The clock is inserted in a pale-yellow decorative Plexiglas body on a stand made of the same material. It stands about 5" tall, the stand is approx. 7 ½" x 4 ½". The body is suspended on two horizontal axles and can be rotated. The clock case is in stainless steel. The dial is very dark brown, almost black, with Arabic numerals and big seconds. The crystal is glass. Manual winding is done by rotating the bezel. Rather unexpectedly, it is the counterclockwise motion that tightens the spring. To adjust the time, the bezel must be pulled out.

In excellent condition, both mechanically

The clock is inserted in a pale-yellow decorative Plexiglas body on a stand made of the same material. It stands about 5" tall, the stand is approx. 7 ½" x 4 ½". The body is suspended on two horizontal axles and can be rotated. The clock case is in stainless steel. The dial is very dark brown, almost black, with Arabic numerals and big seconds. The crystal is glass. Manual winding is done by rotating the bezel. Rather unexpectedly, it is the counterclockwise motion that tightens the spring. To adjust the time, the bezel must be pulled out.

In excellent condition, both mechanically and in appearance. Our 24-hour test resulted in approximately +1 minute. The crystal and the Plexiglas are clean and practically wear-free.

A clock like this was appropriate in the office of a Soviet mid-level bureaucrat. It will look great in a collection of Soviet timepieces or just period memorabilia.

The history of the Molnija ("Lightning") Chelyabinsk Watch Factory goes back to Decree #8151s of the State Committee of Defense of the USSR "About increasing production and improving quality of pocket and wrist watches". Among other things, this decree ordered building factory #834 in Chelyabinsk, near the southern end of the Ural Mountains. Much of Soviet heavy industry had been evacuated and built there from the ground up during WW2. The need for quality timepieces was extremely high. On 17 November 1947 the first production line of the factory began its work using the first version of the 3600 caliber. This date is considered the birthday of the Molnija Chelyabinsk Watch Factory. Besides watches, the factory manufactured timepieces for military use in airplanes, tanks, etc. Their tank clocks found their way into civilian retail, most often as desktop or mantel clocks.

Please note that the watch in our last photo is for size reference.
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