The secret shortcut to get perfect tension on your Vostok bezel, or any other friction bezel!

Friction bezels can be fantastic tools, far more functional and practical than unidirectional indexed bezels.  The issue is most of the time they suck.  Each of us have preferences for bezel action, some like it loosey goosey and others want that sucker to stay put unless hit with a sledgehammer.  Vostok bezels, while tunable, are incredibly finicky.  Anyone that's tried perfecting the action on their Amphibia has likely wrecked their fingers, or worse broken the bezel spring.  However, there's an obscure way to make tension perfect that doesn't require pain or guess work.  I wanted to pass this tip on to all of you!  It's easy and incredibly effective.

The first step is to start with a loose bezel.  If yours is already loose and you want it tighter, congratulations!  You can skip a step!  If yours is tight or just not tight enough, your first step is to remove the bezel. A dedicated case knife is the best tool, but any sufficiently thin and flat object should do.  Protect the case with your choice of material, insert your tool, and twist!  The bezel should pop right off, but if it's tight, you might want to try rotating it to a few places.  The aim it to hit the right spot in the spring's rotation.  Levering off of different lugs might help if the spring is tight to the case.

With the bezel off, remove the spring.  It should be roughly octagonal.  In order to reduce the friction of the bezel, you want to increase the angle of each bend in the spring.  Using needlenose pliers is good practice, but you might be able to bend with your hands.  The most important thing is that you keep the spring flat, you don't want to induce a twist, which would make it incredibly difficult to remount the spring.  In addition, try to keep your bends equal in magnitude.  A very small adjustment is required to make it loose, aim to have the gap in the spring increase by a centimeter.  You'll know the bezel is at the right tension when you can press it back onto the case (with the spring in place of course) with a reasonable amount of effort.  Make sure the spring is centered well in the bezel groove and push firmly.  Don't try using a press, if it doesn't go on with your hands, it's too tight and you risk breaking the spring!  Some wiggling and shifting will likely be necessary.

When the bezel is back, spinning with little effort, you're ready to tune.  In order to do so, you'll need some common sewing thread.   Some people might recommend waxed dental floss, which you can try in a pinch, but I'm not a fan.  Begin inserting your thread in between the bezel and the case.  You'll want to make sure the thread goes BELOW the bezel spring.  On your first wrap, leave a sufficient tail hanging out from the case.  On each pass, wrap the thread as tightly as you can, pulling down toward the caseback to ensure it engages properly.  You'll want to wrap a few dozen times.  Check your tension by turning the bezel.  When you have reached appropriate tension to your liking, use the tail you left earlier to tie a simple overhand knot, being sure to tie as tightly to the case as you can!  When it's tight, snip off the ends of the thread and tuck any extra underneath with your removal tool.  Spinning the bezel a bit should seat the excess.

Congratulations!  Your bezel is now perfect!  Cotton thread will hold up for ages, and perform the same when wet or dry.  You might run into issues if you're swimming in salt water, but as always it's good practice to give your watch a thorough rinse anyways.  If you decide you don't like the tension or want to go back to having a terrible bezel action, just pop off the bezel, snip open the thread and unwind!