Raketa

Raketa is the brand of the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in Peterhof, outside Saint Petersburg. The factory descends from the Peterhof Lapidary Works founded by Peter the Great in 1721 for cutting hard stones, and was turned to watch production in 1945, first under the Pobeda and Zvezda names. The Raketa brand was launched in 1961, named for Yuri Gagarin's flight that April. Through the Soviet period the factory made watches for civilians, the armed forces and polar expeditions, including 24-hour models for use where day and night are hard to tell apart, and by the 1970s output reached several million pieces a year. The Big Zero, with an oversized 0 in place of the 12, and the Polar are among its recognised designs.

Production fell sharply after 1991. The company was reorganised under private ownership in the 2000s and remains one of the few watchmakers producing complete movements, including hairspring and escapement, in its own factory. It continues to make automatic and hand-wound watches, 24-hour models among them.