Interpreting Soviet/Russian
movement and case codes
Russian movement/case codes come in a
ABCDE/FGHIJKH
format.
AB =
movement diametre in mm
CD, CDE
= Soviet movement specification
see table
at bottom of page
FGH
= case variation
I
= case material
Examples below from Vostok
0:
stainless steel and other metals without plating
1: chrome
plated
2: gold
plated
3: gilded
(at least 5 microns)
4: colour
coated
5:
synthetic, polymer, rubber
9: glass,
crystal, ceramics, marble
JKH
= Hand set
As a consequence of this system there's
a 2416
Slava, 2416
Vostok & a 2416
Poljot movement that bear no similarity to each other, except that
they match the 2416
specification (automatic, central second hand, shock protected &
date plus all are 24mm
in diametre).
Ontop of which there's 2 different
Poljot 2616 movements that bare no relation to each other, except
that they match the Soviet 2616 specification ( automatic, central
second hand, shock protected & date plus both are 26mm in diametre).
One's the 30 jewel job that's not uncommonly seen in Sekondas from
30 odd years ago, while the other's the the 23 jewel movement that
one found in Buran Automats up until very recently.
As you can see above, from the
orientation of the balance cock to the crown (on the left in both
images above), these movements have nothing in common except
their size & outward functionality.
Soviet, Russian and Belorussian Movement Codes Table
Notes:
- The standard movements codes were etablished in the Soviet Union
on the early 1960s. Some codes may have been included in provision
for movements which were never actually created.
- New Russian movements with new designations are still being
created since the end of the USSR, and have been included in this
table on the assumption that a central standard still exists.
- Not all post-Soviet movement codes conform to the standard e.g.
Vostok 2433 is not a chronograph.
- The information displayed here has been gathered from a wide
variety of sources, of varying accuracy. Italics have been used to
indicate records where some uncertainty exists.
- As usual, this is a work in progress.