# A Komandirskie Back From Travels



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

Right so my brother recently got back from a bit of traveling around Russia, and happened to pick me up a little something on the way...

Delicious.










Oh, yes and to go with it, one of these too..










My first Russian, and I have to say what peculiar charm they have. The 2416b has proven accurate straight from the box as well. From the accompanying paperwork - all in cyrillic of course - the reference is 921261-22, so from what I know that means case ref 921, dial ref 261. The bezel however is entirely new to me, two tone hexagonal. Never seen that before.



















Now, of course I'm looking to upgrade the strap, probably a leather rally type - but what I can't work out is lug width. From what I'd read, the Komandirskie has an 18mm lug width just like the Amphibia. But if you look at the pic below, you'll see my uncertainty here, as the strap measures 18mm with space to spare between the lugs. In which case am I looking at getting a 20mm strap instead?










Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics, and didn't prove too large to download.

Cheers, Howie


----------



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

Too late to edit... but, some further research shows I misquoted the dial ref. It is of course 163, so with the case ref 921 that would give the Vostok Komandirskie 2416B/921163










Though of course the bezel is still a mystery!

edit: but then further scrutiny would suggest that in actual fact the case shape is not quite the same either! Lug design differs quite obviously when compared. So, that's back to the drawing board then with only the dial ref to go with!


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

I've never seen a Komandirskie with that kind of case or bezel... I'm afraid it's probably not a Vostok except for the dial... Have you opened it up and took a look at the movement inside? Can we see that and the case back?


----------



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

Kutusov said:


> I've never seen a Komandirskie with that kind of case or bezel... I'm afraid it's probably not a Vostok except for the dial... Have you opened it up and took a look at the movement inside? Can we see that and the case back?


Ah we had some suspicion! As it transpires, I think it is actually a manual wind... but it does have the wobbly crown! The case back interestingly bears no engraving. Sadly, I haven't the tool to open up the back to check, but it did come from a reputable enough gift shop in St Petersburg, and was amongst a handful of other designs. All very curious. However, it does keep good time, has a solid feeling crown thread with the crown sealing well enough as it reaches the gasket...


----------



## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

Shake it back and forth by your ear, the rotor should be noisy enough to easily hear.

Later,

William


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

howie77 said:


> but it does have the wobbly crown!


It's probably a wind up Vostok movement then and so are the dial and the hands. Another way to check if it's an auto or not is too check if you can fully wind it. If you reach a point where you can't wind it any more it's a wind up, with an auto this will never happen (as you porbably know).

It's a nice watch though and after a bottle of Glazov you'll swear it's a Rolex 









BTW, it's obviously a 20mm strap that you should get, that 18 is too small, you can even see the springbars! (another indication that the case isn't Vostok... 18mm lugs only or 22 in the Ministry cases)


----------



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

Ok, no perceptible rotor + full wind = manual wind it would appear! I think a generous perspective would be then that it is at best franken'd..









A shame, as it means I still haven't yet joined the Vostok club...!







Still, it works, and I can't really ask for more than that!

cheers chaps,

Howie

edit: the vodka is definitely real, however, I can vouch for that!


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

howie77 said:


> A shame, as it means I still haven't yet joined the Vostok club...!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Easily done if don't want to spend the money on a new one (50 quid at most). Go to EvilBay and get a broken Vostok Amphibia with a ruined dial or something. It will be pretty cheap and the Amphibia cases are SS so you can clean them. The crystal is plexi so very easy to polish. Then just transplant your movement with dial and hands into that and voilÃ¡! Genuine enough, lot's of Amphibias were made with your movement so it would barely qualify as a franken :thumbsup:


----------



## Big Dave (Nov 9, 2010)

Yep, should defo be 18mm, same as my Komandirskie.

I put mine on a mesh strap


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

Where's Mr. Bond? It's not a Rolex look-a-like topic but there's a Vodka bottle there, claiming it's legit and it isn't Smirnoff  

Give'em hell Commander!


----------



## danyel (Dec 22, 2007)

Vostok


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

That's an unusual case with those flexible lugs. Odd hands too. Old style bezel, sloppy relume job on the dial and cracked dial (some do that if they stay in the sun). I can't read the movement model but it's a 70's 2209, it was replaced latter by the 2403 that you'll find in the Komandirskies and some Amphibias.

Doh... the movement model is inscribed in the case back... it is a 2209... I have one in my 70's Amphibia too..


----------



## danyel (Dec 22, 2007)

+


----------



## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

Kutusov said:


> That's an unusual case with those flexible lugs.


That is the least common ÐÐ¼Ñ„Ð¸Ð±Ð¸Ñ case style. There are quite a few examples of it on Russian watch collector's sites on the web.

