05 Jul 2013, 17:32
Hi friends! It's been a long time since I posted something on DWF, but I come here often, to give a proof that I haven't left this wonderful community (and to prove that I'm not dead 
). My long absence is due to various issues (mostly real-life matters), but also due to the enlargement of my collection, that now is focused not only on digital watches, but also on analog ones, with various kinds of movements.
But since my laste addition to the collection is a digital watch, I couldn't avoid to post it here, in the community that woke up my interest for vintage watches (and digital ones, since I still plan to get a Pulsar P4 Bigtime in the long term...
).
And I must say that the wait for this watch has been very, very long! And the watch in question is a ZIM 3049 from 1977, also known as the Elektronika B6-02, made in two generations, the 3045 and the 3049, the B6-02 series is the first LCD watch and the first electronic digital watch ever made in the Soviet Union.
It's been nearly 45 days since the ZIM 3049 has left the Samara, to arrive in Italy. The long wait was due to several factors, including the arson of the Moscow International Sorting Centre, but luckily, in these days, things have started to move, finally arriving in Italy, and two days ago it was here at my house.
Let's retrace the moment when the postman told me that there was mail to be signed. Immediately I thought it was the usual bill to pay, but when I've opened the door, I noticed he had a strange-looking parcel in his hand. I signed the parcel, without paying anything.
I started to look at the package checking out its smallest details, and the more I looked, and most I seemed to go back in time, straight to the Soviet era, in which the parcels were made in that way. So, when I went back at home, I've been finally ready to open the parcel containing the watch that I was waiting since a long time.
Once I've removed the wrapping paper, I found a polystyrene base, where there's a 18mm leather strap and a hole in the middle of the base, protected by a layer of cardboard. There's the watch into that hole! And so, with a pair of scissors, I removed the tape and took off the strap, it will always come in handy in future.
It took me a while to remove the layer of duct tape that surrounded the polystyrene base, since it wasn't easy to peel away, as it was almost glued to the base, but I won the battle against the duct tape, and after I've removed it, I've seen something that emphasized the "Soviet" atmosphere of the parcel...
A fiberglass box! Just like in the Soviet era, when watches were sold without straps or bracelet, inside these boxes, and the only additional thing that was inside them was the "Passport", which is the documentation of the watch. When I've seen this box popping up in front of my eyes, I admit that I had some concern, hoping that I wouldn't find some unwelcome surprises. So, slowly, I opened it, and ...
...The watch is DOA, "Dead on Arrival". The ZIM 3049, that I was waiting since nearly 45 days, isn't working.
So, I opened the watch, without noticing anything irregular.
"This isn't possible!" I said to myself. "In the photos of the seller, the watch was working! What did go wrong?"
And then, I've tried to see what could be the problem, hoping not to damage something, since it was a long time since I put my hands on a digital watch. So, I've unscrewed the battery contact and removed the batteries, two LR1130, and I took my old Texas Instruments calculator that I use as a homemade tester for batteries (it works with any 1.55v battery, regardless of the size and diameter! :-!).
So, when I put the first battery, the calculator turned on and the display was perfectly clear and readable, but things changed when I put the other battery: after I put the second one, the calculator didn't show any sign of life. So, I took a 390 silver oxide battery, and I tried to see if the watch would begin to work with the other battery.
So, I've put the batteries back, reassembled everything, and suddenly: Rabotayet! It works! The watch sproung back to life, showing a 20:00 on the display (the photo below was taken after work was completed :-d)
However, the mission was not yet completed, since the watch yes, it works, but when I tried to adjust it, it didn't respond to commands. So, I removed the module from the case and I've clean the button contacts and the battery connectors with a pencil eraser.
Then, I've rput the batteries back, and when I've pushed one of the setting buttons with a pin, I've been able to adjust it easily! To adjust the watch, I have held the pin down on the button, so to change the time every second or minute, depending on whether you hold down the second button (for adjust the time) or the third (to adjust the minutes). So, after spending a bit of time to adjust it, I've resetted the seconds to synchronize it with the NTP clock by pressing the first button, then I've reassembled the caseback.
After that, I've retrieved an old Timex steel bracelet, which has a lug size of 19mm but it fits well with the style of the watch and finally I am ready to wear it!
Looking at it carefully, I noticed some interesting things, which contribute to increase the charm of this watch. The green reflector actually helps to improve the contrast of the display. In fact, when it is exposed to the warm light, its contrast is very good if you look at it frontally, inDeed the first LCD watches had a good legibility only at the front, and only at the end of the 70s, the reading angle of LCD displays was improved.
