Vostok Amphibia SE 650521S

This is one of my most recent acquisitions, one of the Vostok Amphibia Special Editions from Meranom. However, it is not my most recent, that would be the Vostok Retro 540HDR, a bit of a departure from my normal Amphibias, but I loved the look of it. I will write that up in due course.

Vostok Amphibia SE 650521S

As anyone who reads my blog has, by now, probably realised, I am a sucker for the Amphibia Special Editions and I usually pick up one watch from each edition. I am going to include a few photographs but less of a description this time. This is mainly because the Amphibian SE 650521S shares the dial and hand set up from the Amphibia SE 150 and the body from the Amphibia SE 670. So if you want to read more about the 24 hour GMT set up, dial and hands have a look here and if you want to read my thoughts about the body shape have a look at this post for more detailed descriptions. Here is a photograph of all three of these watches so you can see what I mean.

Left to right SE 670370S, SE 150520 and SE 650521S:

The Amphibia SE 650 is a GMT style watch with the Vostok 2426.12 self winding 32 jewel movement. The dial has a seconds sub-dial in the top left quadrant of the dial and a 24 hour hand separate from the hour and minute hands which rotates at half the speed of the hours hand. If you are not sure what a GMT watch is, I discussed it in an earlier blog post about the Komandirskie K 34, the Amphibia SE 150 and there is a nice description at A Blog To Watch.

The SE 650 features a stainless steel 24 hour bezel with blue numbering. The watch also features a stainless steel Vostok signed crown and buckle which seems to be pretty standard for the Special Edition Amphibias these days. The caseback is the Cosmonaut style.

The Vostok Amphibia SE 650 was available in three variants:

Amphibia SE 650519B – grey dial, black sub dial, black details to hand and bezel on a mesh strap.

Amphibia SE 650520LW – black dial, white sub dial, black details to hand and bezel on black leather strap.

Amphibia SE 650521S (the one I bought) – blue dial, white sub dial, silver edges to the hand, blue details on the bezel, presented on a blue silicone strap.

As you can see from the pictures the Amphibia SE 650521S, has a nice, dark sapphire blue coloured dial, which looks pretty smart, and the colour of the dial is echoed in the colour of the numbers on the 24 hour bezel. The watch has a good feel and seems to be a good size for my seven and a half inch wrist. I quite like Vostok’s silicone rally style straps. I find them quite comfortable and they are one of the few Vostok straps I don’t feel inclined to change straight away. However, having said that, I am already thinking about what this watch would look like with a bezel replacement, GMT / 24 hour style bezel insert and a nice dark brown leather strap. What do you think? Any suggestions?

I bought this for around $139 (early 2017, I think) and it is certainly a lot of watch for the money.