Sekonda

Sekonda was created in 1966, not as a manufacturer but as an export label. The Soviet state watch combine ChasProm needed a name under which to sell its output in the West, and Sekonda became that name — watches built at the First Moscow Watch Factory and the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in Leningrad, arriving in British shops as Sekonda rather than Poljot or Raketa.

That origin explains a curiosity of the vintage market: open a late-1960s Sekonda and you will often find a Poljot movement inside, stamped Made in USSR.

The quartz era changed the arrangement. Cheap, accurate Japanese movements undercut Soviet mechanical production, and after the breakup of the Soviet Union the brand cut its Russian ties entirely, moving manufacturing to Hong Kong in 1993.

What did not change was the position: reliable watches at prices most people do not have to think about. Sekonda had become the leading watch brand in the UK by 1988 and has stayed there, selling over a million watches a year, with Seksy, One and Xpose covering fashion and outdoor styles.

The brand is owned by Time Products, which also owns Accurist and Limit.

Sekonda holds 172 models, from £20 to £120. Half cost less than £55, and a quarter less than £35. 2 of 172 are automatic. 17 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 189 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1966

Created by ChasProm as an export name for Soviet watches.

1988

Becomes the UK's leading watch brand.

1993

Production moves to Hong Kong after Soviet ties end.

2014

Owner Time Products acquires Accurist.

2026

Sixty years of selling over a million watches a year in Britain.