Its contrast instead changes in case the light is cold, in this case the contrast decreases a bit, but it is a difference that can't be spotted easily look at it very carefully. Plus, we should remember that this watch was conceived when there was the first generation of Field Effect LCD watches, such as the Optel LCD, the Gruen Teletime, the Seiko 06LC and many others, so the refresh rate (ie the time that required for the display to turn off a segment and turn on another one) is rather slow, since the first twisted nematic LCD panels absorbed a lot of energy, and consequently, an higher refresh rate would've lead to a slight decrease of the autonomy of batteries.
It's not a coincidence that the B6-02 adopted two batteries, one to power the electronic module, and the other to operate the LCD panel only.
The metallic overlay instead, which features the ZIM logo, has been partially repainted by the previous owner. Indeed, the overlay was formerly blue, but due to exposure to the sun, the panel has faded, turning into a violet-ish shade. So, the previous owner repainted the overlay in black, preserving only the logo and the "Sdelano V SSSR" text.
I have posted an help request in the Parts Wanted section, so in case someone has a broken B6-02 with an overlay in good conditions (it doesn't matter to me if it has the Elektronika logo, same for the colour), please let me know. I would be very grateful.
The case is made of chrome-plated brass, and it's almost untouched. The only scratch is on the side, close to the hour setting button, but apart from that scratch, the rest of the case is in pristine conditions. The glass instead, made of acrylic, has scratches due to daily usage, both on the external and the internal one. But the most impressive thing is its thickness: 14mm, making it the thickest watch in my collection.
Although its thickness is due more to aesthetic reasons than technical ones, since the module is slightly recessed, giving the impression that the clock is reinforced with an additional "shell" additional applied on the case. The lugs are 20mm large.
Here is a picture of the side of the 3049, which shows how its incredible thickness:
It seems to wear the timer of a bomb on your wrist! I can also feel its weight, it is heavier than the Pulsar P2, the heaviest digital watch I've got in my collection. To set the watch, you must use a pin and press one of three buttons, which have the following functions (going up from the first to the third one in the bottom):
♠ Button A: Resets the seconds (although they aren't displayed)
♠ Button B: Sets the hour
♠ Button C: Sets the minutes
The caseback, like the Chaika 3050-KR, is raised to prevent the case to touch the wrist, thus preserving the chrome plating. A very useful solution, although it makes the watch a bit "bulky". A particular thing I've noticed of this watch, is that when it passes from 23:59 the next hour, it doesn't go to 0:00, but goes to 24:00 for a second, then it goes to midnight.
What can I say? The wait has been long, but it's been worth the wait. I am very pleased by this watch, even though I had to fiddle a bit before making it work.
But when you wear it, you can feel the quality of this timepiece, and it makes you think about how much care has been put into every detail to make the B6-02 a quality watch, especially because it was planned to be the spearhead of the Soviet electronic watchmaking technology. Someone can easily imagine the astonished face of the average comrade Ivan, when he'd see someone -maybe some high-ranked member of the CPSU- wearing a wristwatch like that one.
There is also an anecdote about this model, in the Elektronika-branded version. In 1976, the American secretary of state Henry Kissinger went to the Soviet Union, in order to discuss the SALT treaties.
Kissinger was received by Leonid Brezhnev, who noticed that the American secretary of state wore a very particular watch, a Pulsar P2.
So, Brezhnev was intrigued by the watch, and when Kissinger showed his Pulsar to the Soviet leader, he asked Breznev if the Soviet industry was working on a similar product.
Brezhnev replied that the USSR was not ready for the production of a watch with a LED display (in 1976 the B6-03 was just begun), but the Soviet engineers already started a small pre-series production of what would become the first digital watch made in the USSR, the Elektronika B6-02.
So, in the evening, Brezhnev ordered the engineers of the NII-Zavod Pulsar factory in Moscow (that made the pre-series models and the first batches of the B6-02) to give him two specimen of the pre-series Elektronika B6-02, fitted with the 3045 module, the first generation of LCD modules ever produced in the USSR. One would've been given to Brezhnev himself, and the other should've been given to Kissinger.
So the next day, Kissinger came back to Brezhnev, to discuss other political matters.
And during the talks, the Soviet leader showed him the Elektronika B6-02 at his wrist. Kissinger was impressed and considered the product very interesting, and at the end of his trip, a B6-02 was donated to him. Kissinger -who was impressed by the build quality of the watch- suggested that it would've been a shame to not export it outside the borders of the Union, and that such a product would've had all the chances to compete against the then growing technological dominance of Japan on the digital watches market (and indeed, with the decline of LED technology, Japan became the most important maker of digital watches modules).
However, the B6-02 was exported to the Western market, thanks to the British company Sekonda, but unfortunately it did not have the success that Brezhnev and Kissinger hoped, due to the late decision to export the watch, leading to the debut of a technologically-outdated 3049 (the first generation, the 3045, was never exported outside the USSR), that didn't allow the USSR to increase its presence on the digital watches market (the same thing happened when they've exported the 5-202 module to the West, as the Sekonda Quartz LCD Six).
