Vostok Komandirskie Submarine
This was the first watch I ever bought, sort of. On a family holiday to Bulgaria in 1992 I found this on a market stall alongside a bunch of other Soviet military memorabilia as well as pirate cassettes of Vanilla Ice, Ace of Base and Snow’s album “12 Inches of Snow”.
It cost me £25 which I paid in Sterling. In Bulgaria at the time I feel like that would have been a decent amount of money. As a twelve year old it was all the money I had. This was a big deal purchase for me.
I loved that watch and I loved the fact that I had a watch like that, with some history to it and maybe even a story. Eventually though I grew out of wearing it in my late teens and between my move to University and my parents various house moves, it was lost to time.
Fast forward to 2023. I was watching a Teddy Baldasare video where he spoke to a Hollywood stuntman about his collection. There was a Vostok, I instantly recognised the brand logo and immediately set off on an eBay hunt to re-find my first watch.
Eventually I found a seller in Ukraine with exactly the piece I remembered and in decent condition. Instant buy.
It’s a very cheap 35 year old Soviet timepiece. It looks kinda funky and could well be radioactive. I wear it all the time.
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I have this EXACT same watch of the same vintage! I love it and it is a regular part of my rotation 😀 👍
I have this EXACT same watch of the same vintage! I love it and it is a regular part of my rotation 😀 👍
Oh, I love it on that NATO. That looks great.
That Nato is a cheapie from Amazon ... is very comfortable and the ONLY Nato strap that I've tried on a variety of watches, that I even remotely like ... I love it!
I have this EXACT same watch of the same vintage! I love it and it is a regular part of my rotation 😀 👍
Yooo I have this one too. Found it in a scap drawer at work.
Never thought I would see others out there.
Interesting fact about this model is it's what is considered a transitional model made around 1991-1993.
As the story gos, because of the fall of the Soviet Union the workers at the factory didn't know what was to become of the country. They didn't know what to mark the "made in" on the dial with. So they just left it blank. That's why they don't have "USSR" or "Russia" on the dial.
Nice to see all of these vintage Boctok "Subbies"!! 👍
Thanks @Chronophobia. I didn’t know that. That’s super interesting.
I wish I had a good story about my first Vostok, but all that happened was I was browsing eBay over 20 years and saw a seller called "Funky Russian Watches", and I bought a submarine one too. Then I bought a few more...