The “Watches of Team Chrono24” series gives us the opportunity to share our watches, their stories, and our passion with you.
Tanja, Content Marketing
What watch are you currently wearing?
To be honest, I don’t know the brand of this watch, since it’s written in Cyrillic on the dial. A colleague who speaks Russian read the name to me once and told me that the inscription means something like “Made in Russia”.
How did you come to own this watch?
My grandmother sent it to me last year, after my mom told her that I was working for a company that “has something to do with watches”. The watch belonged to my grandfather, who passed away over 10 years ago and is greatly missed by all of us. My grandparents on my mother’s side were both born in what is now Ukraine. Since the watch belonged to my grandfather and seems to come from the region where he was born, I fell in love with it instantly. And it started working as soon as I wound it.
What do you know about the watch’s history?
As I said, my grandparents were born in what is now Ukraine, which was part of Russia at the time. As Bessarabia Germans, they had to leave their home during the Second World War. They were still just young children. My grandmother spent most of her childhood and adolescence in different refugee settlements in the USSR and went to school there.
Until three years ago when she got into her late 70s, she would collect clothing and food every year and take it to Chernobyl with an aid truck. Every time, she came back overwhelmed by the hospitality and gratitude of the people there and exchanged letters with some of them for years. Once, sometime in the 1980s I think, my grandmother came back from one of her trips with this watch. It was a gift for my grandfather from her friends in Russia.
What do you like most about this watch?
I’m moved by the watch’s history and its connection to my grandfather. I don’t think that he ever wore it. It was probably too small and too playful for him. But it was his, and he had it because my grandmother helped others, probably working through part of her own story in the process. And even though the watch has been on a long journey, is old, and is probably not very high quality, it’s still ticking.
What role does this watch play in your collection?
I can’t say I have a collection, but I’ve been the owner of a vintage Zenith watch with a 2532C movement since May 2018. I bought it a just few months after I started working at Chrono24. I caught the watch bug quite fast!
What fascinates you about watches in general?
It’s fascinating that even though they’re made of such small parts and are often highly complex, they stand the test of the time they display, making them witness to many stories.
At the same time, watches represent the eras in which they were developed and built. Since I’ve been working at Chrono24, I’ve heard so many great stories about watches, watch enthusiasts, and watchmakers. This has led me to believe that the watch world is as diverse and mysterious as time itself. A small universe – I like that.
What was your first watch?
I’m an 80s kid. It was a white SWATCH – white band, white dial, the hands were orange, I think, and instead of numerals it had small green and purple squares. I can still remember my mom taking it from me once and asking questions about it like, “Does your watch have a seconds hand?” and “What colors are on the dial?” I didn’t get all the answers right and she said, “Isn’t it remarkable that you can look at a watch so many times and still not know its details?” I think that’s what separates people who just wear a watch from true watch enthusiasts.
What other watches will you find at Chrono24? Discover them all in the complete Team Chrono24 Watch Collection.
Read more
Watches of Team Chrono24: Johannes
