Everything for the fleet — everything for victory
It is commonly believed that the legendary Russian navy owes its origins to a childhood pastime of Peter the Great. According to legend, the future emperor discovered an old foreign ship in a country estate in Izmailovo. Thanks to his teacher of geometry and fortification, he learned that this was an "English boat" that could sail not only with the wind but also against it. True, the "ship" required repairs, but that did not stop Peter; rather, it became the starting point for his passion for seafaring. At first, this fleet was merely for amusement, but over time it became a matter of state importance. Peter was convinced that "a state that has only a land army has one hand, while one that has a navy too has both hands." This is how the construction of a maritime power began.
In 1693, Peter laid down the first shipyard in Arkhangelsk. Just two years later, he undertook his first naval campaigns, which culminated in the capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov. Much of the impetus for building a powerful fleet came from the need to protect the Black Sea borders. And in 1696, at the tsar's insistence, the Boyar Duma passed the historic resolution "Naval vessels shall be!", officially marking the beginning of the creation of Russia's regular navy. It was decided to build with the best global achievements in mind. Peter was directly involved at every stage, never leaving matters to chance. In 1697, as part of the Grand Embassy, he traveled to Europe, where he worked at the shipyards of the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam and then studied advanced English shipbuilding science. Already three years before the official start of the Great Northern War, the emperor planned to gain access not only to the Azov and Black Seas but also to the Baltic. With the outbreak of war with Sweden, construction of new ships began near the Neva River and Lake Ladoga. After the founding of Saint Petersburg, the Admiralty Shipyards were built, where the first vessel was launched in 1706. Significantly, this almost coincided with Russia's transition to a new system of time measurement. Of course, one might argue that Russia simply decided to adopt a unified chronological framework with Europe, but was it worth breaking centuries-old traditions? Political motives and state security were another matter. The development of the fleet and navigation demanded precise time calculations, as this allowed for determining a ship's position at sea. Both the safety of the fleet and success in the war with Sweden depended on this.
This theory is supported by the fact that Great Britain, which possessed the most powerful navy, was simultaneously contemplating similar measures. In 1714, the British Parliament passed the "Longitude Act," aimed at solving the problem of determining longitude at sea. This was to be achieved by creating highly accurate timepieces — marine chronometers capable of maintaining stable timekeeping in harsh maritime conditions. Thus, Peter the Great was keeping pace with Europe, from which he was unwilling to fall behind in anything.
A New Era of Time
Before Peter, clocks divided the day into 17 daytime and 17 nighttime hours, depending on the season. The day began at sunrise, and daytime hours were counted from that moment, while nighttime was "measured" from sunset. Moreover, the number of daytime and nighttime hours changed according to the time of year. The longest day and the longest night of the year (in summer and winter, respectively) lasted 17 hours each. This is why the dials of clocks once situated on the Moscow Kremlin tower and palace towers had 17 divisions. From the 1700s, a 24-hour day was introduced, and the 17-hour dials were replaced with 12-hour ones. Three new clocks with 12-hour dials and chiming mechanisms were brought from Holland on Peter's orders. These new clocks were installed on the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower. December 9, 1706, became truly historic: at 9 a.m., Muscovites heard nine chimes for the first time, and at noon, they also heard the melody of the carillon. The old 17-hour timekeeping system gradually fell out of use. Despite resistance, clocks became associated with enlightenment and progress. However, there was simply no time to build a domestic watchmaking industry from scratch, and the emperor disliked being late. It is no coincidence that he is credited with the saying: "Time is like red-hot iron; if it cools, it will be unfit for forging."
As for the sovereign himself, he carried a pocket watch made in England by the master Louis Prevost. It is now kept in the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums. In addition to a fascinating set of indicators, Peter's watch features the four seasons depicted as three male and one female figure, with recognizable attributes in their hands. A disc engraved with these images was hidden beneath the dial, and each of the four personifications would be revealed to the emperor depending on the current season.
This does not mean, however, that the tsar neglected the development of watchmaking in his homeland. Experts assert that the first watchmaking workshops appeared at the Admiralty and the Academy of Sciences, both founded by Peter's decree. It was then that watchmaking came to be called "instrumental art." Historians relate that when Andrei Konstantinovich Nartov, head of the mechanical workshop established by Peter, presented the tsar with a written project "On the Composition of an Academy of Sciences and Various Arts," in the "List of Masters to be attached to the Academy...," which included "...painters, sculptors, carpenters, turners, locksmiths, opticians, and others...", the tsar personally added the word "watchmakers." This allowed Russia to take a prominent position in watchmaking, transitioning from small-scale crafts to true mastery. However, the real flourishing came later, during the reign of Catherine the Great.
From the First Ships to "Raketa"
It is not difficult to imagine that the era of Peter the Great laid the foundations for the development of watchmaking under Catherine II, but the reforming tsar also provided a legacy for the watch factory that would later emerge in the Soviet Union. It all began with a lapidary workshop. In 1721, Peter the Great, realizing that the prosperity of the empire would be judged by the appearance of its capital, wanted to place St. Petersburg on a par with leading European cities. This required processing stone in large quantities, something previously not done in the country. Thus, the Imperial Lapidary Factory was established. Here, craftsmen produced decorations for palaces, tabletops, vases, and mastered the technique of Florentine mosaic, all by order of the imperial family. They also cut precious stones. The factory's workers cut all the diamonds for the Great Imperial Crown, which first crowned Catherine the Great in 1762 and then all monarchs up to the revolution of 1917. The factory's masters were also invited for more extensive work. The decoration of the Kazan Cathedral, the columns of the iconostasis of St. Isaac's Cathedral, elements of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, and numerous exhibits in the Hermitage (including the Malachite Room) and the Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt were all built with the participation of the lapidary factory's craftsmen. After the revolution, demand for luxurious stone products declined. The factory began to adapt to the new economy. In 1938, it started processing precision ruby stones for watch movements. This became the foundation for the legendary watch brand "Raketa" (Rocket). Today, "Raketa" is one of the world's few manufactories that produces its own watch movements from "A" to "Z," each containing 24 ruby jewels.
Located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the factory proudly honors its maritime origins and the memory of Peter the Great. It is no coincidence that "Raketa" produces watches for divers — the "Amphibia" — and for submariners — the "Submariner." On the rotating bezel of the "Polar" model, the names of the seas of the Arctic Ocean are engraved and filled with enamel, and most rotors are decorated with a "Neva Waves" pattern.
In 2021, the watch factory participated in the restoration of a Petrine-era monument — the sundial at the "Monplaisir" palace. For several years, the masters searched for historical, archival, and pictorial documents, as well as European analogues of Peter's sundials. One of the analogues chosen for the restoration was the clock in the Berggarten garden in Hanover, created in the early 18th century. Another example was a ship's sundial from the collection of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve, made by order of the English King George I and presented to Peter the Great as a diplomatic gift.
Thus, the work of Peter the Great lives on and continues to develop.
