Though the factory is now closed, you’ll still find ex-workers behind little stalls near to the Kremlin who must have secreted a good deal of the stock about their persons before they became redundant. Apparently they assemble the watches at home and now sell them at still reasonable prices, ladies watches being a good deal more prevalent than gents. I bought one of these in 2000 and it’s still going strong. The name Chaika means ‘seagull’ in Russian and was adopted after being used by the first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, as her call-sign.
Stalls outside the Kremlin