Watch this

[GlennM]

Brignole On the left forearm there are two watches: a Sportivnye watch showing the time 8 hours, 14 minutes, 24 seconds, and a Pobeda brand watch showing the time 8 hours, 39 minutes.

Dyatlov The watch "Zvezda" (Star) on the his wrist had stopped at 5:31

These factoids mean nothing without context. Given Igor's personality, would he compulsively wind his watch daily at a given time?
Is a Sportivnye a stopwatch?
Why two watches for Brignole?

If someone on the forum is enamored with timepieces, we might be able to run the clock backwards to theorize whether the tent was left by day or night. We might conclude a stopwatch, if there was a stopwatch, was triggered shortly after an important decision was made.

We might conclude Brignole removed a watch from one of the Yuri's because there is little reason to wear two watches otherwise.

I am doubtful that any watch was routinely wound after they left the tent because watch winding is an ordinary, not extraordinary habit.

Finally, it occurs to me that a watch case flipped over could produce sunlight flash reflections to signal passing aircraft. I do not think Igor was thinking it, nor about timing his ascent to the tent anticipating a scheduled flight of geologists. This line of reasoning seems more wishful thinking in my estimation. The watch case itself was against his wrist, yes?

I can search Google Images and find these Soviet Watches. They seem like commodity items and none appear to be stopwatches.

[Javier]

Brignole On the left forearm there are two watches

Without a doubt, it is something very strange. I have never seen anyone wearing two watches.

For what reason could I take two and not one as would be normal? 

[Ziljoe]

Night duty for passing the watch to the next person or perhaps having one wound at a different time. Not at different oclock time but just if one watch stopped by forgetting to wind it you would still have several hours on the second watch to then keep the correct time?

[SURI]

The watch was taken off Yuri after his death. The rolled-up left sleeve of the shirt corresponds to this.

[Javier]

The watch was taken off Yuri after his death. The rolled-up left sleeve of the shirt corresponds to this.

I didn't know about that detail. Maybe they did it with the intention of returning it to his relatives thinking he would come back soon, or to have more security about the time.

[SURI]

The watch probably couldn't be unfastened due to the cold, so it was forcibly torn from his hand.

[GlennM]

I'd like to know how many hours any of these watches will work hen fully wound.

[Hunter]

GlennM, did you own a mechanical watch? I did. Well, the instructions recommended winding the watch at the same time every time. The name "Sports" is just a reference to the watch model/brand. It had a stop-seconds function for more precise time setting. It didn't have a separate stopwatch, like many digital watches or some mechanical watches.

There are several theories about the two watches. Some suggest that one of the watches had a luminous dial. Others suggest that Thibault gave the watch to him for safekeeping because its owner might engage in work that required abrupt movements, which is detrimental to the watch's mechanism, even the shock-resistant one. Still others suggest that he took it off his body to give it to his family—watches were expensive back then. A status symbol, so to speak.

A watch's winding time in those days was enough for 30-40 hours.

[GlennM]

Hunter, thank you for your recent post. With a 30 to 40 hour duration, the 10 hour variance effectively includes morning and evening,  so that is of little help. Also, since the watches were likely rewound on a daily basis, the mainspring was already under tension. As such, I believe there is nothing of significance with regard to timing their activities toward the end.

I think that the significance of two watches on Brignole is in regard to the Nurse Solter debacle. By this, I mean that if the dead were delivered to a morgue, undresssed and then redressed and taken back to the forest, only an idiot is going to put two watches on the same person. Yes, there are other what if's, but I don't buy the fiction at all.

The bodies were not found and robbed before discovery. As you imply, a wristwatch was something worth having. Unless engraved, one watch is just like another, especially with stock wrist straps. Too, of course the dead has some money on them too.  Assasins and other such musings are not supported by any physical evidence.

It is curious, not significant that Brignole's watches stopped close in time.

Dyatlov's watch hints at nothing. Again a 10 hour variance does nothing to clear up whether they left the tent by day or night.

