# A special Raketa and a couple of Vostoks



## Lampoc (Oct 31, 2010)

I don't normally bother to post when I buy a new watch (which is often) but I've received some pretty funky stuff this week plus I'm bored sh*tless sat at home recovering from my recent heart attack so I thought I'd share.

Move over Omega with your cartoon space dogs because here's a Vostok Amphibia with a real dog that actually went into space on the dial. Poor old Laika died on her historic journey just over 60 years ago and Vostok commerated/cashed-in on her passing with this special edition.










Next up, it's another Vostok Amphibia, but this is no ordinary Amphibia. It's actually based on this extremely rare vintage compressor:










Prices of these vintage Vosotok compressors have gone pretty mental over the last few years with decent examples hitting around £2K. Yes, that's 2 grand for a Vostok. A couple of months back a re-edition was released for a far more reasonable £200ish and here it is:



















Saving the best until last, I finally found a Raketa Avtomat for a realistic price and I am absolutely blown away by it. Without a shadow of doubt, this is by far and away the best made Russian watch I have ever laid my hands on. It absolutely oozes class and I'd personally place it slightly above the likes of Oris and Longines in terms of build quality. In-house (Raketa even make their own hair-springs) chronometer standard movement too. The waffle dial is also fantastic.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Lampoc said:


> Saving﻿ the best until last, I finally found a Raketa Avtomat for a realistic price and I am absolutely﻿ blown away by it. Without a shadow of doubt, this is by far and away the best made Russian watch I have ever laid my hands on. It absolutely oozes class and I'd personally place it slig﻿htly above the likes of Oris and Longines in terms of build quality. In-house (Raketa even make their own﻿ hair-springs) chronometer standard movement too. The waffle dial is also fantastic.﻿


 I suspected this would be the case, but I was too chicken to take the risk ! Thanks for posting. :thumbsup:


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## martinzx (Aug 29, 2010)

So sorry to hear about your health issues I hope you are on the mend? Great watches BTW. I like them all! I would love to know more about the Raketa.

Cheers Martin :thumbsup:


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## Lampoc (Oct 31, 2010)

WRENCH said:


> I suspected this would be the case, but I was too chicken to take the risk ! Thanks for posting. :thumbsup:


 I'd have been too chicken at the £750-ish RRP but I picked it up for less than half that. I took a chance on a dodgy eastern European eBay listing with stock pictures from a low feedback seller and I received a watch with all boxes & papers in absolutely mint condition so pretty happy with that! 



martinzx said:


> So sorry to hear about your health issues I hope you are on the mend? Great watches BTW. I like them all! I would love to know more about the Raketa.
> 
> Cheers Martin :thumbsup:


 Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good now. It was pretty minor as far as heart attacks go - I thought it was heartburn :biggrin:

I'll post up some more details/pics about the Raketa soon.


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

Get well soon mate :thumbsup:

An excellent selection of Ruskies you've got there, the last one in particular is a cracker :notworthy: Never seen a watch with a "0" instead of a "12" though. Not unpleasant, just looks a bit odd to me, that's all.


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## Draygo (Mar 18, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the health issues. I hope you're on the mend.

I couldn't resist a Compressor either. (Well actually, couldn't resist, bought one, then they listed the second design, so bought that too!)

The new Raketa looks really special. Enjoy (...and take it easy!)


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## NOTSHARP (May 2, 2018)

Lampoc said:


> I don't normally bother to post when I buy a new watch (which is often) but I've received some pretty funky stuff this week plus I'm bored sh*tless sat at home recovering from my recent heart attack so I thought I'd share.
> 
> Move over Omega with your cartoon space dogs because here's a Vostok Amphibia with a real dog that actually went into space on the dial. Poor old Laika died on her historic journey just over 60 years ago and Vostok commerated/cashed-in on her passing with this special edition.
> 
> ...


 That vintage Compressor dial is superb(ish). Shame about the date window. :laugh:

Congratulations on some fine watches.

Steve,


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## Richy (Oct 14, 2013)

Wish you a speedy recovery Lampoc. Nice to see some new watches on the Russian section.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

@Lampoc It would be good to hear your impression of the Raketa after some wear, and knowing a bit more about it, would you pay full price for one ? :thumbsup:


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

Raketa are one of the few Russian watches I have not tried so I will have a look for one of these, you did well on the Vostok though, a quick look about and they have jumped in price threefold now well over £600!