Later,

William


----------



## LozR (Jan 12, 2011)

These Vostok watches look like real no nonsense workhorses - that's something I admire - good engineering designed to do a job.


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

LozR said:


> These Vostok watches look like real no nonsense workhorses - that's something I admire - good engineering designed to do a job.


They are! These things were made to be used in a country that's huge and with very few watchmakers. They had to do its job without little or no servicing, in extreme conditions (cold, heat, etc) and they couldn't be expensive... T34 and Kalashnikov philosophy


----------



## nht (Sep 15, 2007)

Kutusov said:


> I've never seen a Komandirskie with that kind of case or bezel...


Yes, it's wrong.... This is a traditional bezel from Vostok Partner series...


----------



## nht (Sep 15, 2007)

nht said:


> Yes, it's wrong.... This is a traditional bezel from Vostok Partner series...


I can't edit my post....

but i forgot to mention that case is also from a Vostok Partner (case type 251).


----------



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

nht said:


> Kutusov said:
> 
> 
> > I've never seen a Komandirskie with that kind of case or bezel...
> ...


Very useful post, thanks NHT. I followed up on this and from what I read over at rugift this case shape would appear to have 20mm lugs, with this style of bezel. A very odd little watch I have then! Well, it's still going, so it'll do for me.

Thanks for the information, cheers.


----------



## AlexC1981 (Jul 26, 2009)

Kutusov said:


> (another indication that the case isn't Vostok... 18mm lugs only or 22 in the Ministry cases)


Interesting that you say that. I bought this a few years ago and it has 20mm lugs. It only lasted a couple of months before the automatic winding failed. I hear the rotor spinning, but it doesn't seem to be connected to the winding mechanism any more. I manually wound it for another couple of weeks and the logo fell off the dial!

I stopped wearing it after that. Not the usual Vostok quality! I wonder if it's a franken...


----------



## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

AlexC1981 said:


> Interesting that you say that. I bought this a few years ago and it has 20mm lugs. It only lasted a couple of months before the automatic winding failed. I hear the rotor spinning, but it doesn't seem to be connected to the winding mechanism any more. I manually wound it for another couple of weeks and the logo fell off the dial!
> 
> I stopped wearing it after that. Not the usual Vostok quality! I wonder if it's a franken...


Ok, let me rephrase that... it's not a Vostok Amphibia or Komandirskie. I keep forgetting they have other "civilian" models like the Troika. They are not to my taste so I never got one and I think other people share my views as I don't recall seeing many around here (I think Ian was interested in one and it was discussed a bit but he end up not getting it...).

So, when it comes to Amphibias and Komandirskies, they have 18mm lugs, except the Ministries with 22mm lugs.

What you describe might have been bad luck but I guess it also shows the poor QC on new Vostok models. I think the older models don't suffer much with this because there is a lot more experience with them as they have been around for many years. Plus, they don't have much (any) applied numbers, markers or numbers on the dial (it's all painted) so not much chance of bits falling out of the dial!


----------



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

Jut a little update to this. Finally got around to opening up the the watch at the start of this thread. Given the odd combination of 163 dial on a Partner series case and bezel, with a plain, undecorated case back, I had some gloomy foreboding as to what I might find inside.

I was delighted to discover a Vostok 2409 complete with the B for Boctok evident under the (?) wheel. And it keeps great time, with a healthy power reserve.

It's history might be unknown, but it's definitely found a home with me.


----------



## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

It has a date wheel, does it not? If that's the case, I would think it was a 2414. 

Later,

William


----------



## howie77 (Jun 21, 2009)

William_Wilson said:


> It has a date wheel, does it not? If that's the case, I would think it was a 2414.
> 
> Later,
> 
> William


errr.....

Had to go away and look again.... right I had originally compared it to the images from netgrafik and based on them, identified it as the 2409.



















I came to this conclusion based on the angle of the bridge plate (sorry, I'm not an aficionado with terminology!) where the two screws hold it in place. On mine, it most definitely is flat as per the former picture, and not angled as in the latter. Not to mention the fact that Netgrafik quote the 2409 as having a date feature.

But, I thought I better double check given your better judgement.

First stop, ranfft



















... and the first signs of disparity. No date specified on the 2409! However, note the angle of the screw edge of the bridge. Mine still looks like the 2409.

So, pressing on with investigation, our next stop, namely The Metatechnical Cabinet

Still looking good so far.

The 2409










..but then see this! The 2414










And suddenly there was light. No angled edge on the bridge, and the fact that my watch features a date mechanism, but of course - it is the 2414.

cheers William,

Howie


----------



## Vaurien (Jul 19, 2010)

danyel said:


> Vostok


Beautiful! I like it so much :notworthy:


----------

