Vostok Amphibian

[bluemax]

Browsing through various watch forums, I took notice of the Russian watches. The unique military look of some of the brands and Russian writing brough back a lot of the memories from my younger years, as such watches were not rare in the Southeastern Europe. Thus I spent more and more time exploring the current offering of Russian watch brands, especially the ones like Vostok, having various military pictures on the dials.

Vostok Amphibian (or Amphibia) series are one of the cheapest gen automatics on the market today, with prices hovering around $60. I really had to have one, both because I really like that retro look and because I wanted to compare the build quality and overall feeling against best cheap reps (like Narikaa's Planet Ocean or Noobmariner). I could already see myself building quite a collection of Amphibians.

Currently there are 2 types of cases for Amphibians: round one and more bulky rectangular one, called "Ministry". The other popular type of Vostoks is called Komandirskie; they are around $40, but have manual wind movements and the cases are not stainless steel. However, there is much more interesting dial selection there than in Amphibians (although some sellers are willing to make some dial swaps).

So, this is the first one I ordered, Vostok Amphibian 2416/710335:

On paper, the specs look fine:

• stainless steel case and bracelet
• 31 jewel automatic movement (21600 bph)
• waterproof 200 m
• domed mineral crystal
  The only thing that bothered me was the size, it is only 40 mm wide, but the Ministry case did not look so small on the pictures, so I hoped that the watch will fit fine on my 18 cm (~7 inch) wrist.
  
  The big day came, and I started to unwrap the package. And then the dissapointements started coming:
  
  • the watch box is crappy plastic, goes straight to trash
  • the bracelet is extremely crappy, feels like a plastic toy. Totaly unwearable, goes straight to trash. This made me appreciate the worst bracelet I have encountered previously (hollow-link Noobmariner's); it feels like a million bucks after this junk.
  • the watch without bracelet is very light, definitely not what I expect from a stainless steel watch. This is probably due to a simple movement and thin case.
  • the crown looks and feels like it is made from tin, and not SS, and that a stronger pressure would deform it
  • the crown is extremely loose (think about a tooth which is ready to fall out), and the watch will wind only if slight pressure inwards is applied when in winding position. I have no idea how could they implement 200 m water proofing with such crappy component. Though, I read on WUS Russian watches forum that the crown is intentionally made this way, to somehow increase the sturdiness of the watch... Go figure.
  • there is no quick-set date position, you have to continiously change the time from 22:00 to 4:00 and back to set it.
  • bezel has no click, it is moved continiously
  • the lume is not much better than standard rep one
  • overall, the watch feels very, very cheap (which it is, to be honest)

  On the positive side:

  [*]the dial is flat (no raised indices), but it is very crisp and interesting, with 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11 gold markers shining differently depending on the angle of viewing[*]the domed crystal also looks very nice in the combination with the dial[*]the second-hand moves reasonably smooth considering the low bph

  Despite a long list of bad stuff, the watch still looks rather nice, and I really wanted to wear it, at least as a dirty work beater and for swimming. So, I ordered a black nylon Nato strap from Gnomon, the combination with this watch seemed quite decent on the pictures. Big mistake - this has made an already too light watch even lighter on the wrist, and I like my watches and bracelets to be as heavy as possible. Note: this was my first encounter with nylon straps on the watches, so if you like those, you may get a different experience; this Gnomon strap seems to be well built, and I had pleasant experience when ordering from them.

  The size also bothered me, it wears smaller than Noobmariner, for example, which I feel is already bordeline small for my wrist. The rectangular case did not help much, as the dial itself is smaller by a mm or two than the Noobmariner's, and that makes the watch visually small.

  The epilogue? I wore the watch exactly once, and it went straight to the bottom of the drawer - until my wife dug it out and claimed it for herself. It really looks much nicer on a small women's wrist than on mine. How it compares to Noobmariner and POrikaa? It can't compare, these two watches are better by orders of magnitude. Note that this Vostok is around $70 shipped, and those two reps are around $100 shipped, but adding a new bracelet or strap to Vostok erases the difference. Too bad that the build quality of these Vostoks is so low, otherwise I would really enjoy building a small collection because of their unique dials (search for Tank, Scuba Dude or Submarine dials to see some of the most popular ones).

  (Pictures borrowed from www.smirs.com and www.russian-watches.info. Please note that the colors in the first one seem to be the most accurate to reality; the ones below are a bit washed out.)

  If anyone is interested, I can add a couple of size comparison pics with some of the well-known reps.

  

  

  

  

[lhooq]

It's several times more expensive, but you could try the Amphibia 1967 reissue. 42mm will wear better on your wrist, but the new one has also had its issues. There was a good review on PMWF.

