Bizarre Russian Watches?

[awestholm]

Was googling for dive watches and came across some strange, cheap Russian watches... I'm just curious to know if anyone actually uses them and dives with them... the prices are great, but I wonder about quality, and also wonder if its a legit business. Link to one that I was looking at:
Weird watch

-- Alex

 

[dbg40]

Was googling for dive watches and came across some strange, cheap Russian watches... I'm just curious to know if anyone actually uses them and dives with them... the prices are great, but I wonder about quality, and also wonder if its a legit business. Link to one that I was looking at:
Weird watch

-- Alex

I only know of one other that I have seen. and it is a piece of crap. I would think you may be better off with a little wrist mounted sundial. Also, did you see the accuracy? -20, to + 40 seconds a DAY? My Luminox wont be off more than 10 seconds a YEAR! You might want to think it over a little more.

 

[agilis]

Vostok and Polyot are two very well established Russian watch companies, dating from before WWII. Some of the higher end Polyots sell for many hundreds of dollars. Vostok is more utilitarian, but their watches are, in my experience, very solid. I collect watches, and have a couple of each, old military models from the days of the CCCP.

These Russian watches use old mechanical technology, 1950s and 60s sort of thing. Many are wind-up types. They tend to be rugged, but not that precise. They are variable, and as the description tells you, they may gain or lose 30 or 40 seconds a day. Quality control is fairly good, but not up to Japanese or Swiss standards. For the money, they are OK, but if I wanted a quality dive watch that was not too expensive (between $100 & $200), but was tough and looked good, I'd go with a quartz Seiko or Casio. More expensive, but worth it.

Was googling for dive watches and came across some strange, cheap Russian watches... I'm just curious to know if anyone actually uses them and dives with them... the prices are great, but I wonder about quality, and also wonder if its a legit business. Link to one that I was looking at:
Weird watch

-- Alex

 

[H2Andy]

agilis, how do you like the St. Mortiz watches?

 

[jumbo]

Have you had any luck with them? I have had a few different models, momentum, storm, and the nereos 1. The first two models performed greatly, but the nereos has had major problems. When they first came out most of the store staff picked them up, but out of the six original watches we got, I think five of them had to be returned. Personally I am on my third watch and it is currently having issues with going into dive mode. So far the warranty policy has worked out well, I haven’t had to pay for a new watch, but I don’t know if that is because I sell them or that is how they treat every customer.

I hope you have better luck-

JUMBO

 

[BigJetDriver]

I just got one of the Russian Military dive watches sold on E-bay. The watch is an absolute hoot. The guy was as good as his word, and rapid in the shipping. No complaints.

You should see this beast!!!

 

[Aquadoc68]

Was googling for dive watches and came across some strange, cheap Russian watches... I'm just curious to know if anyone actually uses them and dives with them... the prices are great, but I wonder about quality, and also wonder if its a legit business. Link to one that I was looking at:
Weird watch

-- Alex

I looked on Ebay and the price is $35-$60 depending if you get the regular mil. watch (WR-20m)or the Amphib. (WR 200M) I bought mine, Paratrooper model Vostok, in Ukraine actually Mama and Tato baught it for me for gr100 ($15) but you may want to opt for the E-Bay $35-$60 + $24SH is a bit better than Airfare to get there. BUT I have a reason to go there all the time so...... I like mine but it is not something I would rely on Diving. Though it is a sport for most of you it is a dangerous sport when it comes to time at depth that being said, the Amphib KGB or Diver watch would be my choice. They do have a Combat diver one but it is hard to find. I personally use My Citizen Aqualand Duplex for all my dives both Rec and Military. It has never let me down. Though it does go into dive mode on hot days so anytime I sweat it is in standby waiting to record as soon as I drop below 4FSW and burning battery. :11:

 

[Marek K]

strange, cheap Russian watches

Maybe cheap, but not strange or weird at all...

I ran across a lot of Vostok watches when I was stationed in (West) Berlin back in 1989-92, with tons of them coming west out of the USSR to be sold at street markets.
Yes, they apparently were issued (or at least available to) Soviet/Russian military officers... I had one Soviet officer, in uniform, proudly show me his during an open-house event.