It appears that the "smoking watch" to steal a phrase from " smoking gun", is another red herring in getting to the answer of the " when" of things. Appreciated.

[Hunter]

GlennM, I was born in the USSR, albeit at its twilight. So, the attitude toward things in the USSR was a little different than in the West. What were considered mass-market goods in the West weren't expensive, but in the USSR they could cost a lot of money (for the USSR, by comparison). Many in the USSR who were able to travel, even to other socialist countries, did business. This is a separate, large topic; if you're interested, look up who the "fartsovshchiki" (black marketeers) and "tsekhoviki" (workshop workers) were in the USSR. How much did ordinary jeans cost in the USSR, and what was the average salary?
In the 1950s, watches were a status symbol in the USSR. Many people got by without them, using radio signals and street clocks for orientation. For reference, a "Sport" watch cost 40-60 rubles, while the average salary at the time was 700-900 rubles.

[GlennM]

Hunter, thank you for those insights. Your comment reinforces the idea that there was no robbery, and hopefully no trophy taking among the hiking group. I like the idea that the watch was removed from Yuri for a remembrance for his family. The case files already demonstrate that prior to an official inventory, things were taken for the benefit of the rescue party, primarily food and drink.

I get the idea from the individual case files that a watch would be a necessity for an expedition leader and a justifiable expense.

I suppose that watches were not removed at bedtime. If they were, I would try to forge a connection between that and that so many of them had their outerwear ski pants on. Surely ski pants could not be slept in, given the bodies were described as wearing several layers of upper and lower body garments. So, we have a tent set up and internally organized on 1079 and the hiking group found a mile away dressed in ski pants, were they dressing in the morning, or undressing the night before? I am thinking this was the next morning.

[Hunter]

Other groups' reports mention wristwatches as communal equipment. The Dyatlov group's skis were also used for search purposes. And judging by indirect evidence, some of the items may have been kept as souvenirs by the searchers who knew them.

[Axelrod]

To avoid creating unnecessary myths, I decided to clarify this situation.
I just asked my mother in the middle of the night at what age she started wearing a wristwatch, and I got the answer I expected.
She started working as a teacher in Serov at age of 20 years and 2 months; that was 1953.
As we know, all the hikers were older.

At the same time, Lyuda Dubinina's father was a high-ranking official and opened doors with his foot.
And his daughter didn't wear a watch on the hike. Where's the status in that?

As for the pocket watches Kolevtatov had, that's a common occurrence.
I knew such watches existed, but I'd never seen anyone use them.
Only when the strap broke did I temporarily carry the watch in my pocket.

Now I sometimes use a Chinese mechanical watch. The arrow for seconds moves, but it can't be adjusted in any way.

[GlennM]

I believe Igor had the best reason for wearing a timepiece.  I would have thought Zolo would wear one.
Axelrod,  I suppose your dear mother used her watch as a tool, being a teacher. She must have been excellent to have such an articulate son,

My head is filled with American psycho drama thrillers. In these stories, the bad guys will either leave a " calling card" or take a trophy from their victims. This is another reason why assasins or thugs being involved in this incident does not convince me. I know you have carefully constructed a theory, and perhaps paid assasins resist such temptation. For me, human nature is to collect things because memory fades. A watch would qualify.

All I can think of about Dubinina is that a watch, like jewelry stayed home with mother. Losing something on a hike is a loss forever.

[Ziljoe]

I can't believe i missed this, i knew but forgot.. The reason for two watches is most likely Naismiths rule invented by a fellow Scot ...

Its for navigation and timing along with a formula. You have one watch running at normal time and the second watch as the chronograph. So when you stop to look at the map, climb an obstacle or have a break you stop the clock. This gives you an estimation of the distance traveled . The formula allows for elevation as well so its quite possible it was used that day to ascend the pass or even for navigation down to the cedar.

Whatever the case, it was a known method and probably the reason for two watches on one person. It was just to check time traveling or time in motion for the group.

[Hunter]

Ziljoe, your theory has two weaknesses:
1. None of the watches in the Dyatlov group were chronographs.
2. There was no point in them keeping such precise time. A couple of minutes of running time, plus or minus, doesn't change the result.

