Vostok Komandirskie 67x
This Vostok Komandirskie Ukraine is a watch that sparked some debate on Facebook, some political which I am not interested in, but mostly about identifying the model. Whilst I was preparing to write this blog post and I was researching the watch, I couldn’t find any watches anywhere with the same dial. I did the usual internet searches and looked in all the usual place and still nothing. Then I looked at the watch a bit more closely and I noticed that the lugs and the case shape was a little different from most other “standard” Komandirskies. With some help from, and a bit of discussion, at the Watchuseek Russian Forums and the Soviet Watches and Russian Wrist Watch Lover Facebook pages it was finally identified as a Vostok Komandirskie with the fairly unusual 67x case type. A kind soul pointed me to the Vostok Komandirskie Case Type Classification Project which is a very comprehensive listing of all Vostok Komandirskie models and cases. You can download a PDF of it here. It was here that I found the conclusive evidence that this is the 67x case. So, thank you to all that answered and commented on my various posts, although I am still not sure about the dial! I am still not 100% convinced that this is original.
What are the characteristics of the Vostok Komandirskie 67x case?
If you take a brief look at the watch it looks like like most Vostok Komandirskie models however, if you take a closer look, one can see the watch case is itself asymetric and has convex flutes leading up to the crown which gives the watch an almost ovate shape. This fluting (I am not sure what it is should really be called) is normally convex in most other Komandirksie models. The watch is a fairly normal size and measures approximately 43mm in diameter with crown. I hope you can see the fluting (alongside the crown) in the front and back photos of the watch below.
Secondly the lugs on the Vostok Komandirskie 67x case have an unusual shape and are reminiscent of the angular lugs one can find on some 1MWF Kirovskie models. Again, this is not somethign I have seen on other models.
I call this the Vostok Komandirskie Ukraine for obvious reasons. The whole watch has a nice patina with an aged feel and it is certainly well worn. The dial is an off-white colour with a kind of greyish / brown sunburst effect around the outside. Above the 6 o’clock marker is the typical “B” type Vostok logo with the cyrillic for Ukraine, Украина, above that. At 12 o’clock is the state coat of arms of Ukraine, the Tryzub or trident. The hour and minute hands are black with a bit of white lume running down the middle and can be found on many other Vostok watches, like my Vostok Amphibia Sailboat. There is a red needle seconds hand and a date window at 3 o’clock. The outer part of the face has a simple 60 second scale. I would say this has been re-lumed recently, the lume dots seem quite good for a Vostok. The case back is the “Big Seagull Sunset” version, at least that it what I have seen it been called. It is fitted with Vostok 2414A caliber, hand-winding mechanical movement and I guess this probably dates fom the late 1980s. I am currently wearing this on a plainish brown padded Meyhofer leather strap that I picked up as part of a lucky dip from Watchbandcenter.com.
I don’t own many Vostok Komandirskie watches but this ranks up there with my favourites. It is certinaly interesting and I haven’t seen any other model with the the 67x case type apart from the photograph of one in the Vostok Komandirskie Case Type Classification Project. You can see this here. So, I am still not really sure what I have here. Is it a rare Vostok Komandirksie model? Is the dial correct? I am not sure. Any feedback would be graciously received and it would be great if anyone has any more photographs of this case type, perhap you could post them in the comments.
