The Great History since 1930
The young Soviet Russia urgently needed watches for the army, navy and civilians. To address this challenge, in 1927, the Council of Labour and Defence adopted a resolution establishing watch production in the Soviet Union. The First Watch Factory of the Soviet Union was built in 1930, in the shortest possible time.
The project was an impressive success. In the period before World War II, the First Watch Factory rolled out aviator watches, stopwatches, navigator's wrist timepieces with a stopwatch function, car watches, marine chronographs, deck watches, and other devices.
During the Great Patriotic War, the plant also made some parts for the first Katyusha rocket launchers, and in 1949, it launched the production of the Sturmanskie watch series.
Pilots' and cosmonauts' watches
Sturmanskie, the Russian for navigator’s watch, was launched in 1949. Those timepieces were made under a special Soviet Air Force order and were not available to the public.
They were awarded to combat aviation pilots along with a diploma upon their graduation from flight school. Moreover, at the end of the pilot's service, a special commission decided whether he deserved to keep the watch as an Order for Services to the Fatherland or not.
Thus, Sturmanskie watches were not available to the public until 1983.
First Watch in Space
The most significant event in the history of the Sturmanskie brand was undoubtedly 12 April 1961, the historic day when the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made his first ever space flight wearing the Sturmanskie watch made for him under a special order. His watch continued to function flawlessly even in conditions of weightlessness and overload. The Sturmanskie watch will forever go down in history as the first watch brand that has been in outer space.
From April 1961 and to this day, Sturmanskie watches have been used in manned space missions by Soviet, Russian, and foreign astronauts. The history of the Sturmanskie brand is inextricably linked with people of great calibre who have made the most fantastic dreams come true.
Manufacture
Since the release of first Sturmanskie prototypes in 1949 and to the present, these watches have been designed and manufactured in a production facility located in the very heart of Russia – in Moscow, 10 minutes away from the Kremlin.
The company's team includes the best watchmakers in Russia – engineers, technologists and designers, all from the best dynasties of watchmakers.
Collections
Each collection of Sturmanskie watches reflects an era in the development of Soviet and Russian cosmonautics.
Sputnik collection honours the era of space exploration, the first space launches and the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite.
Arktika collection tells the story of the bleak northern expanses and their conquest.
Gagarin collection once again reminds customers of the world's first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, who performed the first manned space flight wearing a Sturmanskie watch, which withstood severe tests in zero gravity, strong overloads, vibrations and temperatures.
Open Space collection is dedicated to the first spacewalk made by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, also wearing a Sturmanskie watch and making it the first watch in the history of mankind that has been in outer space and showed an impeccable operation of all parts in the new extreme conditions.
Luna 25 is a modern sports style chronograph dedicated to the newest Russian lunar programme. This model’s concept reflects a vision of the future.
Ocean collection of watches dates back to 1972, when the Soviet Ministry of Defence issued a special order to develop a watch that can function under water and withstand high water pressure to a depth of at least 250 metres. This is how divers and submariners got their own watch collection, which is still popular among marine professionals and sea lovers alike.
Marscollection. Nowadays, space flights have become a more common everyday thing, while reliability requirements for technical devices have increased many times over.
Looking to the future, we have created our Mars collection, which incorporates our most advanced innovations. Due to their unique properties, they will be irreplaceable in space, on Earth or on Mars.
Quality control
Sturmanskie are assembled by hand, and this guarantees their exclusivity and exceptional precision. Thanks to the manual assembly and thorough testing, we achieve a high quality of our watches.
Sturmanskie around the world
Our showrooms are located in Japan, Singapore, Germany, Poland and more.
Our watches just this year have already been purchased and shipped to citizens of Canada, USA, Norway, etc.