Hope you like my newest acquisition!
). My long absence is due to various issues (mostly real-life matters), but also due to the enlargement of my collection, that now is focused not only on digital watches, but also on analog ones, with various kinds of movements. But since my laste addition to the collection is a digital watch, I couldn't avoid to post it here, in the community that woke up my interest for vintage watches (and digital ones, since I still plan to get a Pulsar P4 Bigtime in the long term...
). And I must say that the wait for this watch has been very, very long! And the watch in question is a ZIM 3049 from 1977, also known as the Elektronika B6-02, made in two generations, the 3045 and the 3049, the B6-02 series is the first LCD watch and the first electronic digital watch ever made in the Soviet Union.
It's been nearly 45 days since the ZIM 3049 has left the Samara, to arrive in Italy. The long wait was due to several factors, including the arson of the Moscow International Sorting Centre, but luckily, in these days, things have started to move, finally arriving in Italy, and two days ago it was here at my house.
Let's retrace the moment when the postman told me that there was mail to be signed. Immediately I thought it was the usual bill to pay, but when I've opened the door, I noticed he had a strange-looking parcel in his hand. I signed the parcel, without paying anything.
I started to look at the package checking out its smallest details, and the more I looked, and most I seemed to go back in time, straight to the Soviet era, in which the parcels were made in that way. So, when I went back at home, I've been finally ready to open the parcel containing the watch that I was waiting since a long time.
Once I've removed the wrapping paper, I found a polystyrene base, where there's a 18mm leather strap and a hole in the middle of the base, protected by a layer of cardboard. There's the watch into that hole! And so, with a pair of scissors, I removed the tape and took off the strap, it will always come in handy in future.
It took me a while to remove the layer of duct tape that surrounded the polystyrene base, since it wasn't easy to peel away, as it was almost glued to the base, but I won the battle against the duct tape, and after I've removed it, I've seen something that emphasized the "Soviet" atmosphere of the parcel...
A fiberglass box! Just like in the Soviet era, when watches were sold without straps or bracelet, inside these boxes, and the only additional thing that was inside them was the "Passport", which is the documentation of the watch. When I've seen this box popping up in front of my eyes, I admit that I had some concern, hoping that I wouldn't find some unwelcome surprises. So, slowly, I opened it, and ...
...The watch is DOA, "Dead on Arrival". The ZIM 3049, that I was waiting since nearly 45 days, isn't working.
So, I opened the watch, without noticing anything irregular.
"This isn't possible!" I said to myself. "In the photos of the seller, the watch was working! What did go wrong?"
And then, I've tried to see what could be the problem, hoping not to damage something, since it was a long time since I put my hands on a digital watch. So, I've unscrewed the battery contact and removed the batteries, two LR1130, and I took my old Texas Instruments calculator that I use as a homemade tester for batteries (it works with any 1.55v battery, regardless of the size and diameter! :-!).
So, when I put the first battery, the calculator turned on and the display was perfectly clear and readable, but things changed when I put the other battery: after I put the second one, the calculator didn't show any sign of life. So, I took a 390 silver oxide battery, and I tried to see if the watch would begin to work with the other battery.
So, I've put the batteries back, reassembled everything, and suddenly: Rabotayet! It works! The watch sproung back to life, showing a 20:00 on the display (the photo below was taken after work was completed :-d)
However, the mission was not yet completed, since the watch yes, it works, but when I tried to adjust it, it didn't respond to commands. So, I removed the module from the case and I've clean the button contacts and the battery connectors with a pencil eraser.
Then, I've rput the batteries back, and when I've pushed one of the setting buttons with a pin, I've been able to adjust it easily! To adjust the watch, I have held the pin down on the button, so to change the time every second or minute, depending on whether you hold down the second button (for adjust the time) or the third (to adjust the minutes). So, after spending a bit of time to adjust it, I've resetted the seconds to synchronize it with the NTP clock by pressing the first button, then I've reassembled the caseback.
After that, I've retrieved an old Timex steel bracelet, which has a lug size of 19mm but it fits well with the style of the watch and finally I am ready to wear it!
Looking at it carefully, I noticed some interesting things, which contribute to increase the charm of this watch. The green reflector actually helps to improve the contrast of the display. In fact, when it is exposed to the warm light, its contrast is very good if you look at it frontally, inDeed the first LCD watches had a good legibility only at the front, and only at the end of the 70s, the reading angle of LCD displays was improved.
Its contrast instead changes in case the light is cold, in this case the contrast decreases a bit, but it is a difference that can't be spotted easily look at it very carefully. Plus, we should remember that this watch was conceived when there was the first generation of Field Effect LCD watches, such as the Optel LCD, the Gruen Teletime, the Seiko 06LC and many others, so the refresh rate (ie the time that required for the display to turn off a segment and turn on another one) is rather slow, since the first twisted nematic LCD panels absorbed a lot of energy, and consequently, an higher refresh rate would've lead to a slight decrease of the autonomy of batteries.
