Molnija Russian Marriage watch review - with Swiss watch movements makes these great to collect

 

                                         Marriage Watches offer a lot of watch for your money - 

      and have plenty of interesting 'retro style' too like this Molnija aviator style watch

I had not seen Molnija watches before and although many watch fanciers might gravitate to the big names such as Longines, Rolex and other big price ticket watches, Molnija and other similar oversize watches are starting to gather something of a following, often based on 1950's and later watches which have been rebuilt and repurposed often from pocket watches. 

The marriage watch concept was again something I had not discovered, so what do they offer the collector or someone looking for a unique watch at a reasonable price?

                 Classic styling and large easy to read faces make these great to wear

Despite their larger case size of 43mm +, they are in many cases not 'heavy' in weight

So, what is a marriage watch? in this case, it often became in recent times an unfashionable and inexpensive (due to lack of desirability) pocket watch upgrade. The movement was sometimes just given external lugs take a watch strap or was re-cased and sometimes given a new dial and turned into a wristwatch.

Lets face it, a pocket watch is not the most practical of timepieces these days, but there are literally shedloads of great looking, quality movement pocket watches about, with many Russian made ones often based on Swiss movements that really offer great value for money. Other watch makes such as Glashutte, Omega and Longines often get converted too - are they worth buying? Lets take a look.

With Swiss movement origins, these watches offer great value

Molnija means 'Lightning' in Russian and their factory survived until the early 2000's having a long history of making high quality watches for the Soviet Military forces and Railways. 

These watches often have nice quality movements with some of their movements based on the Swiss movements of the past, like the Rolex 624, which Molnija improved to an 18 Jewels type as used in the Roman Miller marriage watch, a batch of these 18 Jewel movements was discovered unused in the factory when it closed and used in the Roman Miller brand watch akin to a Jaeger Le Coultre, Longines or Omega style watch from the 1920's.

A particularly attractive 'Gothic' style of face Molnija, 

with Acrylic glass back panel on the rear showing the movement

A Molnija Swiss origin movement

The typical case size of these Molnija marriage watches have a crystal size of around 43mm with a case size of 45-48mm typically. Some are larger, depending on the case size used, some of the Railway style watches have larger cases of around 50mm or larger. Saying that, they are not heavy on the wrist.

On the wrist, the watch is impressive -

without being 'too large' for most wearers -

the strap was swapped from a NATO one to a conventional one

There are a whole range of very interesting looking marriage watches on the market based on other Russian movements, from Luch, Roman Miller, Sturmanskie, Zim and others which look really classic and unusual in design. These are nice quality movements if a bit plain, but look workmanlike and do keep good time.

A large size CYMA Swiss Watch with a case of around 53mm across without lugs!

These type of watches are certainly eye catching, not only because of their size but also their retro design style. They are hand wound mechanisms but don't be alarmed,many of the nice modern Swiss watches are not automatic movements but are hand wound. 

                         

                                               CYMA Swiss Watch movement detail

When quartz movements became widespread in the 1970's it helped to kill off the large scale Swiss mechanical watch market. Which is when Soviet and Chinese factories bought the tooling and the rest is history. 

The Soviet watch market continued on with making mechanical watches long after the Cold War finished, winding a watch was cheaper than finding and fitting batteries. Plus it kept people in work. 

The 'old school' look of the Soviet era timepieces often based on the bauhaus ethic of simplicity of function and form in the design, kept these watches looking of a certain time and that has in retrospect been a great selling point for them now.

Even within the Molnija range there are variations in dial design - 

this blue dial one has the CCCP logo whereas the other one shown above, does not.

Prices vary on the market, some Molnija watches are not high priced and start at around £89 or $100USD, its a case of see what is out there for sale and there is often a good deal to be had. There are some nice watches for less than £200 or $250 USD to be found.

They won't break the bank, look good and are reliable timekeepers, what is not to like? 

A nice 1920's Longines re-cased and repurposed as a marriage watch -

for around £200 as opposed to around £1200+ for a new, 'stock' Longines watch.

Fancy going upmarket to a Swiss marriage watch? Then why not try a Longines or similar brand marriage watch? At the prices they are offered at they are often way under what you would pay for a 'conventional' wristwatch from the same maker, plus you often get unique dial designs and in many cases original dials from around a hundred years ago.

A superb Longines from 1914 repurposed into a nice marriage watch

In conclusion:

In my view, marriage watches in general offer great value for money, they look good and are a lot of fun. I find the Russian made ones from Molnija and similar are attractive and individual. They are presently inexpensive and look different. 

At the other end of the scale, a repurposed Swiss make like a Longines offers the same great experience but with a higher price tag, which does go in its favour for resale value. But it is still an affordable product from the Swiss watch world if you really want a great watch with the Swiss origin.

That said, I still rate the Russian Marriage watches as great value and worth collecting for their own merit. Besides their good reliability and timekeeping - bear in mind their military and transport origins with demanded this. Plus, whilst quartz watches keep best time, they need batteries.

Why not try one? 

And these Marriage watch products also benefit helping watch creators in Russia to reach Western markets to create jobs and new customers and start successful small businesses too which helps their economy. Plus a lot of old pocket watches are getting new lives rather than just being broken for their silver cases.