Molnija wasn't a ripoff, Soviets purchased the design and the initial tooling from Cortebert.

This particular Cortebert's calibre is indeed somewhat famous for being used by Rolex in 1940's (as cal. 618).

It's a fine movement in itself and Molnijas are not bad at all, both in their original 15 jewel variant (from 1947 to early 1960's) or as a later 18 jewel one. I would just avoid the specimens from 1990's or later.

I especially like the 18 jewel Molnijas from early 1960's that were still decorated with Geneva stripes and had a microadjuster. Molnijas became more utilitarian later on.