Occasionally I stumble across a particularly rare and interesting example. This calendar probably hung in a watch store in Czechoslovakia sometime during the '50s...

 

That`s lovely! Made of steel I assume?

 

Thank you! I am definitely chuffed. The calendar card set is complete, and yes, the display is steel.

 

This gets my vote as best date window.

 

I wonder what the reference to "Hodinky" is at the bottom? Early spelling of Hodinkee...?

 

Not "early" – it is the Czech word for "watch".

The complete phrase reads "The most accurate watch".

 

Cool, did not expect to learn something new... so is Hodinkee a play on the Czech word for watch? (perhaps I'm only now realizing what everyone else already knew...?)

 

This is what it written on their site, though I don't believe that "little" is accurate:

 

This is really, really cool. Thanks @Tony C. !

Also, I had no idea Swiss watches were sold in eastern bloc countries during the cold war. May have to look in to this

 

Thank you!

I wouldn't bother, as according to my sources, this was the last remaining artifact.

 

Dont worry, I'm not coming for your stash

This is fascinating to me because I thought western consumer goods like swiss watches were rarely if ever available in a retail setting in the east, and were generally reserved for the party elite. The soviets created an integrated trading zone and did their best to prevent capital escaping to the west. Plus, the Soviets had their own watch industry.

Alright, I'm done hijacking your thread. Will post what I find in another.

Thanks again Tony, this stuff is really cool.

 

You're welcome, and I was kidding, of course, as there is plenty of room for hunters in the vintage market.

Your line on inquiry is interesting, and worth exploring. Of course there were plenty of Swiss watches supplied to Eastern Bloc military personnel, but presumably there were also watches sold to the public, though perhaps only through higher end shops.

 

One of the cards says 'Patek'. Any idea what that means?

 

Your post brought to mind this unused calendar from my birth year (1940). It was given by a watch material wholesaler in my city. I bought it at a farm auction, and sure ticked off a lady who wanted it almost as bad as I did. This came to me in it’s original brown kraft paper mailing envelope. Damaged when I bought it. The painting is by Charles Spencelayh, an English artist, who has many paintings hung in the Tate Gallery, in London. An old country English watch and clock maker.

 

Friday

...and "Philippe" means "thank God it's"

Ok, the second part may not be true.

 

Decadent capitalist goods!

Very cool artifact Tony. The vintage brand SWAG is always fun to see.

 

Friday

saturday sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday
sobota neděle pondělí úterý středa čtvrtek pátek

 

Great find Tony.
The last couple years I’ve been finding uncommon dress Omega in Eastern Europe.
I once thought that only military watches went east but somehow many ended up there, I wonder if the same is true of Longines... perhaps sent to associate stores by large buyers like Ostersetzer.

 

My understanding is that there was a body in East Germany called the Uhren Verkauf Büro (or UVB) that bought Swiss watches and was then responsible for distributing them throughout the Eastern Bloc. At least, that was the case in the mid 1970s. I do not know its dates of operation, or what other channels of distributions existed (Official ones, that is. The black-market ones we can take for granted).

 

Really nice Tony. I particularly like the fonts of and the aging of the cards