It's not a coincidence that the B6-02 adopted two batteries, one to power the electronic module, and the other to operate the LCD panel only.
The metallic overlay instead, which features the ZIM logo, has been partially repainted by the previous owner. Indeed, the overlay was formerly blue, but due to exposure to the sun, the panel has faded, turning into a violet-ish shade. So, the previous owner repainted the overlay in black, preserving only the logo and the "Sdelano V SSSR" text.
I have posted an help request in the Parts Wanted section, so in case someone has a broken B6-02 with an overlay in good conditions (it doesn't matter to me if it has the Elektronika logo, same for the colour), please let me know. I would be very grateful.
The case is made of chrome-plated brass, and it's almost untouched. The only scratch is on the side, close to the hour setting button, but apart from that scratch, the rest of the case is in pristine conditions. The glass instead, made of acrylic, has scratches due to daily usage, both on the external and the internal one. But the most impressive thing is its thickness: 14mm, making it the thickest watch in my collection.
Although its thickness is due more to aesthetic reasons than technical ones, since the module is slightly recessed, giving the impression that the clock is reinforced with an additional "shell" additional applied on the case. The lugs are 20mm large.
Here is a picture of the side of the 3049, which shows how its incredible thickness:
It seems to wear the timer of a bomb on your wrist! I can also feel its weight, it is heavier than the Pulsar P2, the heaviest digital watch I've got in my collection. To set the watch, you must use a pin and press one of three buttons, which have the following functions (going up from the first to the third one in the bottom):
♠ Button A: Resets the seconds (although they aren't displayed)
♠ Button B: Sets the hour
♠ Button C: Sets the minutes
The caseback, like the Chaika 3050-KR, is raised to prevent the case to touch the wrist, thus preserving the chrome plating. A very useful solution, although it makes the watch a bit "bulky". A particular thing I've noticed of this watch, is that when it passes from 23:59 the next hour, it doesn't go to 0:00, but goes to 24:00 for a second, then it goes to midnight.
What can I say? The wait has been long, but it's been worth the wait. I am very pleased by this watch, even though I had to fiddle a bit before making it work.
But when you wear it, you can feel the quality of this timepiece, and it makes you think about how much care has been put into every detail to make the B6-02 a quality watch, especially because it was planned to be the spearhead of the Soviet electronic watchmaking technology. Someone can easily imagine the astonished face of the average comrade Ivan, when he'd see someone -maybe some high-ranked member of the CPSU- wearing a wristwatch like that one.
There is also an anecdote about this model, in the Elektronika-branded version. In 1976, the American secretary of state Henry Kissinger went to the Soviet Union, in order to discuss the SALT treaties.
Kissinger was received by Leonid Brezhnev, who noticed that the American secretary of state wore a very particular watch, a Pulsar P2.
So, Brezhnev was intrigued by the watch, and when Kissinger showed his Pulsar to the Soviet leader, he asked Breznev if the Soviet industry was working on a similar product.
Brezhnev replied that the USSR was not ready for the production of a watch with a LED display (in 1976 the B6-03 was just begun), but the Soviet engineers already started a small pre-series production of what would become the first digital watch made in the USSR, the Elektronika B6-02.
So, in the evening, Brezhnev ordered the engineers of the NII-Zavod Pulsar factory in Moscow (that made the pre-series models and the first batches of the B6-02) to give him two specimen of the pre-series Elektronika B6-02, fitted with the 3045 module, the first generation of LCD modules ever produced in the USSR. One would've been given to Brezhnev himself, and the other should've been given to Kissinger.
So the next day, Kissinger came back to Brezhnev, to discuss other political matters.
And during the talks, the Soviet leader showed him the Elektronika B6-02 at his wrist. Kissinger was impressed and considered the product very interesting, and at the end of his trip, a B6-02 was donated to him. Kissinger -who was impressed by the build quality of the watch- suggested that it would've been a shame to not export it outside the borders of the Union, and that such a product would've had all the chances to compete against the then growing technological dominance of Japan on the digital watches market (and indeed, with the decline of LED technology, Japan became the most important maker of digital watches modules).
However, the B6-02 was exported to the Western market, thanks to the British company Sekonda, but unfortunately it did not have the success that Brezhnev and Kissinger hoped, due to the late decision to export the watch, leading to the debut of a technologically-outdated 3049 (the first generation, the 3045, was never exported outside the USSR), that didn't allow the USSR to increase its presence on the digital watches market (the same thing happened when they've exported the 5-202 module to the West, as the Sekonda Quartz LCD Six).
Hope you like my newest acquisition!
)
