Which brands were popular in your country?

Since Yugoslavia was a communist country, the import of Swiss watches was very limited. The most common brands were Doxa, Omikron, Cortebert and Darwill etc. which were mostly given as commemorative gifts. Much rarer are the pieces like Zenith (one of our colleagues sells Zenith for Yugoslav Air Force), Longines and IWC.
My gold 2943 that I procured from the first owner (military general) means that the rules did not apply to everyone equally.

When I lived in Denmark, I noticed that Omega and Certina are quite common with them.

 

Based purely on what I have seen around London (i.e. Very limited sample statistically) all the major Swiss and some German brands are well represented. All are relatively easy to get both new and used though.

 

In France, most major Swiss brands as well and back in the day a big number of french watches and brands that don't exist anymore that were made in Besançon (85km away from La Chaux-de-Fond).

On the french used market you can find a ton of well made cheap vintage watches made in Besançon.

 

Weren't Atlantic watches popular in Eastern Europe as well? From what I learned via the net and fellow collectors Atlantic was big there and in Scandinavia.

 

You could find Atlantic, Marvin, Lanco, Delbana but most common were watches from previous post. Also you had Poljot, Slava and Raketa which were very cheap and common among poor people of YU.

 

My Buran watch with a Poljot 3133 is my favorite watch I own. Right now on a teal colored perlon strap. Russian watches have a special place

 

@Lacazema big fan of Russian alarm watches from late 50s-60s but 3133 movement is a monster!

 

Here in Romania(communism fell in 1989) anybody could get a Russian watch.
If you were doing a bit better for yourself you could get an Atlantic as that was one of the few watches carried by a local retailer(Who, surprise, still is around today but no longer selling watches)
And if you were doing well and were connected(to the merchant navy&truck drivers) you could get your hands on a Seiko 5, 6309(if you were lucky) and I even know somebody who had a 6139 brought over.
I believe countries like mine are the reason those fake Seiko 5's existed.
And as a testament for our love of Seikos, I find it funny that in a country where the minimum legal wage is 450 euro/month most malls carry a Grand Seiko while there is only one Rolex AD.