[maxman]

I have heard through different forums that there pretty good watches for the money. This Is the one I was thinking about getting

I believe the movements are made In Russia and the watches are made In Lithuania.

[vafarmer70]

You get a nice watch for a little money in this case. Very durable watch.

[aeromatic]

Nice vostok i have seen this reissue in person and it is well made and reliable i have a couple of vintage military vostoks and other (soviet) period

watches that i purchased from the ukraine !

Here are mine!

military vostok amphibian handwind from early 70s

Vostok komanderdirsk 1965-1980 (did i spell that right?)

1956 rodina military watch

the first russian automatic watch built

I have since clean and serviced these watches they are all unrestored and the original lum is still bright

even on the 1956 rodina none of these watches cost more than 75usd

sorry i dident mean to hijack your post! Great looking watch! Aero.

The watches are also very watertight and passed the rated depths easily!

Edited February 23, 2011 by aeromatic

[aeromatic]

[quote name='aeromatic' timestamp='1298479948' post='9410

Can anyone help tell me what im doing wrong after posting the photos i get the same photos attached how do i delete them?

Thanks in advance

[rodgerdodger]

I love my older amphibian (labeled Boctok). I found it N.O.S. in a thrift store, with original box and papers, apparently it was built in 1990.

Very dependable, I wear it snowboarding and it has survived many an impact and drop into snow banks.

It looks great on an original Bond nato, it just so happens to have some of all the colors in the watch. It is sized perfectly for my 7.5" wrists, although I am vehemently opposed to the current huge watch trend.

[Ronin]

I have one and my father has one. I have to say their "shock protection" is awesome. So far, after 5 years they are still running great. I used to wear mine riding ADV Motorcycling / Dirt bike, and it survived the vibrations and spills.

[aeromatic]

I love my older amphibian (labeled Boctok). I found it N.O.S. in a thrift store, with original box and papers, apparently it was built in 1990.

Very dependable, I wear it snowboarding and it has survived many an impact and drop into snow banks.

It looks great on an original Bond nato, it just so happens to have some of all the colors in the watch. It is sized perfectly for my 7.5" wrists, although I am vehemently opposed to the current huge watch trend.

You have to hand it to them they sure love colourful and interesting dials there are tanks,jets submarines you name

super watch

[aeromatic]

I have one and my father has one. I have to say their "shock protection" is awesome. So far, after 5 years they are still running great. I used to wear mine riding ADV Motorcycling / Dirt bike, and it survived the vibrations and spills.

yes they wont full apart even after dropping it iv found and check out that thick backcase rubber seal! these are like wearing a submarine on your wrist!

[lhooq]

Well, now that we've thoroughly hijacked bluemax's thread, here's the first mechanical watch I ever owned, a Vostok Komandirskie. Bought in '89, it died in '93, and was brought to the watch repair desk at Eaton's in downtown Vancouver. The guy there claimed it needed a new movement! Not knowing any better, I told him to forget it and kept the watch in a desk drawer. Last year, I finally got the bright idea to bring it to my regular watchsmith, who cleaned the gunk out and brought it back to life.

Screw you, incompetent repair dude!

[PeteM]

Just browsing this and saw that last pic.....it reminded me that I once had one of those...I picked it up in Germany many moons ago...

I had forgotten all about it but I am sure I still have it somewhere...probably in the attic somewhere...

Dont know anything about them just was something a bit different at the time and it only cost a few pornos and some other bits...As I recall I was wearing it when the wall came down as I was on leave in Berlin at the time.... Thats why I know I kept it probably somewhere with the bits of the wall I took..

[lhooq]

Dont know anything about them just was something a bit different at the time and it only cost a few pornos and some other bits...

Any regrets?

[PeteM]

Any regrets?

Yes mate...those Pornos were collectors editions... Though they werent in the best of condition !!! Shall we just say that they were well read!!!

[bluemax]

Well, now that we've thoroughly hijacked bluemax's thread, here's the first mechanical watch I ever owned, a Vostok Komandirskie.

Glad that somebody likes these watches, even though they are not my cup of tea quality-wise.

[aeromatic]

Glad that somebody likes these watches, even though they are not my cup of tea quality-wise.

I know that the reissue are tinny but my vintage vostoks are over 30 years old and are still ticking and are heavy watches with solid stainless steel (except the bezel of the amphibian is brass chrome plated) the only thing i dont like are the finiky crowns you have to screw the crown down every time you want to change position! the vintage vostoks have stood the test of time time keeping is spot on! the vintage movement are robust if a little noisy! dont forget that these were made for the military to be used in harse conditions! most of there movements were made using old obsolete swiss toolage

Edited February 24, 2011 by aeromatic