# Greatest achievement



## DavidH (Feb 24, 2003)

When the Swiss make a watch it is going to last a lifetime and give faithful service with a minimum of maintenance. They have generations of knowlege and skills from which to draw.

There is no doubt that this is a great achievement.

Then there is Vostok.

Selling a watch for 29 pounds. Take off that VAT, a few pounds for the vendor, import duty, shipping/ carriage and whatever else.

What is the factory getting? Maybe 10 or less pounds.

It is a mystery to me how they do it but this definately is a great achievement!

Which is the greater?










David


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## seikoman (May 3, 2003)

Hi David.

You think Â£29 is a good price for a Vostock ?

On a trip to Russia last year they were selling in a department store for 370 roubles ( Â£7.40 in proper money), with full 12 months guarantee !

My friends there told me that Vostock was a quality brand and like to "work for long time without repair".

Poljot is seen as being of slightly better quality, but there is not much in it.

By the way, Poljots were on sale very cheaply too, from 600 roubles ( Â£12) upwards (this for a simple dress watch).

I was thinking of buying a crate of them and flogging them once I got home !

I bought a Vostock for my father and it is still running fine at -10 seconds a day.

liam


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

I would like to see you get a crate full through customs.

I buy direct from the manufacturers in Russia and beleive me that we make very llittle on them so I cannot beleive that they were real. They were probably fakes at that price.


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## DavidH (Feb 24, 2003)

A fake Vostok? Who would be bothered?


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

I don't know.

If liam can provide me with the name and address of the shop then I can start to get the watches from them, I bet he can't.


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## seikoman (May 3, 2003)

Hi Roy and all,

No the watches were not fakes, they were simply on sale in the region next to Tartarstan where Vostock is produced, thats why they are so cheap.

The shop I bought my Vostock in was 1000 miles east of Moscow so if anyone cares to visit it they will

find very cheap Vostocks and Poljots too !

The cheapest Poljots for around Â£12 looked a bit big and tacky, I had my eye on a nice aviator style watch that was about Â£24 but never got around to buying it.

You must remember that the average Russian in this part of the country only earns Â£20-80 a month, so to them even 8 quid for a watch is a lot of money.

I'm sure that shipping abroad and customs and taxes does add up, so Â£29 is still a great price for a decent watch, and I think Roy's prices are the best anywhere.

As for the shop name ;

Russia

Udmurtia

g Izhevsk

ЦУМ

ul Pushkinskaya 244

Tel + 07 3412 43 31 80.

I hope your Russian is good. They don't speak English.

liam


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## seikoman (May 3, 2003)

Oh dear your Forum doesnt like Cyrillic text ie ЦУМ

The shop is called "soom" but the Russian is for it looks like UYM (closest I can get in English alphabet)

liam


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## Garry (Feb 25, 2003)

I don't think that Poljot can be described as " Slightly better quality ". I've owned both and think they are like chalk and cheese. Poljot are considerably superior to say the very least.

Cheers

G.


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## peter (Feb 23, 2003)

All this talk about Poljots makes me wonder what on earth will happen to various western and eastern watch companies if the Chinese decide to get going and tackle the market. After all they are destined to become one of, if not the most, succesful economies this century(allegedly to overtake the Americans).

If that happens and they take the bull by the horns, will we all be wearing Chinese wrist pieces?

Peter


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Not in my backyard....


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