The Vostok Amphibian Crucible – War in The USSR
In the late 1920s, long before the first Vostok Amphibian was created, whilst America was criminalising alcohol and western girls bobbed their hair, in the east Joseph Stalin was creating strategic plans for the embryonic Soviet Union. He had realised that the great nation that he led did not have the capacity to create wristwatches for its people. At this time ‘five year plans’ were order of the day, but how were the comrades ever going to complete these plans if they couldn’t even tell the time of day? Stalin was not about to become dependent on other nations to provide these vitally important tools so he initiated a strategic plan to create a Soviet capacity for the creation of watches; tool watches for the comrades!
These watches should tell good time and be tough. The creation of several production facilities followed quickly on the heels of Stalin’s directives. The First Moscow watch Factory (FMWF) was created with help from a surprising source, the Dueber-Hampden Watch Factory in Canton, Ohio, USA. The Soviets spotted the opportunity that the sale of this asset presented and a delegation snapped up the factories assets, 21 of its talented staff and took the lot back to Moscow to start the Soviet dream of being self reliant on timepiece production. A second factory was soon also created which was brilliantly named The Second Moscow Watch Factory (SMWF) and it was this factory that was several decades downstream to produce the first Vostok Amphibians. But not in Moscow, Hilter’s advancing forces in the Autumn of 1941 caused the evacuation of the SMWF to a place called Christopol, out of range of the german guns.
Designing an Iconic Dive Watch in Peace – Vostok Amphibian in Christopol
So the context of the creation of a facility for the production of a Soviet Dive Watch was turbulent and forged in the fire of war. Watch production requires calm and peace. It is no accident that the Swiss are neutral in world conflicts. As the Russians know to their cost it is not possible to design and fabricate a delicate flyback chronograph mechanism with mortars landing in the front yard. It would be some time until they would get around to the Amphibian
Once in Christopol production settled back down and a couple of decades after the end of WWII there was perceived a need for a new dive watch for the Soviet Navy. In 1967 the Vostok Amphibian production began to fill this need. It was, and is, a watch with several design features that suited it when to performing in the harsh high pressure under water environment. In the review that follows we put those features to the test.
Vostok Amphibian – Watchmaker Review – The Video
You can see me actually conduct the testing of the Amphibian in this video which I recorded for my YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTiOUt7jxw
How I Evaluated the Vostok Amphibian
Model Used for Evaluation:
Vostok Amphibian (Radio Room Dial) – Case 110 – Movement 2415 – Reference 110750
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Get this watch . In the US: https://amzn.to/2KPQGh6 In the UK: https://amzn.to/2FkUJyL
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This review takes my standard format for reviewing a watch. As with all of my watch reviews I use the following categorisation to break down the inherent complexity of the review.
- Engineering – Features and Quality (Pretty Objective)
- Aesthetics (Prone to be subjective)
- Value for Money (Pretty Objective)
Engineering – Features and Quality
- Movement
- Keyless Works
- Case and Bezel
- Crystal
- Dial and Hands
- Bracelet
- Lume
- Water Resistance
