Sturmanskie Yuri Gagarin Mechanical Watch Review - The First Watch In Space - Sorry Omega!

This week in for review from R2A watches, is the re edition of the original Yuri Gagarin Russian space watch. In 1961 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited space wearing this rather simple, yet functional timepiece.

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Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin featured in his Space Suit

Case

The 40MM solid stainless steel case on this piece is certainly slender and well finished. The smooth brushed strokes on the flanks were definitely noticeable to me at first glance, as well as the high polished lug tops. In terms of thickness we are looking at roughly 12MM by 49 Long which is quite slender and one might see this as a casual/dressy timepiece. A standard 20MM lug width goes well with the diameter and there will be no problem switching straps as we all love to do on a daily basis. The case itself is water resistant to 30 Meters only , so definitely keep this one away from water. A thin pull and push crown operates the time only function with ease and I do not see an issue there. Overall, it is a very impressively built watch for the $500 selling point. An added bonus on this limited edition model of 1000 units is the exhibition caseback with very neat inscribed specifications on the screw caseback.

Dial

The beautiful Cyrillic logod blue dial ( Logo of first Moscow Watch Factory Below 12:00 - Sturmanskie Logo Above 6:00 ) on this model is definitely beautiful in all lighting and really is the star of the show here. It was meant to be simple, legible, and functional for typical everyday use whilst roaming the galaxy in a spaceship..The large arabic numerals are filled with Superluminova for increased legibility at night and is pretty decent on my example for a non-diver timepiece. The dial seems slightly domed as well as the domed mineral crystal featured on the Gagarin. Honestly, I would have preferred a Sapphire crystal at this pricepoint...but the beauty of the simple, clean, and elegant design wins it over for me.

Movement

This watch utilizes a 17 jewel POLJOT mechanical movement which features 42 hours of power reserve and 17 jewels. The movement itself is hand windable of course, but does lack the hacking seconds feature. It also has a slower beat rate of 21,600 BPH, just as other russian watches like Vostok.

Supplied Leather Band

The 20MM leather band is made of genuine leather and features some nice red stitching to match the seconds hand, which is a nice touch. I found it to be quite comfortable and certainly gets the job done. However, this watch would also certainly look stellar on a Nato strap..

Conclusion

Furthermore, the Sturmanskie Gagarin re edition is most definitely an all around well built piece with a decent mechanical movement ( +10 a day on my
example ). The case build and construction combined with finishing alone make this watch worthy of its’ $500 pricepoint. I do like the fact that you are buying into a piece of history as this watch is a remake of the first actual watch in space. I feel many watch enthusiasts only take Omega ( First Watch on the Moon ) into consideration when the topic of Space and watches comes up, and the Sturmanskie should be mentioned as well...as this is honestly the first watch to be in Space. Thanks for taking the time to read and please do check out R2A watches as their watches are quite unique and the customer serbice was impeccable.