Vintage watch experience 古董手錶: Vintage China Red Flag watches 紅旗錶

These are some examples of Vintage Made in China Chinese watch that are interesting and rare. When we talk about Made in China watches, many will think of them as junk. However, there are some Chinese watches that are rarer then Swiss Made watches owing to the difficulties in finding original watch owing to many fakes and many half new and old mixed watches.

Mao Zedong inscribed the title of the magazine "Red Flag" in 1958. For a time, the word "Red Flag" in Mao Zedong's handwriting became the most popular logo in China at that time, and was adopted by all walks of life and on various occasions. At this time, in the domestic watch industry, except for the Yantai Watch Factory, which trial-produced a "Hongqi" pocket watch in 1959, no watch factory had ever used the "Hongqi" trademark.

In order to seize the opportunity, in early 1966, when the Liaoning Watch Factory was developing subsequent upgrades for the already mass-produced A61 (imitation of the Soviet "Kirov" watch movement) "Liaoning" brand watches, it trial-produced a watch with the "Three Red Flags" design. "Hongqi" brand watch with logo. Based on the level of production technology at that time, the watch was made with great care; the dial is made of milky white lacquer, and the scales and hands are gold; the dial LOGO is a pattern of three red flags plus the word "Red Flag" in Mao Zedong's handwriting, the back cover of the watch is also Stamped with three red flags and the word "Red Flag", the three red flags are also stamped with the slogans "Long Live the General Line, Long Live the Great Leap Forward, and Long Live the People's Communes". The watch still uses imitation Soviet “Kirov”.

When the trial sample watch was produced, the "Cultural Revolution" had already begun. Soon the whole country was in a state of anarchy, and Liaoning Province was the hardest hit area by "factions" and fighting. The fate represented by "three red flags" can only be said to be "untimely". According to Liaoning Watch Recall: When the watch factory submitted the "Three Red Flags" watch to the light industry department for finalization and approval, the "rebels" who seized power from the light industry department at that time said: "Red Flag is the most revolutionary name inscribed by Chairman Mao, and it must not be The name used to name this kind of watch that imitates the Soviet revision movement" was banned. Because the Soviet Union at this time was no longer the "big brother" of the 1950s, but the general representative of "revisionism" and an enemy at war. Whoever wants to get involved with the "Soviet revisionists" will have an unpredictable fate.

As a result, the rebels in power at the watch factory immediately ordered the destruction of the "Three Red Flags" watches and related drawings, accessories and molds. Because the employees who participated in the trial production did not want to see the "Three Red Flags" watches produced by themselves destroyed in their own hands, they were willing to take political risks during the destruction process and secretly hid several sample watches, so that the physical form of the watch could be preserved.

Among many domestic watch factories, Liaoning Watch Factory has achieved excellent results and has become a brand that everyone trusts. It was founded in 1957 and is known as the three major watch production and manufacturing bases in China along with Shanghai and Tianjin. From the Qianjin watches produced in the 1950s, Liaoning watches in the 1960s, Hongqi watches in the 1970s to the nationally renowned Peacock watches in the 1980s, each one is unforgettable and has made outstanding contributions to the development of China's watch industry. . The “Hongqi Watch” produced by Liaoning Watch Factory was loved by everyone as soon as it came out.

In 1970, engineers and technicians and workers from the Liaoning Watch Factory voluntarily formed a "Red Flag Watch" trial production team to design and trial produce new watches. In that year, the mass production volume reached 150,000 pieces, and the Dandong watch industry began to take shape.

On April 20, 1971, the Ministry of Light Industry notified that Hongqi brand watches (i.e. "Hongqi watches") passed the technical appraisal.

