Sekonda is a British wristwatch manufacturer. Established in 1966, Sekonda watches were originally produced in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, at the

First Moscow Watch Factory Poljot (, literally meaning "flight"), is a brand of Soviet Union, Soviet/Russians, Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory (, ''Perviy Moskovskiy Chasovoy Zavod''). The flagship brand of the USSR's watch industry ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and the

Petrodvorets Watch Factory The Petrodvorets Watch Factory () is one of the oldest factories in Russia. Founded by Peter the Great in 1721 as the Peterhof Lapidary Works, to make hardstone carvings, since 1945 the factory manufactures the Soviet Pobeda (watch), Pobeda watc ...

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Many Soviet-era Sekonda watches exported to the West were re-badged

Poljot Poljot (, literally meaning "flight"), is a brand of Soviet/Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory (, ''Perviy Moskovskiy Chasovoy Zavod''). The flagship brand of the USSR's watch industry, Poljot produced numero ...

and

Raketa Raketa ( rus, Ракета, p=rɐˈkʲɛtə, "Rocket") is a brand of wristwatches that have been manufactured since 1961 by the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in Saint Petersburg. The Petrodvorets Watch Factory is Russia's oldest factory, founded by ...

watches. The 'Sekonda' brand was created by ChasProm in 1966 for the export of the best watches from all the USSR's watch factories, including Slava. The factories that built Sekonda watches (generally relabelling their other brands) were: *

1st Moscow Watch Factory Poljot (, literally meaning "flight"), is a brand of Soviet Union, Soviet/Russians, Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory (, ''Perviy Moskovskiy Chasovoy Zavod''). The flagship brand of the USSR's watch industry ...

(Poljot) * 2nd Moscow Watch Factory (Slava) * Uglich Watch Factory (Chaika) *

(Raketa) *

Minsk Watch Factory Luch (, ''ray, beam'') is a watch brand produced by the OJSC Minsk Watch Plant, the only watch plant in Belarus. The decision to build the plant was taken in 1953, and from 1955 watches were produced in Minsk, including the brands Luch, Zarya an ...

(Luch) *

Chelyabinsk Watch Factory Chelyabinsk Watch Factory "Molnija" (sometimes transliterated ''Molniya''; ) was a Russian watchmaker, watch and clockmaker based in Chelyabinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast. ''Molnija'' (Молния) is the Russian language, Russian word for ''lightn ...

(Molnija) *

Penza Watch Factory Penza (, ) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 36th-largest city in Russia. Ety ...

(Zarja) * Chistopol Watch Factory (Vostok) * Maslennikov Factory (ZIM, Pobeda, Elektronika) *

Integral Electronics In mathematics, an integral is the continuous analog of a sum, which is used to calculate areas, volumes, and their generalizations. Integration, the process of computing an integral, is one of the two fundamental operations of calculus,Inte ...

(Elektronika-5) They ran a TV advert featuring the band

Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

in 1990. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Sekonda no longer has Russian ties and all its watches have been produced from factories in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

since 1993. Sekonda also markets watches under the sub-brand SEKSY for ladies' fashion, ONE for men's fashion and Xpose for rugged outdoor lifestyles of either gender. Between 1998 and 2002, Sekonda was the title sponsor of the

Superleague Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

, then the top flight division in British

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, and the precursor to the Elite League.

References

External links

* {{Official website Soviet watch brands Distribution companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1966 Manufacturing companies established in 1966 Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations