The Slava caliber 2427 has 27 jewels, Glucydur balance, quickset date, 18,000 beats per hour. If you see a watch packing a Slava caliber 2427, run for the hills. Unless of course you get it extremely cheap or just love the look of the watch more than it’s ability to maintain stability. Slava tried their darndest to take a crack at movement engineering, but unfortunately their tickers had several complications (and no, not that kind of complications).
Summed up nicely by wikipedia:
The movements are quite sensitive to shocks due to thin balance staff. Other frequent problems include premature wear of rotor bearing and the clutch driving the hands (not a typical cannon pinion). Also the date indicator malfunctions are common. The movements are thus considered unreliable, especially compared to other Russian calibres.
Although the history of the company is rooted in Russian watchmaking, rumor has it that the name is now Chinese owned. If you are one of those prejudice watch collectors that has taken an unwritten oath to never own an Asian-made timepiece, then this might not be for you.
Why would you not want an Asian watch? Japan makes some of the finest watch movements that are also somewhat affordable.
Russia is Asia!
I’m suspicious of Chinese movements and Chinese made movements because outside of manufacturers controlled by Seiko and Citizen there seems to be a lot of shortcuts taken. I’ve personally found bridge plates that appear too thin (the poorly made click rolled back only three teeth, but that gave the mainspring enough momentum to over torque the top plate – warping it, throwing the gear train out of alignment, reducing the action on the balance, and cutting the life of a full wind from 45 hours th 12 hours.). Plus,I’ve found red glass washers posing as jewels for bearings (which actually hold up better than their version of real jewels). Oil seems to be an option for them and I have learned to lubricate all movements from there. But this is my experience with any mechanical watch movement coming from China not meant for Seiko or Citizen. Seagull being a worthy exception
As for the the 2427 – two mainspring barrels instead of one, and a push button quick set date feature … interesting. I’ve heard they’re reliable. But the rotor post is too thin. I’d just pull the rotor completely and hand wind it daily – if you like the character that comes with mechanical vs quartz – walk the full mile, automatics miss half the view!