# First Russian Experience Not Good



## fredbloggs (Feb 25, 2006)

I bought a modest (and brand new) little Vostok Military classic watch from a big Vostok ebay seller.. I won the watch for a tenner, but erm it doesn't work. Or rather it did for about a minute and then stopped. It's an automatic, but no amount of movement will get it to go for any more than 10 seconds. In fact, continuous movement will usually result in the second hand just ticking for 5 seconds and then stopping completely.

Are they known for poor quality?


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

The movements are not of very good quaility but are quite tough, they also are hand windable, try hand winding before pronouncing it dead







......

It may just need wakeing up


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## fredbloggs (Feb 25, 2006)

it doesn't appear to be hand-windable?!

It has a screw in crown..


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I think it is, unscrew the crown, the crown / stem will be 'wobbly' but this is normal









try winding it without catching the thread to screw it up again, if this doesnt work, pull the crown out to the hand adjust setting then push back in and try again, it isnt the easiest movement to hand wind but Im sure they do ( I have a screw crown amphibia that I hand wind to get going)


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## fredbloggs (Feb 25, 2006)

thanks.. that worked.

It was all getting a bit Krypton Factor for my shivering flu addled body.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Glad it worked out









Hope you get better soon.....


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

> Are they known for poor quality?


In a word.......................yes

You get what you pay for

Some will swear by them

I had a Poljot that made me swear. It was magnetised


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Quality is subjective,

Its a ten quid watch...The quality is fine for its price point....

Dare I say the SMP is poor quality?









Compared to a Breguet


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Vostoks may be cheap but I have three from the `80`s which are still going strong


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## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

Griff said:


> > Are they known for poor quality?
> 
> 
> In a word.......................yes
> ...


They do for us poor folks Mr. Griff







.

I've bought quite a few new Vostoks over the years. Based on my experience 5% need some ( shall we say ) remedial therapy on arrival.

This failure is usually due to "sticky" movements.

These watches may have been "in stock" of a couple of years after being made but they do go with a bit of warmth and movement  .

I'm quite careful with my watches and have so many that they don't get much wearing, so I cannot say how well they stand up to heavy use and abuse.

I do have a few I bought 15 to 20 years ago which are still going fine.

Quality control is quite poor but unless you get a "lemon" then a Vostok should give good service IME.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

> Dare I say the SMP is poor quality?
> 
> Compared to a Breguet


You can say that but it wouldn't be true!


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

ive been wearing a vostok radio operator that i bought from a fellow forum member today,gotta admit although the quality is not fantastic its a pleasinginly simple watch that so far has kept very good time,oh by the way i had to do the same with the winding,thought it was mechanical too,tricky to wind at first but i like quirky


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## johnbaz (Jan 30, 2005)

i got one that was manual wind only, didn't realise they made 'em so, anyhow after shaking it for while it too was stopping after a few seconds, i thought it was knackered so, upon removing the back i realised-no rotor-no auto, it went smashing after i hand wound it
















regards, john.

btw, is it still going ok paul??


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

johnbaz said:


> i got one that was manual wind only, didn't realise they made 'em so, anyhow after shaking it for while it too was stopping after a few seconds, i thought it was knackered so, upon removing the back i realised-no rotor-no auto, it went smashing after i hand wound it
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I bought an auto Vostok from a respected forum member (name withheld to protect their embarresment







) who commented on it that he`d never come across a manual watch that never got fully wound up


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

If you buy a Boctok from Roy I think you will find it will work as it should, if not, Roy will get it sorted out. 

There is nothing wrong with the design principle of these watches, there is a question as to where it may be sensible to buy them from. Some seller's are less than reputable.









Some may be selling "seconds" rather than best quality samples.

Unlike Griff I have found the quality of Russian watches to be quite good.

They can be regulated to perform as well as a Seiko, ime.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Stan said:


> Unlike Griff I have found the quality of Russian watches to be quite good.


What's wrong with the quality of our Griff?????


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## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

pg tips said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > Unlike Griff I have found the quality of Russian watches to be quite good.
> ...


Nothing wrong with Griff's quality







. You know how crochety some of the old classics can be though















.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I think it`s worth remembering here that, in comparison with almost any other watch that costs the same new, the Vostoks (especially those bought from Roy) come out as very good value for money with a much better chance of surviving everyday knocks and giving good service for years, if not decades


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## makky (Jul 14, 2004)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> I think it`s worth remembering here that, in comparison with almost any other watch that costs the same new, the Vostoks (especially those bought from Roy) come out as very good value for money with a much better chance of surviving everyday knocks and giving good service for years, if not decades


I'll second that!

Never had any problems with the 5 Vostoks or 3 Poljots of mine.

Sure, the cheap Vostok movements do look rather basic and unfinished.

For 30 quid or so you get a good, sound, robust watch with oodles of character.


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## ETCHY (Aug 3, 2004)

I've bought a few Vostok's all from Roy & they've all been great (especially at the price).

I agree with Stan, I think who & where you get them from makes a big difference. I know people who've bought them elsewhere & got real 'duds'.

Dave


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

> i got one that was manual wind only, didn't realise they made 'em so, anyhow after shaking it for while it too was stopping after a few seconds, i thought it was knackered so, upon removing the back i realised-no rotor-no auto, it went smashing after i hand wound it
> 
> regards, john.
> 
> btw, is it still going ok paul??


Hi John,

yep it's a cracking watch - I was wearing it all weekend and it kept good time. The watch I'm on about is an original Communist era Vostok, complete with a red star at 12 & CCCP on the dial - it's a manual wind only and features a chunky screw down crown at 2 with which to wind it. Amazingly my dad likes it (he doesn't normally show any interest in the watches I wear) and was interested in buying it (it's not for sale yet)!!

Here's a link to Johns original post: http://www.rltwatches.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=12756

Cool watch & it's nice having a Russian watch in the collection again









If you're after a decent (but not expensive) watch to shower/wear on the beach then I think you could do a lot worse than a Vostok Amphibia - last time I looked Roy had some on his site


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