Thursday, October 17, 2013

Slava 2428 Day-Date Handwind

Another watch from my collection is this Slava utilizing the Slava 2428 movement in its current Russian version with 21 jewels only. It has a centrally mounted seconds hand, a day and date calendar, a quick date change pusher and only manual winding.























I have had it since January 2012, wore it for some time after I bought it, even grew to like it, then rotated it out of my wind-and-wear daily set (of about 8-9 watches) due to new arrivals competing for wrist time and retired it to rest among my "collection" pieces. It didn't cost me too much money yet was not that cheap either, I think about US$70 bought new from a Slava store here in Moscow.

It has some interesting, though simple, features both case-wise and movement-wise.

















The dial is chrome-toned to match its brass chrome-plated case and has some kind of an embossed motif showing a large Cyrillic letter C (corresponds to the Latin S) which stands for Slava and some kind of a rising sun pattern. Other than that there is nothing remarkable.






















One of the mildly interesting features is that it has an exhibition snap-on back which I think is a rare combination because exhibition case backs tend to be screw-on case backs. You can even see some of the rather plain and undecorated movement. In fact, you can see most of it, devoid of color as it is. Still a great but dying-out movement surviving on existing and already growing old and depleting inventories.
























What you can also see through said exhibition case back is Slava's famous twin mainspring barrels - an uncommon feature, especially in cheaper watches, which allows one to easily identify Slava movements.





























The exact purpose of those twin barrels has been the subject of some debate. They certainly do not do anything for power reserve (and Slava's power reserve, while more than adequate, is nothing particular special at about 42 hours) as they are of the same length and drive the minute wheel simultaneously as I understand. 

The suggestion that they are there to allow for a more efficient  use of space under the hood, so to speak, doesn't seem to be justified either. 

More likely, they provide for more consistency in the operation of the movement which means that Slava's Cal.24 movements are capable of very precise running provided they are adjusted correctly. But usually their adjustment at the factory doesn't do them justice. This particular specimen ran at about 18+ seconds per 24 hours when I wore it. I am sure it can do much better though I have no problem with this kind of accuracy in mechanical watches and in any case it is well within the movement specs.

























More pictures.













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