Anyone have an opinion about those cheaper Russian Military Watches?

Bimmer1

Bimmer1

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Please list your thoughts here if you own or have owned one of the cheaper Russian made military type watches.
I am wondering if they are decent everyday wear watches. Do they keep accurate time, are they fairly durable, are they made well, etc?
Any comments concerning this type of watch is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I have this one:Poljot Swiss LAnco/Fortis Copy

I have hade it for 3 months. Its my everday wear. It runs a little fast, but I am not a nut about watches. I just love this style and wasn't willing to fork out the cash for the Jumbo WW2 Lanco version or the Fortis version.

Paul
 
Just last week I purchased a Vostok Automatic from somebody here at bfc, and so far I am impressed with it.

It seems to keep good time for a mechanical watch. I set it once when I got it and it is still within a minute of the computer clock I set it with.

The watch itself is very sturdy and well-made. Everything fits together well and moves smoothly. You can hear a faint and extremely fast ticking if you listen carefully, and you can hear the winding pendulum spinning if you move it. The lens sticks far up above the bezel, so scratching might be a concern in the future. The case seems to be actual steel, rather than the ambiguous "base metal" or plastic competing watches have.

I did not like the band that came with it. The leather was very stiff and rigid, and the buckle is made of the thinnest metal I have seen on a watch, ever. I replaced the band with a better made one, and now I have nothing but confidence in this watch's durability. Hopefully time will prove me right.

Plus, there is a cool dolphin engraving on the back of the case.

Since I have only had it for a short time I can't comment on the long term durability.

If anybody know a good site to buy these from, please let me know. I think they would make great gifts.
 
I see a lot of those Vostok watches on eBay, but the dodgy designs on the front of most of them put me off. Would give you a link to an auction (there's one seller that does half a dozen or so diff. designs) but forum rules prevent it :rolleyes: so just do a search.
 
Russian watches for better known for their novelty than their quality.
I have one (still have) that ran for about a year, then one day it just keeled over and died.

If you are not particular about long term usage, it may serve its purpose but if you want a watch that can last at least 3 years, buy something else.

You would be better off with a simple G-Shock from Casio.
 
Golok, what a load of rubbish. I have two 70's Sekondas that are still running perfectly. Other people with old russian watches don't have a problem with them either. I think you must've got a bad one. QC problems happen everywhere after all.
 
I have a Vostok auto diver on the way. They do not cost very much, but if they aren't any good then I have just thrown away $40. That's why I wanted to have some opinions.
I have several excellent watches including the Luminox Field Commander tank watch, Omega Seamaster Automatic Chronometer 2531.80, Raymond Weil Tosca Tank Chronograph, and MOMO Design Essenziale. I just wanted the Russian military diver to wear to work on a daily basis.
 
Never owned one....probably never will own one....see signature line below! :-)

Larry S.
 
The thing I like about the Russian watches, and the Poljot's in particular, are their inhouse manufactured movements. The more recent Poljots are showing some very good accuracy, and you can get one in all titanium for less than $250. Their titanium work is excellent and I'd say value wise, the Poljot's are hard to beat.

Poljot International is a non-affiliated German offshoot and does not offer as good a value as their watches run between $500 and $1200.
 
I've always been a fan of the "Beware of expensive imitations" attitude myself.

A watch is not a bet-your-life item like a knife is. If it craps out you get a new one. I see a Vostok as a more substantial alternative to the asian Timex and Casio quartz products which dominate the affordabe watch market. It sure has a lot more character than a G-shock.

I think that if these same watches were sold for $300 rather than $40 they would have a lot more fans.
 
Do your signature line go for people that buy something just because it expensive? :-)

While I'll agree higher cost usually means improved quality, I cannot see that much improvement for the added expense.


Paul

Edited because I'm a moron.
 
check out the Seiko Diver... better luminosity than any Russian watch, better Quality, better reliability... all for about 150 new from a discounter...

Almost everyone at Broadarrow.net (military watch collector site) has one, or had one at one point.
 
I'm not big fan of copy products from Russia, but Poljot Sturmanskies are always fun to own and wear. They also serve well as a good starter of watch talk. "Hey, what's your classical style chronograph? I've never seen such kind..."

Better qualitied, more popular mechanical watches do not attract them so much as Russian watch. Your Omega (Rolex, etc. put any brand you like) means either you're watch enthusiast, or you could just afford it.
 