[SURI]

The position of the hand and the rolled-up sleeve on Juri's hand indicate that the watch was taken off when he was no longer conscious. That's why the injuries on his left hand and that's why Tibo didn't have gloves because he had been manipulating the watch before. Ravine 4 did not die before both Yuris.

[Senior Maldonado]

The position of the hand and the rolled-up sleeve on Juri's hand indicate that the watch was taken off when he was no longer conscious. That's why the injuries on his left hand and that's why Tibo didn't have gloves because he had been manipulating the watch before. Ravine 4 did not die before both Yuris.

Completely true. There is no need to complicate things. The Ravine 4 removed all outwear from Yuris' corpses, even those pieces they did not need immediately. What could be the reason then to leave the watch to the corpse? The Ravine 4 expected to save themselves and return the watch to Yury's relatives. But they were not ready to drag the bodies with all their belongins to the nearest settlement.

And sure, the Ravine 4 were the last to die.

[Ziljoe]

Ziljoe, your theory has two weaknesses:
1. None of the watches in the Dyatlov group were chronographs.
2. There was no point in them keeping such precise time. A couple of minutes of running time, plus or minus, doesn't change the result.

Thank you Hunter but im going to push back on this one.

The reason for using two watches is to use them as a chronograph . You keep one running as normal and stop and start the other watch .

When traveling in the forest or poor visibility, there are various methods in calculating your distance and using the watch is one. Its good practice and over a day of starting and stopping adds up.

Heres AI to save me writing rubbish.


Yes, using two watches was a common, practical, and effective navigation technique for hillwalking in the 1950s, particularly when applying Naismith’s Rule. Before digital GPS and electronic stopwatches, mechanical watches were the primary tool for measuring time-based distance (dead reckoning).
Here is why two watches were used:
1. The Purpose: Timing Legs and Total Time
Watch A (Time of Day): Kept on the wrist to know the actual time, essential for planning, monitoring daylight hours, and knowing when to make a decision point.
Watch B (Elapsed Time / "Lap" Time): Often a pocket watch or a second, simpler watch, this was used to time specific legs of a journey. A walker would set this watch to 12:00 (or note the starting time) when leaving a known landmark (e.g., a cairn) to calculate precisely how long it took to reach the next landmark.
Why Two? In the 1950s, watches did not have a "stopwatch" function (chronograph) or a bezel. Using one watch meant constantly resetting it or risking forgetting the starting time of a leg.
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2. The Context: Naismith’s Rule (1950s)
Devised by William Naismith in 1892, this rule was the standard for estimating walking time in the 1950s:
The Rule: Allow 1 hour for every 3 miles (5 km) forward, plus 1 hour for every 2,000 feet (600 meters) of ascent.
How it worked with Watches: A walker would look at their map, calculate that a particular climb should take 45 minutes, and use their second watch to verify they were on track. If they had not reached the target landmark when the 45 minutes were up, they knew they were moving too slowly or were off-course.
3. Redundancy (The "Old" Factor)
In the 1950s, mechanical watches were susceptible to stopping due to moisture, getting knocked, or simply needing to be wound. Having a second watch meant that if one failed, you were not lost in the hills without a way to measure your navigation legs.
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Summary: Using two watches in the 1950s was a simple, manual "stopwatch" method to track progress against a planned route in accordance with Naismith's Rule, ensuring walkers didn't get caught out by poor visibility or darkness.

[Ziljoe]

Brignole On the left forearm there are two watches: a Sportivnye watch showing the time 8 hours, 14 minutes, 24 seconds, and a Pobeda brand watch showing the time 8 hours, 39 minutes.

Dyatlov The watch "Zvezda" (Star) on the his wrist had stopped at 5:31

These factoids mean nothing without context. Given Igor's personality, would he compulsively wind his watch daily at a given time?
Is a Sportivnye a stopwatch?
Why two watches for Brignole?