Vostok was making different versions of the watches, for different branches of the Soviet armed forces... the most popular were the "airborne" VDV watches -- teal blue watch face, with the Soviet parachute insignia on the watch face.

The ones labelled "Kommandirskiye" ("commander" -- one "m" or two in Russian?) were alleged to be made for officers; sure enough, that was what that Soviet major was wearing. They all had a screw-on back, with a neoprene gasket; water-resistant enough even for surface swimming, but certainly not for diving. Like Agilis says, they're certainly not in a precision league with Rolex, or Seiko... hell, not even with my Timex. But solid, old-fashioned, stem-wound, jewelled mechanism. Nice thing is you can unscrew the back, and move a little adjustment lever back and forth until it's keeping good (mechanical) time.

The bezel ring, with several different marking variations, was free-turning; not one-way ratcheting. The earlier models, rumored to be of better quality, had flanges protecting the stem from damage; later models lacked the flanges, and the stem was offset about 45 degrees clockwise on the body. The cool thing was the "SDELANO V SSSR" (made in USSR) marking on the face.

At some point in the early 1990s, the Vostok company started realizing there was a market for these watches in the West. They started producing all sorts of commerative watches for export. I remember seeing one commemorating Pope John Paul II on the face!!

The "Amfibiya," like your web site shows, was a "hardened" water-resistant version. I've got one in my desk drawer right here; the back is marked (in cyrillic Russian) "Waterproof to 200 m/shock resistant," similar to the web site. I just wound it, and it's again happily ticking away (actually inaudible). I see the one they're advertising is self-winding; I seem to remember that I have a self-winding one at home somewhere, and it worked fine. And I seem to see "SDELANO V ROSSII" now on the face of the watch on the web site.

I'd worn a Kommandirskiye (sounds strange, because the word for watch is a plural in Russian) for about four years straight, before it stopped working for some reason. The watch band was pretty crappy, but I just got another one locally.

Would I use one for diving? No way. Would I get one if the price was right, just to have a piece of history? Yeah.

OBTW, the going black-market price in those days was US$40. So this price ain't too bad.

If you get one, you just have to get the *cough* tasteful plastic gift case. Oh, and I seem to remember the instructions (in Russian) highlighted that the watch was radiation-proof.

--Marek

 

[TX101]

I only know of one other that I have seen. and it is a piece of crap. I would think you may be better off with a little wrist mounted sundial. Also, did you see the accuracy? -20, to + 40 seconds a DAY? My Luminox wont be off more than 10 seconds a YEAR! You might want to think it over a little more.

Even a Rolex is only accurate to -2 to +6 seconds per day - and that's the swiss "chronograph" standard, many are in practice less accurate than this. Once a manufacturer finishes a new movement, they send a certain number of samples to the certifying agency which then test just the movement (the internal workings of the watch), outside of the case with no hands mounted and only in a single position.

Some manufacturers (eg. Jaeger-LeCoultre) have a "1,000 hour test", where they test the watch inside the case with the hands mounted in 6 different positions for 1,000 hours to test the accuracy. But in practice, the accuracy of all of Jaeger's (or Rolex's or Patek-Phillipe's, etc) watches are easily trumped by a $10 quartz.

 

[Aquadoc68]

most popular were the "airborne" VDV watches -- teal blue watch face, with the Soviet parachute insignia on the watch face.

The ones labelled "Kommandirskiye" ("commander" -- one "m" or two in Russian?) were alleged to be made for officers; sure enough, that was what that Soviet major was wearing.

Thats the one I got in Lutsk at the big Bazzar for 100gr ($15) Those places are a treasure trove for CCCP stuff. and NAZI stuff. Living in Germany to even say Nazi out loud can get you a fine, BUT in Ukraine specially in Kiev there is tuns of WWII stuff one just has to be careful not to get a fake. I saw an SS uniform Jacket and pants there for about $100 MIG uniforms, helms you name it and yes These watches. My Unkle is an SBU MAJ. and has his SBU watch so naturally I had to get my Paratrooper. I looked for the Combat Diver to no eval.