Jantar (Янтар) Chess Clock, Russian, ca. 1980

Jantar (Янтар) Chess Clock, Russian, ca. 1980

I suppose, everyone has come across the "Jantar" chess clock already. One might argue that the "Jantar" is not the most beautiful chess clock in the world (and I would agree), but it is truly a wonderful representative of the Soviet aesthetics in the 1960s and 1970s. I found a nice picture on the net of young Grigori Serper playing a tournament with a Jantar. By the looks of it, this must have been in the early 80's.

There is not a lot I can tell about the "Jantar". The Jantar clock factory was founded in 1950 in the Russian town of Orel, which is located approximately 350 km southwest of Moscow. The "Jantar" is a reliable clock with 4 Jewels. It has a lock for transport and comes with a protection for the push buttons. It was produced in two different types of imprint. This is the version with cyrillic letters. There is another "western" version.

The Jantar has some more or less known siblings. These are the "Corsar", the "Vega" and the "Monroe"...and the "Marathon".
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