If someone on the forum is enamored with timepieces, we might be able to run the clock backwards to theorize whether the tent was left by day or night. We might conclude a stopwatch, if there was a stopwatch, was triggered shortly after an important decision was made.

We might conclude Brignole removed a watch from one of the Yuri's because there is little reason to wear two watches otherwise.

I am doubtful that any watch was routinely wound after they left the tent because watch winding is an ordinary, not extraordinary habit.

Finally, it occurs to me that a watch case flipped over could produce sunlight flash reflections to signal passing aircraft. I do not think Igor was thinking it, nor about timing his ascent to the tent anticipating a scheduled flight of geologists. This line of reasoning seems more wishful thinking in my estimation. The watch case itself was against his wrist, yes?

I can search Google Images and find these Soviet Watches. They seem like commodity items and none appear to be stopwatches.

Glennm.

You have pushed my brain down rabbit holes and i have thought if something that ties in a bit of potential logic to the possibility that the hikers use of a stop watch and the time of day of the incident. I've used AI for this as it gets a bit messy but there is some logic and reasoning.

Possible Interpretation of Thibeaux‑Brignolle’s Two Watches and the Timing of the Descent

I want to suggest a possible explanation for the two different watch times found on Thibeaux‑Brignolle’s wrist. This isn’t presented as fact, only as a plausible idea that seems to fit the physical evidence, the distances involved, and the kind of practical time‑keeping hikers often used.

---

The Watch Times

Thibeaux‑Brignolle was found wearing:

- Sportivnye: 08:14:24 
- Pobeda: 08:39:00 

The difference between them is:

24 minutes 36 seconds

This is a very clean interval — the kind of duration that looks measured rather than accidental.

---

A Suggestive Interpretation of What May Have Happened

1. Both watches originally showed the same correct time.

2. After the group decided to head toward the forest, Thibeaux stopped the Sportivnye at 08:14:24.
This would mark the start of the descent, not the incident itself. 
It would be standard and sensible practice to time the descent so they could later estimate how far the tent would be if they tried to return in poor visibility.

3. The group then descended the slope while the Pobeda kept running.
The distance from the tent to the cedar/ravine is about 1.5 km, and the expected walking time is around 25 minutes.

4. When they reached the cedar/ravine — the first place they could shelter — he stopped the Pobeda at 08:39:00.

This gives the exact duration of the descent:

24 minutes 36 seconds

This matches the expected walking time almost perfectly.

---

Why This Makes Practical Sense

- Timing the descent would help them estimate how long it should take to go back up if they attempted to return to the tent. 
- Stopping one watch at the start of the descent and the other at the shelter point is a simple, effective way to record that. 
- Thibeaux’s final location in the ravine fits with the idea that the watches were stopped before later events (fire, den construction, injuries).

This interpretation treats the watches as navigation tools, not as indicators of death times.

---

What This Implies About the Time 08:14

If this interpretation is correct, then:

08:14:24 marks the moment the group began the descent,
not the moment of the incident.

Because Soviet watches are 12‑hour dials, this could be:

- 08:14 in the morning, or 
- 08:14 in the evening/night

Both are plausible:

- Morning 08:14 fits with eating, dressing, or preparing for the day. 
- Night 08:14 fits with undressing, relaxing, or settling in the tent.

The mixed states of dress in the tent are compatible with either.

---

A Coherent Timeline Based on This Interpretation

- 08:14:24 — Start of descent 
  Group decides to head for the forest. 
  Thibeaux stops the Sportivnye to begin timing.

- 08:14–08:39 — Descent 
  Group travels ~1.5 km downhill. 
  Pobeda keeps running. 
  Duration measured: 24 minutes 36 seconds.

- 08:39:00 — Arrival at cedar/ravine 
  Thibeaux stops the Pobeda. 
  They now know the descent duration for a possible return.

- After 08:39 — Later events 
  Fire at cedar, slope return attempt, ravine den construction. 
  Thibeaux dies later in the ravine, but the watches were already stopped.

