Ticking again: Belarus' only watchmaking museum reopens in Minsk after renovations

MINSK, 6 May (BelTA) - The only watchmaking museum in Belarus has reopened after renovations in Minsk on 6 May, BelTA has learned.

Deputy Director for Development at Minsk Watch Factory Rafik Sarkisyan noted that the museum tells the story of both Luch watch brand and the development of watchmaking in Belarus as a whole. “The exhibition tells the story of timepieces from ancient times to the arrival in Belarus. Among the exhibits are sundials and replicas of sundials from other international museums. There is also a part from the Grodno church tower clock, the oldest working tower clock in Europe, over 500 years old. The part we received goes back about 200 to 300 years,” he said.

“The main export market is the Russian Federation. We have customers in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Germany, and Bulgaria. Sometimes, we have orders from the United States. Apart from mass production, the plant also fulfills special orders and corporate projects: making watches with the logos of enterprises, companies, or events. Such products are also popular,” he added.

Rafik Sarkisyan also spoke about an upcoming collaboration. “In a few days, we plan to launch a joint collection with Belarusian truck maker BelAZ, large, powerful watches, much like the company itself. We decided to put them to the test. A BelAZ truck drove right over watches at a testing ground in Zhodino. The watches didn’t break, they passed the harshest test drive we could imagine. And they are still working in our office,” Rafik Sarkisyan said.

At the opening, the museum is running a special exhibition called Through Time to Victory dedicated to Victory Day. According to Yekaterina Novitskaya, who runs the Watchmaking Museum of Belarus project, the display includes a variety of items. “One showcase is dedicated to watches. The highlight of our collection is the watches of front commanders: Konstantin Rokossovsky, Georgy Zakharov, and Ivan Bagramyan. We are still looking to acquire Ivan Chernyakhovsky’s watch and we hope to do it soon. Each of these watches tells a different story as the commanders wore them at different stages of their lives. The factory was built after the war, during Minsk’s reconstruction, so the real highlight is Luch watch that once belonged to Ivan Bagramyan. He wore it the post war years,” she said.

The exhibition also includes limited edition series that the factory has brought out for Victory Day over the years.

The Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War has contributed to the exhibition with portraits of the commanders and historical photographs. “We’ve supplemented the exhibition with our own materials - photographs of participants of the Great Patriotic War, workers of our plant who, after the war, helped rebuild the city and the manufacturing industries of Belarus. Many of them served at the front, fought in partisan units, or worked on the home front,” Yekaterina Novitskaya added.

Visitors also got the chance to tour the watch production line.

Photos by Andrei Sinyavsky/BelTA