23 jewels gold plated and at the time was the slimmest watch movement.
Under Stalins order Russia started producing watches to cut dependency on Swiss movements and eventually soviet watches dominated the wristwatch market.
The 2209 can be found in many Russian watches as it was in production from 1963 to mid 1970s and as most will know, the soviet mode of production created abundance. Apparently there are people to this day with NOS parts bins assembling these to sell.
What’s your favourite caliber, brand or even country of origin?
I don’t know what their current status is vis a vis the party. The Tianjin watch factory for sure started as a state enterprise in the 50s. Sea-gulls from the 80s and 90s (ST5, ST7) were still definitely in the People’s Watch territory, at the higher end. Of the modern movements, the ST19 chronograph movement is a direct descendant of the movements Tianjin made for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in the '60s.
The Tongji standard movements are true people’s watch movements. You can get new old stock Shanghai 7120 watches for peanuts on aliex, and bare movements for even less. Merkur is an interesting aliex brand making new, vintage-inspired watches with those traditional movements in them too.