I just got the Vostok Russian diver's watch. It appears to be very sturdy. The black leather band is thick. The watch is stamped 200m. I will have to wear it for a while to see how well it keeps time. One drawback that I see is the time/date set feature. The damn crown unscrews backwards then pull out. There doesn't appear to be a quick set so I'm going through the entire month to get it where I need it.
 
Originally posted by MelancholyMutt
check out the Seiko Diver... better luminosity than any Russian watch, better Quality, better reliability... all for about 150 new from a discounter...

Almost everyone at Broadarrow.net (military watch collector site) has one, or had one at one point.
Click to expand...

Better luminosity? Hell, those Russian watches are luminized in Chernobyl!
 
Hell! I will probably have bone cancer in my left arm before the day is over.:p
 
Bimmer1 laments:
There doesn't appear to be a quick set so I'm going through the entire month to get it where I need it.
Click to expand...

Bimmer1-

Try this...when you get the date to advance (when the minute hand passes into 12:00am), immediately reverse the minute hand back past 12:00am into like 11:55pm, and then forward it again--this should theoretically advance the date without going "around the clock" 24 hrs!

My old Poljot worked like that, your Russian watch should too.

Hope that helps.
 
If you're looking for a cheap auto, there are some good cultish options.

For the $100-$200 range, the Seiko Auto Diver 200m is a good bet. Sturdy as hell, very time-tested 7S26 movement.

For the $300-$800 range, try Limes (pronounced lee MESS). www.limeswatches-us.com. They're a new company by Ickler, who is an incredibly old and well-respected casemaker in Germany. They OEM for Chronoswiss and several other high and ultra-high end timepiece companies IIRC. They use ETA movements, mostly 2824-2's and 2892A2's. German.

For the $400-600 range, the Oris line is pretty good. ETA movements, mostly 2824-2's. Sturdy and reliable. Swiss.

None of these are COSC certified, but generally will keep time in the -10 to +25 s/d range. If they don't, your local friendly watchmaker can easily tune them up. Sure, they aren't calibrated to 5 positions, but still will keep good time.

I don't know about Russian watches, but I dabbled with Russian cameras/optics for a while. Honestly, very much NOT worth the price, even at 1/4 the cost of the original. The optics were TERRIBLE, and the mechanics frighteningly unreliable. They're fun for the novelty of it, and the fact that you can get cool pictures that are fuzzy and have lots of distortion and chromatic abberation.

I'm not saying everything Russian (or Chinese or Korean) is low-quality, I'm just saying it's more of a crapshoot, and -in general- the -mean quality across sample- is probably not that high.

-Jon

Edit>> Oh... if I remember correctly, IN GENERAL, with mechanical watches, you should NOT be adjusting 1) the date 2) the day or 3) the time backwards in the time range from 9pm to 3am.

Usually the manuals say this is not a good thing and will cause "damage". As far as I know, all it does is throw off the synchronization so your date rollover won't happen at 12 midnight proper. But who knows? Maybe the Russians build them more sturdy than the Swiss.

Small anecdote: To hack a 7S26 movement (Seiko Autos) you can put a little backpressure on the crown. That effectively stops the seconds had from moving. The Swiss generally consider this "abuse" and "may damage your movement". The Japanese 7S26 laughs it off and tells you to bring it on.
 
Originally posted by biogon
I don't know about Russian watches, but I dabbled with Russian cameras/optics for a while. Honestly, very much NOT worth the price, even at 1/4 the cost of the original. The optics were TERRIBLE, and the mechanics frighteningly unreliable. They're fun for the novelty of it, and the fact that you can get cool pictures that are fuzzy and have lots of distortion and chromatic abberation.
Click to expand...

Aw c'mon man! I'll put any Zenit up against a Nikon F6 any time! :p
 
I had a "Slava" for about 3 years & it took a lot of abuse. Got it in Germany in '92 for DM20.00 (then approx. USD$13.00) boxed w/paperwork, etc... I was working in bars/restaurants at the time & I beat the hell out of it- submerged in water, etc. I wore out 3 or 4 bands on it before it finally croaked. It may just be the battery- I haven't had it looked at. As far as the Comblock cameras, etc. go- a lot of the optics were made in E. Germany- good stuff. You could pick up cameras, microscopes, binoculars, etc. on the flea markets in Berlin for a song back then. I gave my father a pair of combloc field glasses that he takes to football games & my mother uses them to watch birds. Decent quality. Just like anything else, the production could be inconsistent. I've used a Zenit that took great pictures.
 
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