What is Your Take on Vostok?

Dang! That is super cool!

i love some of the vostok design. only complain for them is wobbly crown and case made from brass from what i know. has anyone know this "sturmanskie" brand? i think it is pretty decent watch with poljot movement

My Amphibia is all stainless steel, though I believe the Komandirskie has brass elements. 

A beautiful watch!

I'm a big vostok fan. My amphibia was my first automatic purchased from meranom. My Komanderski has amphibia spec so water resistant to 200m etc. The amphibia has been used in the North Sea with no issues. They are built to last!

I have my own variant that had the dial swapped out and the hands, so it looks cool in my humble opinion. I quickly got used to the wobbly crown and actually think it's a good feature, so not to break the dam thing winding or setting the time.

So all in all for the price I think you get some great watch history and a pretty indestructible little watch.

I bought a Vostok Amphibia one year ago. I was my first automatic watche. but I realise that this watch is VERY VERY unprecise. aproximatively 15 MINUTES per day. It's clearly unfonctional to tell the time. That is my bigest deception withe the vostok amphibia

Got mine in January or so and its been running -1 sec a day. Its really sturdy and my swimming/beach/don't care about watch. The crystal does scratch but at the moment it doesn't bother me to much. Love that thing

Quirky,retro,robust, cheap in watch terms,easily modable, not much not to like really (maybe some occasional QC issues) ,I've only got one at the moment a gmt reef model ,it's not got the plexiglass crystal but it's got the proper Russian movement and I love it,will probably add a full on proper one (wobbly crown,plexiglass) in the future.

Without getting political: I'll say the engineering is interesting, but I'd rather have an H. Moser.

I have said much in many posts here about my affinity for Soviet-era watches. They are the best value in vintage watches if you want something that will wind up and give you reasonable time. (If you measure accuracy in seconds these watches will never be for you.) They are sturdy and have been worn and repaired. At the risk of being that dinner party guest who knows one subject and will not shut up about it:

My only Vostok (1980's). It is simple and stocky. I trust the screw down crown, but not the gaskets, so I won't swim with it. It has presence and the dial is a pretty metallic brown that is great in the sun.

This is an automatic Chaika Stadium watch (1970's). It has never been reliable enough for me to get much wear out of. It is in the queue to go back to the watch maker. I want it to work. It is too funky not to love.

This is a Zim (Pobeda)(1980's). I was originally attracted to this because of its brilliant coppery dial. My old eyes found it to be too hard to read at a glance. I gifted it to my niece.

This is an automatic Poljot (1980's). It is blocky and comfortable, keeps good time.

Some early 1980's Raketa. These are my favorites, very well built. Soviet watches carried 1970's styling well into the 1980's.

1970's Slava. These were always civilian watches and have a reputation for fragility (relative, I suppose).

1950's Start and Neva. These are barely hanging in there. They won't last a full day on a wind. A broken lug keeps the Start in the drawer.

I have a Zvezda on the way. (I thought that I was past this phase, but the price was right.)

Soviet era vintage allows you to explore exotic watches for very little. Some of these are winners and some are not.  I have spend more on the service of a Swiss watch than I have for this whole lot. I avoid them if they look too good. I don't need a fantasy dial commemorating Yuri Gagarin's flight. I am glad that I went through this phase of collecting.

Bought a Vostok in the early 90s from a Polish flea market dealer in what used to be the old GDR. It cost about the same as a medium-priced dinner, and came with a 0-day warranty. The watch lasted for about 2 years, before the movement stopped working.

I just got one a few days ago. Love the design. Unfortunately the date does not adjust and the crown feels very loose and unstable. I've emailed them for a warranty replacement and so far, no response. Course' it is the weekend, fingers crossed.

As the mentioned in the post, I am still enchanted with the Vostok brand. 

The wobbly stem I knew going in so it didn't alarm me and I don't mind it. 

I'll probably end up getting another after I screw this one up poking around in it. 

I was told that they were a good investment so I bought a couple of them. They are vintage ones. They are the worst watches I have ever owned. They are hard to wind. Hard to set the date. They don't keep good time. I like the looks of them and that's it. I won't be buying any more.

Yeah, that’s sweet. I wish I’d picked one with a date complication like yours. 

Vostok watches make up the majority of my watch collection.  They obv won’t be competing against any high-end watches, but they don’t need to.  They are a very unique, quirky niche in the watch world and have a long, rich history.  I discovered this brand right about the time the world shut down due to COVID, and had to wait several months for my first watch to arrive.  When it did though, I was immediately hooked.  For an inexpensive, automatic watch I am impressed with its level of accuracy; after I got used to the non-quickset date feature and the factory’s shortcut method I don’t even mind the date models now.  Someone spoke earlier about the brass cases, I typically see this in the lower-end manual wind Komandirskie watches.  The Amphibia or automatic Komandirskies seem to be built with higher quality parts and don’t end up leaving a nasty green/black place on my wrist after wearing it!  They are highly customizable, which makes them a favorite among the modding community as well.  Overall, you get a decent, unique timepiece for not a lot of money.  As long as you don’t buy one expecting a Rolex/Omega/Tudor quality watch, you’ll not be disappointed.

Wow! That‘s a Cosmonaut on the dial! Love it!

So, I own three of them and they get their fair share of wrist time.

Mine was made prior to 1990, it has CCCP on the bottom of the dial and it's never been serviced. It still keeps good time. 

I bought the 24hr Kommandirskie because I thought it was a great idea. I've had it a couple of years now and, to this day, I can't read it at a glance. I have to stare at it for a couple of seconds before I figure it out... That probably says more about me than the watch! 😁

I play on boats a lot so having a 24 hour watch that is water resistant comes in hady.

I be picking up one pretty soon. I be very excited once I get it.

It sounds like your watch has been magnetised. I had the same issue with a watch and bought a watch demagnetiser from eBay, followed the instructions and the watch now keeps great time. The demagnetiser costs about $15 so I'd say it's worth a try to fix the watch 👍

thank's for the advice. I'll try this.

Fabulous collection!

Currently I have 2 Vostoks and I absolutely love them. I will certainly get more in the future. I have changed the straps and bezels for both. Now they look a bit less quircky. But everything about this watches scream – TOOOOL. It's like a wrench in the watch world.

That’s an excellent simili of comparison!

Love mine too.. very sturdy..

And surprisingly accurate (at least mine is at +/- 1sec too)  wondering why that is 🤔