Vostok Amphibia “Scuba Dude” Review

     Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. For this entry, I will be reviewing a cult classic watch that I believe every collector should have in their collection. I present to you, the Vostok Amphibia “Scuba Dude.”

     The Vostok Amphibia is somewhat of a polarizing watch beloved for its many quirks and its rich history. With the market of the watch world being almost entirely dominated by Swiss and Japanese manufactured timepieces, it is so refreshing to stumble across watches that are made in other countries. If the name isn’t already a dead giveaway, Vostok (Boctok) watches have been manufactured in Russia as far back as 1941. As of 1965 Vostok’s Chistopol factory became the official supplier for the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union. Over the years, Vostok had many innovations within its own history with its introduction of the ever iconic Komandirskie that debuted in 1963 made with the USSR Ministry of Defense in mind. In 1968 with the help of the mind of Michail Novikov, Vostok continued their innovations, with the release of the Amphibia; a watch made of stronger materials that was capable of sustaining water pressures to an upwards of 200 meters that made it suitable for diving. Having gone through land, sea, and outer space, these watches have been just about everywhere. In case you are wondering where the nickname “Scuba Dude” comes from, these watches have a frog-skin/skin-suited diver printed on the dial which represented the Russian divers and military personnel that wore Amphibia watches at the time.

    Vostok Amphibia watches are nothing short of engineering marvels for their time. Let’s start off with some of the features that makes these watches unique. One feature, either love it or hate it, is the signature wobbly crown that was designed by Vostok to prevent the movement or crown stem from being damaged in the case that it encountered any impact, something that at the time of its original release date would have spelled trouble for many other watches from other brands. Some say it feels cheap, but I honestly think it is such a fun and quirky feature. Vostok to this day continues to use thick acrylic crystals on their watches to aid in their waterproofing. Coupled alongside a Mason jar lid-styled case back, the acrylic crystal flexes under water pressure and the case back becomes tighter causing the watch to become even more resilient to water as it is taken deeper into the depths. The case back of the Vostok Amphibia is designed to have a plate that clicks into a notch over the rubber “O” ring gasket. After the case back is secured, a secondary metal ring (akin to the outer ring of a lid on a Mason jar) is fastened tightly over the case back plate around the “O” ring. In short, the case back was designed to be more resilient to repeated diving and to prevent damage to the rubber “O” ring when decompressing from dives which at the time of testing watches from other companies in their own laboratories, failed. The Vostok Amphibia watches still use 1st generation luminescence on the hands and edges of the hour markers. Many tend to complain about the lume but Vostok intentionally designed the lume to fade fast with military options in mind. They wanted their watches to be visible in the dark but they were careful to design their watches so the enemy wouldn’t see those who wore them. With that in mind, I find the Vostok lume is perfectly adequate (especially for the price of this watch.) Vostok Amphibia watches also still utilize friction fit bezels which were common during the time. Vostok’s friction fit bezels don’t make for adequate diving bezels since they are bi-directionally rotating, therefore susceptible to being rotated and possibly increasing your time underwater which could be deadly. It would also have been nice if they had included a lume pip on the bezel for being able to time the dive bezel in dark areas underwater, but since this based on one of the original models, I am able to forgive it. With that being said, they do offer some variants with dive bezels that have lume pips so that’s a plus. If I had to guess, the whole dive bezel overall might have been an afterthought in the Vostok design process. Although not the most pleasant bezel I have ever used, I still love it all the same.

 

     For the price, I would recommend getting these watches on a nice Nato strap as the original bracelet it comes on can be very to-be-desired. With that out of the way, the watch itself feels like an absolute tank. The 2416b self winding movement is simple, but reliable and although it is not the most accurate timepiece (about a minute off per day) it is still great for an automatic of the price. The movement is non-hacking meaning that you cannot set the seconds hand precisely so you are basically stuck using an approximation of time within the minute you set it in.  This watch feels extremely solid in the hands. I have owned multiple Seiko watches that have not felt this nice for more thank 5 times the price of this watch. Despite its design quirks (namely the wobbly crown,) I love how this watch feels! The Vostok Amphibia variants with a date feature an instant date change at 12 o’clock, similar to that of many Rolex watches that are more than 80 times the price of this watch. I would have to say my only gripe with this watch would be that there is no implemented quick set function for the date, meaning that I have to manually move the hour hands to switch to the next date. There is a work around where you can move the hands of the watch between 9 pm and 3 am back and forth and it will continuously set the date, but it is still a bit inconvenient. I absolutely adore the matte blue dial on this watch and how the domed acrylic crystal reflects and refracts the light onto the dial. The finishing on the watch may be minimal in contrasts between brushing and polishing, but there the price there is nothing to be disappointed about. While this watch is a modern watch, it still feels distinctly vintage in all the right places and that is truly a great thing. They have really changed very little throughout the years with the exception of a few minor improvements. The watch you buy today will look and feel like the originals that were made all those many years ago which is not a luxury you can easily attain through other brands with the likes of trying to obtain something like an original Rolex Submariner. With a watch of such history you could expect to pay a major premium if it came from other brands. This watch can be had for as little as around $60. So far, I haven’t seen a better quality watch that is made and developed in house for a price point well under $100. Over all, these watches are like potato chips; they’re cheap, they’re addictive, and its hard to have just one. If you are looking to purchase this specific watch (model number 420059,) I recommend searching reputable dealers like Meranom. The only downside with some retailers is that being that they come directly from Russia, they take many months to ship with having to clear customs. If you would like to get the watch sooner like I did, look for a listing on Amazon with Prime shipping that arrives in around 2 days.

Thank you for reading and your continued support!

-Noah Payne founder of Tick n’ Sip