---

Why This Idea Might Be Worth Considering

- It explains the 24‑minute gap in a practical, realistic way. 
- It matches the actual descent distance and expected walking time. 
- It fits Thibeaux‑Brignolle’s location and likely behaviour. 
- It gives a plausible reason for stopping the watches at two different times. 
- It aligns with known hiking practice: timing a leg of travel to estimate distance for the return. 
- It requires no unusual assumptions — just straightforward mountain logic

We could go further in our interpretation, and we must remember this is 1959. There are no GPS tools , good maps etc. the hike is all about good map reading and knowing where you are at all times. There is a strong need for visual markets both in long distances. A bare slope with no features is not ideal to navigate.

We also have the hikers walking in a line , this helps to walk in a straight line when walking without a reference point and poor visibility, we also have the torch on the slope in the on position.

All of this does suggest an attempt to measure distance , using the tools at their disposal at short notice . If for example , the visibility was approximately 800 meters , they would lay the torch as the half way marker and they would have a time reference from the time difference on the two watches. They would know walking up hill for 24 minutes is too short for the tent location and they could add the approximation by ten minutes along a line to find the potential covered tent.

[Ziljoe]

One problem ive just thought of is the watches are not reported as. Being in the off position. Sigh....

[Javier]

I apologize for a simple assumption. When they left the store and headed to the nearby forest... they would carry a flashlight with them, otherwise one or two watches are of little use to them if they couldn't see the hands in the dark of night. Right?

[Hunter]

Ziljoe, from my experience, I can say this: calculating distance traveled based on time (for example, it's assumed that a person at a normal pace walks about 5 km per hour) is only accurate for sports fields. Terrain complicated by natural obstacles and additional loads (like a backpack) reduce speed. As an experiment, moving in an unfamiliar forest is about 3 km/h for a trained person without additional loads, while for an untrained person, it's half that.

Estimating distance traveled is subjective; it's no wonder that hikers later tried using homemade odometers.

Regarding the interval between watch stops, the "Sportivnye" and "Pobeda" watches, according to a 1957 catalog of watches and watch accessories, had a power reserve of at least 34 hours. It's quite possible that the guys wound their watches simultaneously or almost simultaneously, for example, in the morning between getting up and setting out on the trail. Considering the watches are from different manufacturers, plus the tolerances within the GOST standard, a difference of 24 minutes and 36 seconds is insignificant. Also, don't forget that on a mechanical watch, 8:00 a.m. could be 8:00 a.m., just as it could be 8:00 p.m., meaning the difference could be as much as 12 hours, 24 minutes, and 36 seconds, rather than 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

As for orientation, the remnants were used as landmarks. If visibility is zero, then climbing is pointless—you could miss the exit point by several hundred meters, even though you felt like you were heading in the right direction.

If you're interested, I can share some books on tourism from those years. They're in Russian, though.

Javier, in the USSR some watches had a dial with a luminous coating.

[Senior Maldonado]

I apologize for a simple assumption. When they left the store and headed to the nearby forest... they would carry a flashlight with them, otherwise one or two watches are of little use to them if they couldn't see the hands in the dark of night. Right?

Almost all of them had a box of matches, so a flashlight might have been not necessary. However, I doubt very much that they had been caring about exact time after the DPI started.

[sarapuk]

Brignole On the left forearm there are two watches: a Sportivnye watch showing the time 8 hours, 14 minutes, 24 seconds, and a Pobeda brand watch showing the time 8 hours, 39 minutes.

Dyatlov The watch "Zvezda" (Star) on the his wrist had stopped at 5:31

These factoids mean nothing without context. Given Igor's personality, would he compulsively wind his watch daily at a given time?
Is a Sportivnye a stopwatch?
Why two watches for Brignole?

If someone on the forum is enamored with timepieces, we might be able to run the clock backwards to theorize whether the tent was left by day or night. We might conclude a stopwatch, if there was a stopwatch, was triggered shortly after an important decision was made.

We might conclude Brignole removed a watch from one of the Yuri's because there is little reason to wear two watches otherwise.

I am doubtful that any watch was routinely wound after they left the tent because watch winding is an ordinary, not extraordinary habit.

