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Slava: Brand Information
Updated 12 May 2009 by Editor, RussianWatchGuide.com 
Slava is a long-time manufacturer of inexpensive watches for the civilian Russian market. Slava watches tend to be conservative, traditional and austere in style.
According to one industry insider, "Slava movement and case production at the Second Moscow Watch Factory was closed 4 to 5 years ago. However, they still make watches using imported cases and original Slava movements from old factory’s stock. They use Chinese movements as well. The current operation is located one kilometer from Red Square." Most current models retail for under $70. One unusual watch in the Slava collection is the Special Force Alpha military watch, which uses a Japanese quartz Miyota movement, and retails for over $600. The same watch appears in the Right Move catalog. Where to Buy Many models of Slava watches are available on eBay. However, some of these watches, often marked "CJIABA" and sold from Hong Kong, are Chinese-made and do not originate from the Slava factory in Moscow. One good eBay store for Russian Slava watches is Zenitar. Some models are also available at Smirs. Official Website The official Slava website is www.slava-moscow.ru (Russian language only)
For many years I had a self winding russian Seconda. About ten years ago water got in, (my fault). Since then I have missed it but recently I purchased a Cjiba for little money on ebay. A good reliable self winding watch which keeps good time. I have still to find out how to use the slide rule feature. Recently, in a moment of maddness I purchased a Soki mechanical self winding watch for one penny. Again it works well, keeps good time and is well made. This is madness, who needs a battery watch. Something is wrong. You should not have high expectations of Chinese Cjiaba watch. They are sold at 10 - 20 usd. Most important thing is, are they really water-proof and does they have really 21 jewels? Hey guys. I am from Russia (Moscow). Bears balalaika etc. lol. I want to sell you the original russians watch like a "Slava" "Kometa" "Vostok". If u want to bye watch please answer to email intro.sad@gmail.com
p.s. sorry for my bad english. I'm a *#cking russian lol) Are real slava watches still being produced or are they all Chinese? I have bought about a half dozen of the watches from HK, suspecting chinese copies of Russian. Prices from 77 cents plus about $10 shipping to a total of under $20 for fancier models. Got em for curiosity and the humor of a .77 or .99 watch. That said, I dislike false branding and have heard good things about rugged simple Russian watches. Will seek one out.
The Chinese watches look good and seem to run fine. Don't know how long they'll run but it's fun to see. The stainless bands seem very well built.
Can't figure how they make em so cheap. Might be rejects that are easier to sell than to time accurately. I am buying Slava, authentic Slava watches, here in Ukraine for about 36 bucks. I am a collector of very good mechanical watches and I have to say they keep as good of time and the Solid Stainless models look as good as ANY mechanical produced for under a thousand bucks. I wear them daily and have not had a single problem, but my Date Just has been fixed three times in the last 2 years. I'll pay 36 bucks for 21 jeweled Slavas any day. If the "CJIABA" watches are so good, then whoever makes them should sell them under their own name, rather than cash off Slava's. They are not authorized to use Slava's name anymore and are most assuredly not Russian watches. Maybe you can help me.I picked up a "Slava" ladies watch, with some gold items. It had a marking: Au which stands for gold. It did not pass the 10k test. might be lower than 10k. It is 17 jewel wind-up nice watch, which works. Also it says on the dial "made in ussr" Anything you can tell me about this watch?? Bought from a Russion lady. Please respond on my e-mail. These Chinese CJIABA watches are extremely reliable and nice watches,good looking time pieces that really keep time to a high degree of accuracy.I have a few of them and sometime wondered how some other watches being priced hundreds if not thousand of times. I have a Cnaba Mens watch and on the Face it says" Hockey Stars of the USSR" in red letters with a large red star in the center surrounded by 5 white stars on light blue background. On the back of the watch the Number "601" appears. Can anyone tell me of its worth? The Chinese ones are assembled from parts sourced from various OEM suppliers, even the same model can house different movements, so they certainly do not build these watches themselves. Like I stated before, the new Slava company - as distinct from the original 2MWF - is still going strong, I think the owner of this site should consider putting a stop to the discussions on the products of an establishment which is NOT Slava. nowadays the chinese slava are better than the Russian, because to the contrary of Slava Moscow Slava HK produce watches by themselves)))) The Slava building doe not even longer exsists)))))) it was destoyed the last months I own several of the Chinese made models too and concur that they are great value for the money. Everybody thinks my $20 watch is MUCH more expensive. Sometimes I even tell the truth about the price. ;) A group of Slava employees formed a daughter company, acquired the former 2MWF assets, and started to build genuine Slava watches again, the URL is:
http://slava.su/ It is necessary to make a distinction between the real Slava watches made in Moscow, and the "Slava Sozvezdie" (Слава Созвездие) watches which started out as approved products by Slava, but now produced in huge quantities against Slava's wishes. Personally I do not consider them as having Slava's true bloodline, and would not support a company intent on taking advantage of the hard-earned reputation of another with my wallet, no matter how modest the prices its products are. I got myself a Ñлава Ñозвездие yesterday for USD35 and did some search online and found information that showed that all the users that commented before me own the same slava watches. These are purely chinese watches and i was alittle upset at 1st, but after comparing it with the vostok watches i have, i found out that the chinese movement has 4 advantages: 1)better looking designs 2)dedicated date change crown position 3)the second hand stops when the the crown is pulled to the time adjusting position 4)comes with a display case back with sapphire crystal(only expensive vostok has those)
But if you are interested in the chinese slava instead of the russian ones, please check the watch properly before buying, mine has finger prints on the automatic rotor and the inner surface of the dial crystal, but i managed to clean them myself. Also beware that the chinese slava cases are all poorly chromed.
So i am actually pleased with my purchase. Check the link for more infos on the chinese slava : http://www.tractionink.com/watch_wiki/index.php?title=Slava_Sozvezdie Great info! I have a CJIABA Constellation that until now I believed was of Russian origin...and except for the relatively cheap strap that it came with, and a slightly misaligned marker at 6:00 (that admittedly, drives me a little nuts...), it's a pretty good watch for the <$50 I paid for it. I quite like the austere styling, and someday may even have the marker fixed... :) I have two CJIABA watches, ordered from Hong Kong and presumably Chinese. However, they both have "Russia" (in Russian, POCCNR, last two letters are backwards, sorry no cyrillic here.) on the very bottom of the face in tiny print, just as the swiss and others have done to mark their watches. Both of mine have 21 jewel self-winding movements and are extraordinary watches for the money (less than $100usd for both.)
I own Omegas and other expensive Swiss mechanical watches and I have to say that if I were faced with the choice between one Breitling and 40 CJIABA's for the same price, I'd choose the latter. First-rate solid watches for pennies. Actually the Chinese Cjiaba (Slava) watches are pretty good for a really cheap watch. I like the designs better than the Russian ones. |
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