The Radia Watches Chernobyl Collection commemorates the 1986 nuclear disaster and that is, shall we say, an uncommon theme for any product, be it a watch or otherwise. With that event as a starting point, Radia watches needed to produce something truly memorable – and they did, by creating the instrument-inspired Dosi, and the slightly more conventional RBMK that I sampled for this review.
RBMK stands for Reaktor Bolshoy Moshchnosti Kanalniy, the type of reactors in operation at the Chernobyl power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. If you want a primer, I’d suggest Svetlana Alexievitch’s book, Voices from Chernobyl, and the riveting 2019 HBO/Sky miniseries, Chernobyl. It is a fascinating tale of hubris, incompetence, and suffering, but also honor, ingenuity, and heroism.
Oddly, this is not the first Chernobyl watch. According to some accounts, the Soviet government gave gifts to at least some of the clean-up crews, generally small household items or watches, and in recent years, a variety of Russian watches with commemorative dials have popped up for sale – many of highly dubious provenance. Radia does not pretend to have any actual link to the event; they are based in Poland. Radia’s site mentions “Chernobyl DNA” but this is meant in terms of inspiration, and not its physical origin because that would be horrifying. Tom and Bart, the men behind the brand, explain that they wanted to recall “the unusual, sometimes inconvenient and controversial events that have taken place in human history” and Chernobyl certainly fits that bill.
By now, you have surely noticed the Radia’s case; a round central barrel encircled by a steel band that forms both the lugs and crown guards. When viewed in profile, you can appreciate the way it dips at either end to drop around your wrist and fastens to the case with four exposed screws. It seems like the sort of design feature that could make a watch ungainly, but it does not. Radia wisely kept the proportions modest: 40mm wide, 52mm long, and 9mm thick. Furthermore, the band is quite thin when viewed straight on, so those big lug and crown loops don’t appear heavy at all. It’s a good thing too, because the crown guard brings the overall width to over 44mm. I thought perhaps it would make crown access difficult but there is more than enough space to allow proper operation. This unorthodox, two-part case seems like a crazy idea, it makes you look twice, and yet, it absolutely works. It’s also a blast to play with the Radia’s shadow, as you can see below.
A black PVD coating gives the unique case a distinctly industrial aesthetic that is further heightened by the six toothy accents on the fixed bezel. It looks ready to take on the harshest environments, and it can, to a point. Water resistance is 50m. Not great, not terrible, but enough to deal with your daily routine just fine, assuming your day doesn’t involve deep water. The flat sapphire crystal will protect it from scratches. There is no radiation shielding and that is just fine as spend my days in far less challenging environments, for which the Raida is much better suited.
Closer inspection reveals another unexpected element: conventional 20mm spring bars set inside the lugs. I would have assumed that one would thread a NATO strap over those bars as you would on a true welded wire lug, but no. Instead, the strap passes under the lug end, over the spring bar, and then back down the other side to go under the case.
Could you work a pass-through strap onto there without the spring bars? Sure. But that doesn’t mean you should because doing so puts the bend in the strap far away from the watch head and masks a signature element of the design. You can also stick a conventional two-piece in there as I did above, and while it will be perfectly wearable, it is a bit awkward. Do it the way Radia intended and you will be better off in every way. They’ve even drilled the lugs to make it easier.
The supplied nylon NATO suits it well and has black hardware with a signed buckle. You can opt for leather as well. I did not sample Radia’s so I popped on a soft leather NATO from my strap drawer and it looked great.
On the flip side, you will find an engraving of the Chernobyl plant, post-meltdown, with a gaping hole where Reactor 4 used to be. Remember, the watch does not commemorate the plant itself or the eventual containment of the radioactive material, but the historical significance of its failure. As I said, this is not your usual watch. Behind that lid is a Miyota 2115 quartz; a solid runner if not the sexiest movement.
The RBMK’s modernist dial quite handsome. It is black with a rounded rectangular cutout at its center revealing a black, radially brushed layer that shows as a dark aubergine in the right light and bears the name “RBMK 1000.” The white-on-black date has a beveled window. A radiation symbol at 12 and a Soviet star at 6 complements the dots marking the hours. These are printed with lume, as are the words “CCCP” and “USSR” at the bottom of the dial. All are white except the words and index in the second quadrant, which are orange. Black, lume filled hands with square tips, and an orange second hand completes it. It’s a good look, open and clean, suggesting an instrument without mimicking one, as the Dosi does. That said, I have two complaints.
First, Radia describes the luminous material as “soft lume” and that is pretty accurate. It covers little surface area and does not appear to be all that thick so the effect is fairly weak. That’s a shame because it looks good in that initial burst.
My second gripe is the backward “R” in “Radia,” “USSR,” and “RBMK.” This is a common device used to suggest Russian when writing in a Latin alphabet, but it drives me crazy because that letter is actually a “ya” sound in the Cyrillic alphabet, not an “r”; that letter looks like the Latin “P” as in “CCCP,” which is written right on that same dial! Ok, ok. I understand this is not a big deal, but it still bugs me.
I really liked the Radia RBMK. Its Chernobyl theme could have very easily gone horribly wrong, but Radia exercised admirable restraint, preventing what might have otherwise been a sentimental or exploitive result. The overall look is both novel and ruggedly handsome. Would I have preferred a more interesting movement, stronger lume, and higher water resistance? Of course, but that is not enough to detract from its unique appeal. At the regular retail of $299, that insanely cool case has to work hard to compensate for some of the Radia’s more pedestrian specifications, but the current $229 sale price makes it easy to justify. Better still, use code THETIMEBUM for $10 off. Not convinced? Then bear in mind Radia’s pledge to donate $20 from each sale to Chernobyl Children International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the generations of children who continue to suffer the effects of radiation in the region. Finally, if you are too cheap for even that, enter The Time Bum x Radia Giveaway below and try to win one for free!
I hesitate to call anything connected to tragedy “fun,” but this is a really fun watch. You can purchase it directly from RadiaWatches.com. [4/2/21 – This giveaway has ended and a winner has been drawn.]
