On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin made the first manned flight in outer space on the rocket, Vostok 1. In honor of this achievement, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory named its watches "Rocket"; Raketa in Russian. At the height of the Cold War, however, the name "Raketa" was perceived negatively in the West, as the word was associated with the latest generation of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles, the R-16. During Soviet times it became one of the most produced watch brands in the world. In the 1970s the factory produced about five million mechanical watches per year.

Raketa Mechanical Movements

Over the years, the Petrodvorets Watch Factory has produced more than two dozen versions of Raketa movements. Some have been equipped with features such as automatic winding, calendars, 24-hour models for polar explorers, anti-magnetic watches (for use in case of nuclear attack), as well as watches for the military. Mechanical Raketa watches were exported to many Eastern Bloc and communist countries and are considered one of the most durable and reliable movements in the world. By the 1980s Raketa was producing five million watches a year.

The Petrodvorets Watchmaking School

Being one of the few watch brands in the world producing its own movements, the factory has created its own watchmaking school, the Petrodvorets Watchmaking School, to ensure the transmission of watchmaking expertise to future generations.  The only one left in the schooling program has been established in collaboration with the Saint Petersburg Technical institute.

Hairsprings and Escapements

The Petrodvorets Watch Factory Raketa, is one of only five watch brands in the world producing their movements in-house from start to finish, including hairsprings and escapements. Most watch brands globally do not produce their own hairsprings, they generally order them from Nivarox, a subsidiary of Swatch Group. This enables the Russian military industry to be independent from western suppliers, especially for producing hairsprings needed in the military aviation industry.

Raketa is only one of the brands produced by the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, albeit probably its most famous brand. Other Petrodvorets brands include Pobeda and Talberg among others. Before the Russian Revolution (1917), the factory also produced objects made of precious and semi-precious stones for the Tsar and his family. Later, it began to produce goods for military manufacturers as well as "jewels" for the watch industry. In 1949, the factory released the first wristwatches under the names Zvezda ("Звезда", star) and Pobeda ("Победа", victory). The factory's own watches, sold under the brand name Raketa, first appeared in 1961.