Raketa has upgraded and refashioned its iconic Avant-Garde watch with a new multi-layered dial, a more sophisticated case, more muscular hands with Super-LumiNova and the replacement of hour numerals with zero, three, six and nine in words.
The changes are subtle, but bring a more modern look to a watch that retains its Soviet Era geometric and abstract artistic styling in striking red, white, and black.
St. Petersburg-based Raketa describes the Avant-Garde as art in motion. “You can constantly interpret and reinterpret this ever-changing artwork, filling it each time with new meanings,” the Russian watchmaker suggests.
Raketa was created in 1961 in the era of Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin’s first flight to space and embraced the artistic suprematism movement of the time that typically sees works containing plain colors and geometric forms.
Raketa demonstrates the style in the circles and triangles used for its hours minutes and seconds “hands” of the Avante-Garde and the radiating engraving of its white dial.
The dial’s art is inspired by a 1919 Bolshevik propaganda poster by El Lissitzky called Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge in which a red wedge symbolises the Bolsheviks fight against the White movement, during the Russian Civil War.
The 39.5mm steel watches are powered by laser-engraved automatic movements that are designed and manufactured at the Raketa Watch Factory and presented via an exhibition case back.
It is marketed as a watch for both men and women and promoted with a shoot taken in what appears to be a Soviet-era Russian factory.
The price on a leather strap is €1,950 with free delivery worldwide.
