with Tutima and a few others made these chrono’s for the Luftwaffe during WWII. At the end of WWII the Soviets took Tutima’s plant machinery & parts stocks back to Moscow & continued to produce Tutima chronos, using Tutima parts, including Tutima chrono movts. Some time later the name ‘Poljot’ came about and they named the watch ‘Buran’.In the early 1980s, Poljot purchased the production machines from ETA for the Valjoux calibre 7734 drive. Poljot refined the movement and renamed it calibre 3133. The ‘Buran’ now uses this movement.
The stated wind-up reserve is 43 hours with stopwatch turned off, and 37 hours with stopwatch turned on. The 3133 has 23 ruby jewels, a balance period of 0.333 seconds, and 21,600 BPH (Valjoux 7734: 18,000 BPH). The claimed mean daily rate (variance) is -10 to +20 seconds per day. By all accounts this appears to be an excellent movement. The only critisism that I can find concerns some earlier versions that had a tendency to jump the second hand a little when the chrono was started. Mine shows no tendency to do this.
The watch you see here is Poljot’s limited edition run of the Fliegerchronograph with Hanhart markings. Interestingly, Hanhart has done the same but, as you might imagine, the Hanhart version is significantly more expensive. Quite how Poljot has been able to do this without being sued by Hanhart is puzzling. I can only imagine that the legal wranglings needed to resolve a case like this, given the history, would be very expensive. Poljot released this as a limited edition run of 500 (if you can believe that) and so Hanhart may have decided that it just wasn’t worth the effort.
The original Hanhart Fliegerchronograph is highly collectible even though most surviving watches look really beat up. The original nickel plating tends to wear allowing the brass base metal case to show thru.
