Slava watches

History:
Slava (meaning "Glory") watches are inexpensive, classic "civil" Russian watches commonly referred to as "Slava Lava!". The Slava factory (known originally as the Second Moscow Watch Factory) was the second non-military watch maker established in the Soviet Union. The watches of this brand look quite civilian, without a real military layout.

The early movements were derived from an old pre-war French movement, the Lip "T-15" (also some Poljot movements were derived from this French brand), and produced under license.


The word "slave" has the etymological root "Slav" because Slavs were often enslaved. Slavs were the origin of the word "slave" in European lanuages and in Arabic. "Slavic" refers to a lot of people, including Caucasian, Slovak (Czechoslovakian), Slovene (Slovenia & parts of Austria & Italy), Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Russian.

The word is also related to the word "Serb," which is related to the origin of the words "serf" and "serve" and "servitude," again via the same root concept of "slave."

Throughout history, the Serbs have been situated between two important cultures: the Byzantine East (Islamic East) and the Latin West. They were subjugated into slavery by the Moslem Turks for over five centuries during the Middle Ages.
Under socialism, Slavs and Serbs became slaves once again: socialist slaves.

Eventually the USSR realized the negative connotations of the watch's name in the West. The name was changed to "Craba." In Cyrillic, the word "slavs" is "славянин."

After the collapse of the Soviet Socialism, Slavs and Serbs celebrated freedom again.

The Slava watch factory and its property were expected to be rescued from socialism and returned (sold) to the open market, economic freedom, and capitalism as private property for retail development.

Today, the word "slava" has many meanings in Russia, Serbia and other countries. "Slava" often is praise and glorification for deliverance from slavey. It is often directed toward a saint believed to have interceded for deliverance. A Slava sometimes celebrates the day that a family's main ancestor killed his first Turkish soldier during the wars between Serbia and Turkey. Slava celebrations have many parallels to Passover celebrations, including commemoration of exodus from slavery.

The Slava celebration revived in Serbia after the fall of the socialist regime in Yugoslavia.
The doomsday clock of socialism continues to symbolize the threat of shortages, poverty, misery, starvation, atrocities and mass slaughter. The closest that the doomsday clock came to striking midnight was during the years occupied by the the hate-spewing paramilitary societies created in the socialist trio of atrocities (above). They killed more people than would three nuclear bombs. The world still has not rejected their philosophy of socialism and the deaths mount as the bomb's clock keeps ticking.

While Slava watches utilize some Russian-made movements today, many post-Soviet Slava watch movements are imported from China. As of January, 2006, the Slava factory and its property are to be sold for retail development. Thus, the future of the Slava brand is uncertain.