Vostok Amphibia the cult watch from Russia
WATCHES FROM RUSSIA Many don’t even know that there was a Russian watch making industry. But from the times of WW2 and later – the iron curtain, two halves of the World was pushed to independent existence – from science to production, of any kind of technologies and goods, including the time pieces. Some of them even gain huge popularity, especially due to the Space Race participation (like Sturmanskie – the first watch in Space, Strela – first watch in EVA, Poljot 3133 – longest stay in Space, etc). The second larger watch manufacturer in soviet Russia (and the whole COMECOM actually) is the Chistopol Watch Factory (known more as Vostok), founded during the Second World War in Chistopol city. It's foundation was tightly linked with the Red Army and long time afterwards, almost till the dissolution of USSR, this link remained. Thank to it, we can still enjoy today this unique watch – the Vostok Amphibia. AMPHIBIA DEVELOPMENT In the middle of 60-ties, Chistopol watch factory was approached to create the famous military wrist watch – Komandirskie (Commander's). This sturdy mechanical watch was available only for the military personnel and quickly turns to be a legend. It became symbol of reliability, precision and prestige. Just few years later, the logical evolution of Komandirskie – even better watch, able to withstand up to 20ATM (200m), was put in development – the Amphibia. Like Komandirskie, Amphibia was addressing the needs of the Soviet ministry of defense for extreme wristwatch (even special 30ATM version was developed for the military divers). Unlike the Komandirskie however, it
became since the beginning available for civilians. But the price and availability dictate its exclusivity long afterward. Being one of the most iconic watches in the 70-ties and 80-ties, the Amphibia, with some minor changes, is still produced today. AMPHIBIA TODAY Amphibia is one of the most original visual and technical designs among all the diver watches from the late 1960-ties. The first impression, after one sees Amphibia, is that it looks like a vintage watch. No wonder about it – the design of Amphibia went through just minor changes from its creation in 1967 till today. Let's see some details: Case, back and crown: There were several variants of Amphibia case – round, tonneau, octagonal, etc [2]. No matter of the case form, the Amphibia always looks like an Amphibia. The case is always made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel and has two-piece case back. This case back design allows the watch to be opened hundreds times without losing its water resistance. The crown is screwed and has very interesting “wobbly” design. This is sometimes shocking for the first-time users, but it's actually one brilliant technical solution, well explained in [1]. When appeared at the end of 60ties, Amphibia was a huge watch with its 40mm case. By today's standards, it is mid or even unisex size. Fact is, that Amphibia can be worn by everyone – it is in moderate size, but due to its short lugs is excellent for people with tiny wrists, and due to its massive appearance – doesn't look ridiculous on people with bigger wrists. Crystal and bezel: The crystal is acrylic, domed and very thick (3mm). It's properties are also part of the water-resistant design of Amphibia [1]. It's soft and almost unbreakable from shocks and hits. Due to its softness it can be easily scratched, but it's also very easy to polish the scratches completely away. Many 30+ years old Amphibians still wear their original crystals without issues. The curve of the crystal slightly distorts the view to the face of the watch in a very charming way, seen just in the old grandpa watches. When touched it has some “warm” feeling, far from the one of the modern sapphires. The bezel of Amphibia is the main element under critics. Some people could find the classical dot-line design useless (despite that, exactly this bezel is doing the Amphibia even more unique). The bezel rotates on both directions and is not stepped. Last, but not least – it is made of brass and is chrome-plated. Compared to the solid steel body, the bezel is not as solid, but still – it's more theoretical concern, as plenty of old Amphibians around are in excellent condition, despite the “heavy life” they had. Some after-market options for stainless steel bezel exist for those, who can not accept the chrome though.
Dial and hands: Technically the dial of Amphibia is completely old-school solved – metal plate, domed and painted. It can have applied markers or can be flat and just printed, depending on the design. But speaking of the dial’s design of Amphibia, we enter in an endless fairytale. Initially, Amphibia had just few variants – simply with applied markers and branded “Vostok”, or with an image of a scuba diver on it. Sometimes Amphibians are fitted with the dials from the sister-line Komandirskie. At the end of 80-ties a complete new series with imaged dials, called “Albatros” was issued. After the dissolution of USSR, Vostok tried to catch the Soviet-chick mode and start producing dials with all kind of Soviet and military themes. Companies and organizations start ordering limited edition Amphibians with their own logos. Even the US army issued commemorative line of almost half a million watches for the “Desert Storm” operation. Till today, there are uncountable variants of Amphibia dials. The hands don’t differ so much. The standard Amphibia hand-set is an arrow hour hand, straight minute hand and red second hand with luminous dot on it. Sometimes Komandirskie hand-set is used – all the three hands are straight. The dial marks and the hands are covered with luminous paint. It is some sort of old fashion phosphor-based lume, incomparable to Luminova, but still doing some job. Movement: Vostok is one of the few remaining watch companies in the World, who is doing the watches in-house, including the movement. Initially Amphibia was fitted with small 22mm hand-wind caliber, Vostok 2209 with 18jewels. In the beginning of 70-ties, Vostok developed 24mm calibers 2409 (w/o date) and 2414 (with date) and start fitting Amphibia with them. After 1976, the 24xx caliber was extended with automatic module and became 2416. Hand-winding Amphibians were produced till the 90-ties, with some automatic versions available in parallel. Today's Amphibia is available only in automatic version with date, fitted with second generation of Vostok 2416 – the 2416B [3]. It is fully jeweled (31 jewels) solid movement, slow ticking at 19'800 BpH and sometimes amazing practical accuracy. It doesn't have hacking and the date is semi-quickset, but provides smooth and silky hand-winding option.
Overall – a solid movement unpretentious to service or oil quality. Price, availability, finish: Amphibia was never a cheap watch in USSR. At that time, the price was reaching an engineer's monthly salary. Short after USSR dissolution, the prices went ridiculously down, to something like a $35 due to exchange ratio. Today, Amphibia is priced about 75EUR or even lower (if found by a local seller in Russia). Still very low to what you get. Vostok, being an old planned economy factory went to several restructures, bankrupts, etc and is something much smaller today. The production volume of Amphibia as a result is also relatively low. You will not be able to find Vostok in usual watch store at the corner, especially in Europe or Nord America. Nevertheless, Amphibia is available watch using the on-line shopping. It is generally bought by watch enthusiasts, which guarantees very high exclusivity for the owners. The low price point automatically sets questions about the build quality of the watch. The design of Amphibia is done without many compromises (except the bezel) and it is generally a watch to expect a lot from. It's another story how the QC varies between the years. Even today, one can encounter some boredom problems. But they normally appear already in the beginning and are still relatively rare occasion. Buying from a good seller should guarantee joy from owning the watch. The straps though is a really weak point and most of the owners replace it immediately. CONCLUSION Wearing Vostok Amphibia is wearing history. It's a watch with great heritage and more than five decades of interesting life. It went to military missions all around the World, went in Space, were worn by millions in the past, is even a part of the pop-culture (including the western one – the crew in “Life Aquatic” movie wore all Amphibians). Wow, what a thing. Aside of the emotions, it's a great sturdy all-rounder, who can serve for decades. Amphibia has one of the most distinguished designs and very often is a discussion starter. References: [1] - Vostok Amphibia - Analysis design methodology [2] - Vostok Classification Database [3] - Vostok 2416b service notes
Written by SCI – watchuseek forum.