The Incredible Story of Raketa Watches

Got some spare money taking up space as part of your bank account? And some free of charge time to devote in your passion; watches? Then include us, we're going to show you the way to rebuild a brand.

Meet Count Jacques von Polier. Initial and foremost he is really a organization man who has known as Russia residence for much more than 15 many years. He understands the marketplace, understands the culture, and knows the way to make profit from any provided scenario, which brings us conveniently to today's subject. In a nutshell Russia does not have any authentic, original brands left, be it inside the style, luxury, or perhaps watch spheres. But the nation includes a rich background of cultivating robust, home-grown labels in all of those places. This vanishing act resonated with von Polier and so he decided to take action and invest in one of the gradually disappearing categories: watches. Here begins the incredible story of Raketa.

TWL : Why did you choose Russia? There are lots of other brands looking for outdoors investment lately, and Russia is properly identified for not getting the simplest location to accomplish company?-

JvP: Proper, but my main focus is on modern day Russia. I reside right here, and also the Country has an incredible history, in maths, literature, sector, etc. But the truth is the fact that there's no true Russian living brand any a lot more, regardless of this large legacy.

TWL: Why ?

JvP: The beginning with the 90's saw the commencement of a period of genuine wild capitalism. The collapse from the Berlin wall was a true trauma. Many people felt ashamed to become Russian, from that empire that became a simple "country", and whose financial program had obviously failed. All of the manufacturers closed. But there was not many nations inside the world with this kind of a watchmaking history. Inside the 70's, with regards to good quality and quantity, Russia was just behind Switzerland.

TWL: What made you believe that a Russian watch brand could reside yet again?

JvP: Due to the fact in people's thoughts, the Russian watch has constantly existed and still exists, even though virtually all manufactures closed. Moreover, it's not an exotic item: even prior to quartz movements, Russia was creating a lot more than five million watches per year. A lot of them are nonetheless in excellent hands ??ìC and running well!

TWL: What produced you choose Raketa?

JvP: Because it was maybe the only manufacture that never ever stopped its production. It's based in St Petersbourg and was living upon State's orders, like many other industries right here. But its capital was divided into numerous components, privately owned.

Nevertheless, the owners had been not interested in any way in watches, but on the real estate belonging to Raketa. We ought to not forget that during the communist era, a manufacture, like numerous other industries, was developed upon a true social viewpoint, and was portion of a global ecosystem that integrated a school, a hospital, buildings, and so on. Inside the end, the Raketa manufacture as this kind of ultimately appeared to become the emerging part of a significant genuine estate treasure?-that attracted speculators. Within the finish, the manufacture as this kind of was what was of least interest to private investors. Luckily it was also what interested me the most.

TWL: What was Raketa like whenever you purchased it ?

JvP: One manufacture, 100 watchmakers, 6000 drawings, no R&D undertaken in 25 years, a know-how, a brand, and a single single client, the government. And, needless to say, absolutely no notion in any way of 'money' or 'economic efficiency', let alone mentioning 'profit'.

TWL: What was your first action as the new owner?

JvP: To delve in to the legacy from the brand. I had 1 genuine treasure: these 6000 plans of watches, made '??ì?¨¨ l'ancienne', with black ink on tracing paper. Enough to build from scratch a complete museum!

TWL: Enough to create new models and start thinking about export markets?

JvP: Yes, but that was not my initial goal. In reality, my primary marketplace remains Russia itself. The potential is still large, and unlike past decades, there's now a nostalgic feeling that pushes the young generation to buy Raketas, as they still sound exactly the same as their grand-father's watch. Moreover, it remains a reliable product. People nonetheless don't have a good deal to commit on a wrist view, and Raketa is certainly not a jewel of haute horlogerie, but a robust piece that will follow you all your life.

TWL: What's the economic future of Raketa hunting like?

JvP: Properly, if we had wanted to be profitable as soon as possible, the best solution would have been to get rid of in-house stuff and integrate ETA movements. Let's be honest, considering that part from the current capital comes from my personal assets, I seriously considered that option. But, naturally, it would have ruined the spirit and also the beauty from the whole story. We finally came for the decision to keep the original movements. One of the most recent automatic calibre was developed?-in 1966! In other words, we had to bridge a 40-years gap in?-18 months. Kind of a challenge!

TWL: There was no self-winding movements developed?

JvP: Yes there was. But one particular day, the Communist Party made the decision that its men and women could wind their watches themselves. And from that day, there was no a lot more automatic movements developed. That's how thing had been at that time.

TWL: What does the future hold for Raketa?

JvP: We plan to have a production of 20.000 units this year. We're moving step by step, but so far we've had a tremendous welcome from watch enthusiasts. We have fan clubs within the main European markets, as nicely as Japan and China. We leverage the history with the brand: last year, we organized a retrospective on famous Raketa's owners, like Brejnev or Castro. And we had been funded by?-the Queen of England. Things change!

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