In 1973, Liaoning Watch Factory applied for the use of the "H" trademark (HONGQI) on "Hongqi" watches (i.e. "Hongqi Watch") with the "Liao Watch Revolution (73)" document. The back cover of each "Hongqi Watch" All were printed with the "HONGQI" logo, and various patterns were added later to make the appearance more colorful. In the same year, according to the instructions of the Ministry of Light Industry, Liaoning Watch Factory switched to producing national unified movement watches, with an annual output of that year. 400,000.

毛泽东于1958年为《红旗》杂志题写刊名, 一时间毛泽东手书体“红旗”二字成为当时中国最热门的标识，被各行各业及各种场合争相采用。而此时国内手表工业中，除烟台钟表厂在1959年试制过一款“红旗” 怀表外，尚没有表厂使用过“红旗”商标。

为抢占先机，1966年初辽宁手表厂在为已经量产的A61型（仿苏联“基洛夫”手表机心) “辽宁”牌手表研发后续升级产品时，试制了一款以“三面红旗”为标识的“红旗”牌手表。以当时的生产工艺水平，该表制作十分考究；表盘为乳白漆盘面，刻度和指针为金色；表盘LOGO是三面红旗图案加毛泽东手书体“红旗”二字；该表后盖同样冲压着三面红旗和“红旗”二字图案且三面红旗上面还冲压有“总路线万、大跃进万岁、人民公社万岁”的标语。该表仍使用仿苏联“基洛夫”

试制样品表生产出来时“文化大革命”, 已经开始，很快全国就处于无政府状态，而辽宁省当时又是“派性”和武斗的重灾区。“三面红旗”表的命运只能说是“生不逢时”。据辽宁手表忆：在手表厂将“三面红旗”表报送轻工部门定型审批时，被当时轻工部门夺权的“造反派”一句：“红旗是毛主席题字的最革命的名称，决不能用来命名这种仿苏修机心的表”就封杀了。由于这时的苏联已不是五十年代的“老大哥”，而是“修正主义”的总代表，是兵戎相见的敌人。谁要与“苏修”沾上边，命运可想而知。于是，手表厂当权的造反派立即下令销毁“三面红旗”表及相关的图纸、配件和模具。由于参加试制的职工不愿意看到亲手生产的“三面红旗”表毁在自己手里，在销毁过程中甘冒政治风险，悄悄将若干只样品表藏了起来，才使得该表的实物得以保存下来。

在众多国产表厂中，辽宁手表厂曾经取得了优异的成绩，成为大家信赖的品牌。它始建于1957年，与上海、天津并称为中国三大手表生产制造基地。从 50 年代生产的前进牌手表、60 年代的辽宁牌手表、70 年代的红旗牌手表至80 年代享誉全国的孔雀表，每一款都让大家念念不忘，为中国手表工业的发展做出了突出贡献。辽宁手表厂出产的“红旗表”，一经面世就受到了大家的喜爱。

1970年，由辽宁手表厂工程技术人员和工人自愿组成“红旗表”试制小组，进行新型手表的设计和试制，当年投入批量生产产量达15万只，使丹东手表工业初具规模。

1971年4月20日，轻工部通知：红旗牌手表（即“红旗表”）技术鉴定合格。

1973年，辽宁手表厂以“辽表革发, 文件提出申请“红旗牌”手表（即“红旗表”）启用“H”商标（即HONGQI）,每一只“红旗表”的后盖都印有“红旗（HONGQI）”的logo，随后还增加了各种花色图案，使之在外观上更加增色。同年，根据轻工部指令，辽宁手表厂转产全国统一机芯手表，当年年产40万只。白漆，拉丝，日历，和一面旗，是四个大类

按稀少程度：三面红旗，红旗日历，白漆红旗红字，一面小红旗，拉丝红旗红字 和 H红旗。

红旗日历, 一面小红旗 ,拉丝红旗红字

小红旗日历 : Only 300 units produced

白漆紅字紅旗：White lacquered red characters have always been a classic and indelible variety of red flags. The natural lustre of white lacquer and paint texture can be called top-notch! The golden scale is matched with the meridian on the white lacquer surface.