Finally, it occurs to me that a watch case flipped over could produce sunlight flash reflections to signal passing aircraft. I do not think Igor was thinking it, nor about timing his ascent to the tent anticipating a scheduled flight of geologists. This line of reasoning seems more wishful thinking in my estimation. The watch case itself was against his wrist, yes?

I can search Google Images and find these Soviet Watches. They seem like commodity items and none appear to be stopwatches.

What are you actually trying to say !?

[sarapuk]

Brignole On the left forearm there are two watches

Without a doubt, it is something very strange. I have never seen anyone wearing two watches.

For what reason could I take two and not one as would be normal? 

Is it really strange for someone to wear 2 watches!?

[sarapuk]

GlennM, I was born in the USSR, albeit at its twilight. So, the attitude toward things in the USSR was a little different than in the West. What were considered mass-market goods in the West weren't expensive, but in the USSR they could cost a lot of money (for the USSR, by comparison). Many in the USSR who were able to travel, even to other socialist countries, did business. This is a separate, large topic; if you're interested, look up who the "fartsovshchiki" (black marketeers) and "tsekhoviki" (workshop workers) were in the USSR. How much did ordinary jeans cost in the USSR, and what was the average salary?
In the 1950s, watches were a status symbol in the USSR. Many people got by without them, using radio signals and street clocks for orientation. For reference, a "Sport" watch cost 40-60 rubles, while the average salary at the time was 700-900 rubles.

There were many good-quality items made in the days of the USSR. I remember being shown a pair of Russian [ USSR ] binoculars once, in Cornwall, that were used by the British Coastguard because they were far superior to anything made in the West.

[Hunter]

After World War II, captured German equipment was highly prized in the USSR. Take Zeiss binoculars, for example. Yes, the USSR produced high-quality goods, but they were mostly exported or distributed among the elite. The average citizen had virtually no access to them.
Imported items, so-called "brand name" items, were highly prized among Soviet citizens, even though these "brand names" were often counterfeited in underground factories. For example, jeans, which were not available for sale in the USSR (except in Beryozka stores, where they could be purchased with so-called "checks"), cost almost as much on the black market as the average monthly salary of most Soviet citizens. Moreover, these jeans were often not made in the West (the era of Chinese "clones" had not yet arrived), but in underground factories. For example, in a sewing workshop on the third shift. In your example, these binoculars were clearly manufactured for export, so their quality was higher than those that were sold on the civilian market within the USSR.

[Axelrod]

On the night of February 28–March 1, 1953, Stalin's latest (and, as it turned out, final) late dinner with Politburo members Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev, and Bulganin concluded at the Blizhnyaya Dacha in Kuntsevo. The guests departed around three or four in the morning. As was customary, Stalin was left alone—the security system he had created meant that the leader was always completely alone in the evenings and at night. Guards were not allowed to enter his rooms without being summoned.

All day on March 1, Stalin remained in his rooms. The guards waited anxiously for many hours, not daring to disturb the established routine. Only late in the night, using the pretext of delivering mail, did the assistant commandant of the dacha, Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Lozgachev, enter Stalin's room. After passing several rooms, he discovered the leader lying on the floor of the small dining room. The stopped clock showed 6:30 PM—that's when the stroke apparently occurred.

Beria and Malenkov, summoned to the dacha, arrived around 3:00 AM on March 2. After confirming that Stalin was lying on the sofa and apparently asleep, they went home without calling a doctor. Medical assistance was not provided until the morning of March 2. The fight for Stalin's life continued for several more days; he died on the evening of March 5, 1953.

[Javier]

Brignole On the left forearm there are two watches

Without a doubt, it is something very strange. I have never seen anyone wearing two watches.

For what reason could I take two and not one as would be normal? 

Is it really strange for someone to wear 2 watches!?

Yes, normally it is strange to wear two watches (maybe in case one breaks to have another or, as you have already mentioned, it could belong to one of his deceased companions). But I think that detail has little relevance in a case where there are many concerns, don't you think?