On Yuri Gagarin's wrist that morning was a Shturmanskie from the First Moscow Watch Factory. This collection gathers the watches of that story — commemorative editions and hand-painted space dials — each one serviced, tested, and honestly described.
Shturmanskie — «navigator's» — was a hand-wound watch issued to Soviet air-force pilots. Nothing about it was made for space, which is exactly why it matters: an ordinary service watch went through the first human orbit and kept time.
Shturmanskie became standard issue for Soviet air-force pilots, made by the First Moscow Watch Factory.
Sputnik-1 reaches orbit. The factory marks it with the «Sputnik» dial — Earth at the centre, rockets for hours.
12 April. Vostok-1 launches from Baikonur; Gagarin completes one orbit in 108 minutes with a Shturmanskie on his wrist.
Commemorative «First Man in Space» and «Vostok-1» editions keep the story on wrists.