Some interesting things on their website though

https://raketa-shop.com/w/en/98-mechanical


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

A big zero would be on my list. Manual wind 2609 movement. I would be most interested to know of improvements over the previous 2609 movement. Obviously the case design is much better, but an increase of over £400 has to be justified.


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Lampoc said:


> I don't normally bother to post when I buy a new watch (which is often) but I've received some pretty funky stuff this week plus I'm bored sh*tless sat at home recovering from my recent heart attack so I thought I'd share.....


 I hope you're mending quickly, mate.


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

any update on a review of the Raketa?

As a consequence of these photos I have been having a good trawl of the internet looking up the new Raketa watches there is not much going in the way of reviews but Raketa are certainly trying hard to move up in level of finish for Russian watches. I do like the detail on the movement and rotor on this one and what reviews I have found are all favorable the only gripe being the price (Most people reluctant to pay £650 for a Russian watch which is understandable considering the average Vostok is about £60 and even the more upgraded ones £2-250 at the most)


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## kanab22 (Mar 21, 2011)

What a cracking haul. That's me on the look out for a Laika Vostok now :angry: Seriously, I never knew such a watch existed. Love it. Hope your convalescence is speedy.


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## Lampoc (Oct 31, 2010)

ZenArcade said:


> any update on a review of the Raketa?
> 
> As a consequence of these photos I have been having a good trawl of the internet looking up the new Raketa watches there is not much going in the way of reviews but Raketa are certainly trying hard to move up in level of finish for Russian watches. I do like the detail on the movement and rotor on this one and what reviews I have found are all favorable the only gripe being the price (Most people reluctant to pay £650 for a Russian watch which is understandable considering the average Vostok is about £60 and even the more upgraded ones £2-250 at the most)


 I'll try and get round to a decent review next week


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## mrzee (Jun 22, 2012)

@Lampoc Some nice watches there especially the Raketa. I don't know anything about the brand as a watch noob.

Are they really goo quality or does it just depend on the model and when produced?


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## Lampoc (Oct 31, 2010)

mrzee said:


> @Lampoc Some nice watches there especially the Raketa. I don't know anything about the brand as a watch noob.
> 
> Are they really goo quality or does it just depend on the model and when produced?


 The newer Avtomat and Amphibia models are very good quality but that's reflected in the price. Older Soviet-era models are around the same quality as the other 3 major brands (Poljot, Vostok and Slava) and can be picked up cheap as chips on eBay.

Here's my collection of older Raketas, none of which cost more than £100 (most were waaay below that!):


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## ZenArcade (Aug 17, 2016)

Lampoc said:


> The newer Avtomat and Amphibia models are very good quality but that's reflected in the price. Older Soviet-era models are around the same quality as the other 3 major brands (Poljot, Vostok and Slava) and can be picked up cheap as chips on eBay.
> 
> Here's my collection of older Raketas, none of which cost more than £100 (most were waaay below that!):


 The two divers look great, are they automatic or hand wind? To my knowledge all the old Raketa watches were hand wind.


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## Lampoc (Oct 31, 2010)

ZenArcade said:


> The two divers look great, are they automatic or hand wind? To my knowledge all the old Raketa watches were hand wind.


 The top is quartz and the bottom one is manual wind. Although most Raketas were hand winding they did make some automatics too such as the 2627 which I believe the current movement is derived from.

As for the Avtomat, I'll try and get round to a more detailed review next week


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Lampoc said:


> Saving﻿﻿﻿ the best until last, I finally found a Raketa Avtomat for a realistic price and I am absolutely blown away by it. Without a shadow of doubt, this is by far and away the best made Russian watch I have ever laid my hands on. It absolutely oozes class and I'd personally place﻿ it slightly above the likes of Oris and Longines in terms of build quality. In-house (Raketa even make﻿ their own hair-springs) chronometer standard movement too. The waffle dial is also fantastic﻿.﻿


 Any feedback to be enjoyed ?


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## Lampoc (Oct 31, 2010)

WRENCH said:


> Any feedback to be enjoyed ?


 I'll get round to it soon! :laugh:


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