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Poljus / Полюс

After World War II, the First State Watch Factory focused heavily on wristwatch production. This lead to a proliferation of discrete brands in the 1950s, all powered by First Moscow Watch Factory movements. These brands included Antarktida, Kirovskie, Kosmos, Mayak, Moskva, Orbita, Pobeda, Poljus, Rodina, Signal, Sportivnie, Sputnik, Stolichnie, Strela, Sturmanskie, and Vympel. In 1964, the vast majority of these brands were consolidated under a single trademark: Poljot.

The Poljus brand (Полюс, meaning "pole") was launched in the early-1960s in limited quantities. This design does not appear in any known catalog or historical record, suggesting it was not a civilian watch, but rather a timepiece issued to professionals who worked in the Soviet North Pole stations or explored the region. The overall aesthetic is not unlike the Stolichnie, including the movement design, with one large exception: the Poljus was manufactured with a double antimagnetic shield – one behind the movement fitted into the caseback, and one situated just behind the dial – together forming a complete ‘Faraday Cage’. Such a design would have been well-suited in the polar regions, where magnetic fields are significantly stronger than at lower latitudes. This also means the movement caliber would have been 2410 rather than the traditional 2408/2409 calibers found in the Stolichnie.

The fate of the Poljus is not well understood, though it is unlikely the brand lived much longer than 1964, when the First Moscow Watch Factory was rebranded "Poljot". 

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