Poljot Strela

Reissue of the original cal. 3017 chronographs

Shortly after the Gagarin 2001 watch hit the market, and presumably in light of it's success, another Space-related watch, the Strela, was made available. From what I can gather the Strela (cal. 3133) was first produced in late-2003, and to this day (2013) many different models are still available. The first versions were produced by Poljot (meaning the cooperative group of companies inside the 1st Moscow Watch Factory), then Volmax and Juri Levenberg continued to produce/order their own versions.

I have heard that it was Juri Levenberg who first thought of the idea to reissue the Strela, and today his company has the brand name trademarked in Germany. The watches are sold through his eBay store as well as through co-operative dealers such as Julian Kampmann. Poljot/Volmax inventory of the more popular models lasted up into the late-2000s, and now the Poljot-style Strelas are available only through Juri Levenberg and partner dealers (outside of Russia).

This particular Strela is a Poljot/Volmax model, initially puchased though P.Maier in Germany before being purchased by me at what amounted to and eBay estate sale of a collector's inventory. It was another one of my earlier purchases, and because I rarely see any of these Poljot/Volmax models available anymore, I'm very glad to have it in my possession. In fact, I wish I had purchased more of the watches from this collection.

Geneva stripes and Cyrillics