This is what the first heroes of the Soviet Union got - the Star of the Lenin Medal and an American-made watch

Long before the Cold War, the USSR's highest Order of Honor was presented by Stalin himself, accompanied by a Hamilton watch made in the United States at the time.

In a report published in the French newspaper "lefigaro", the writer Judichael Hurl says that in 1941, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were completely different from what they became afterwards, or from what they are today with Russia.

The disintegration of the German-Soviet Pact and the Nazi regime’s launch of Operation Barbarossa were turning points in World War II.

On June 22, 1941, Hitler's Germany attacked the Soviet Union, opening a second front.

American watch

Focusing on the Soviet Union at that time, surprising details about watchmaking can be discovered, at a time when the very first heroes of the Soviet Union were awarded only a gold star from the Order of Lenin.

As a reward for the heroic deeds of these Soviet fighters on the front, Stalin also awarded them an American Hamilton Watch, identical to that provided to American soldiers in the early days of the war.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin American watches made him want the Soviet Union to produce his own watches (Getty Images)

In total, the brand (now Swiss) has delivered about 365,000 military hours to the US forces, specifically for the United States Navy, United States Land Forces and the United States Marines.

About 3 thousand hours of it met a different fate in the Soviet Union.

Because as soon as he entered the war against the Nazis, the New York-based Roshn War Rollifound Foundation, a branch of the US War Relief Committee, would finance the sending of war materials to the Soviet Union.

Tanks, weapons and hundreds of hours

And in the face of the Nazis, all help was welcome.

Military watch specialist Thierry Serna, founder of the watch site of the MostraStore Group, explains that “in the first shipments of military equipment to the Soviet Union, we find medicines, planes, tanks, weapons… and hundreds of hours. In fact - at that time - it was not known in the Soviet Union. How are watches made. "

In this context, the presentation of a watch - in addition to a medal - is very important, so these American Hamilton watches were presented as a reward to the elite of the Soviet Union, and as a result many of them disappeared, buried or lost with their recipients.

Thierry Serna discovered one such watch a short time ago, an American Hamilton model A987 (A987) from 1941, with a diameter of 34 mm, with 38 watches of power reserve, and featuring a light silver dial and hands made of radium.

It works perfectly

After being checked and refurbished, the watch still has all of its original parts and is working perfectly.

It is currently on display for 11,000 euros at the Mostra store website, and may end up in a museum.

In total, from the creation of the Soviet Union in 1934 until its collapse in 1991, there were only 12,500 heroes, including about 100 combat pilots.

Only two men received the award 4 times, Georgy Zhukov and Leonid Brezhnev.

Photo of Joseph Stalin fronting the Bolshoi Theater at the Soviet Prime Minister's 70th birthday party (Getty Images)

What is less known about the history of these Hamilton watches donated to the Soviet Union in the midst of World War II, is their impact on the entire Soviet watch industry.

These hundreds of watches supplied by the United States made Stalin want the Soviet Union to produce its own watches.

In the midst of the war, at the end of 1941, an order was issued to begin manufacturing "distinguished" watches aimed at rewarding actions and actions related to the residents' participation in the defense of the homeland.

"At one point, all the watches supplied by the United States were distributed. So Stalin asked Factory No. 1 to start producing the first Soviet honorary watches," Cerna explains.

Red star

According to the dictates of the Soviet Union, there is a red star - which is a symbol of the unity of workers - in these hours of honor, as well as professions according to specialization, and this is how everyone got their medals and watches.

This practice dates back to the time of the Tsars, when it was customary to offer these bonuses to the winners of archery competitions.

Of course, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs was among the first government bodies to distribute Soviet-made watches.

Thus, the early hours of the Soviet space program subsequently awarded to engineers bore the abbreviation of aeronautics.