If you take a closer look at the Prim Spartak 43 LE watch, one detail stands out. The Prim logo is missing from the dial. No name, no pictogram. Just a clean relief dial with a sunburst effect.
It is not an oversight. It is a tribute to the watch that was here before Prim.
When Prim did not yet exist
In November 1949, Chronotechna was established in Nové Město nad Metují. It was based in the former district national committee building and had a clear task: to introduce mass production of wristwatches. With this, Czechoslovakia was to join the mere eight countries in the world that were then capable of doing so.
The French Lip caliber R25-3 movement served as the construction template. Development work began in January 1953, and complete drawing documentation was ready less than a year later. By the end of August 1954, twelve prototypes had been built. They needed a name.
Originally the name Kotva (Anchor) was considered, and was even drawn on the movement assembly drawing. But in June 1954, the plant director Josef Bena suggested a different name for political reasons: Spartak. After the leader of the slave revolt in ancient Rome, used by communist ideology as a model fighter against exploitation. In the context of the time, it was a name that fit. And here is the key detail: the Prim brand for wristwatches did not exist at that time. In 1956, a competition was even held for the best name for the new Czechoslovak watches, with more than a thousand suggestions submitted. Among the finalists were Nomesa, Novena, Metuna, and Vesna. The Chronotechna management in Nové Město, however, kept insisting on Spartak.
The final word came at the end of 1957. A ministerial commission decided that the watches would carry the same brand as the alarm clocks and wall clocks of the parent Chronotechna in Šternberk — Prim. The brand was officially registered for wristwatches on 8 January 1958.
So Spartak was never Prim. It was here earlier.
Over 1,600 pieces and the first owners
According to archive records, more than 1,600 watches with the Spartak brand were made. First, twelve prototypes in 1954, then a sample series of 147 pieces, and finally three verification series of five hundred each.
The first twelve prototypes were given as gifts to the highest party and government officials. President Antonín Zápotocký received a piece with a gilded case and a white relief dial; Prime Minister Viliam Široký got a piece with a black dial and white numerals. The rest went to so-called lay tests. The watches were given to workers, technicians, officials, and even agricultural workers. They wore them for a whole year, keeping records of their accuracy, reliability and run time.
After a year they had to return the watches. If they did not want to, they could buy them for 150 crowns, on condition that they would not sell or give them away to anyone for at least two years. At a time when watches were a scarce commodity, this was a very advantageous price. The vast majority of testers took advantage of this option and kept their watches.
A small curiosity is that among the testers, by chance, was President Zápotocký himself. He received the watch on the day of his 72nd birthday.
The first real sale took place in autumn 1957. At the request of the Central Union of Consumer Cooperatives, five hundred pieces were put on sale at the Brno Engineering Trade Fair. Officially, however, the sale of Czechoslovak wristwatches did not start until 1 April 1958. By then, under the name Prim.
Why we honour it today
When Prim launches the Spartak model, it consciously returns to the moment when everything began. A dial without the Prim logo is not a stylistic choice or an aesthetic decision. It is intentional. The Prim Spartak 43 LE preserves the look of the first Czechoslovak watches from 1954, when there was no Prim logo on the dial. The identity was hidden inside back then, milled into the click wheel under the dial and stamped into the movement base as a serial number. It is exactly the same today.
A 316L stainless steel case 43 mm in diameter combines polished and brushed surfaces with hand-polished facets. The visual impression changes with every movement of the wrist. The screw-down crown and 100-metre water resistance make this a watch for every day, not just for a special occasion.
The relief sunburst dial is available in two variants — blue and silver. Inside ticks the in-house caliber 98 from Nové Město nad Metují, with a power reserve of at least 48 hours. Only 50 numbered pieces of each colour variant will be made.
Spartak came first. And the dial will remind you of that with every glance.
