Vostok Amphibia Classic 100485 Mod

I didn’t have a Vostok Amphibia Classic 100 in my collection, so I thought it was about time I picked one up. I guess one of the main reasons I hadn’t got one yet is because I never really liked the look of the bezel. Of course, everyone knows how easy it is to swap a bezel on an Amphibia and I something drew me to the looks of of the dial on the 100485 model. Actually the bezel is not that bad. I quite like the sloping shape and the 4 scalloped indents but I really didn’t like the square, stretched font used for the bezel numerals. These match some of the other Amphibia 100 dials, but not this one I don’t think. So I picked up some bits and pieces to change the bezel, bezel insert and strap – nothing too taxing.

Vostok Amphibia 100485 Before

The 100 case has a slightly octagonal shape to it and is 41 mm in width excluding the crown, 48 mms lug to lug and has a generous 22 mm lug width. There are some classic Vostok dials in the 100 range, including some scuba dude dials and some of the dials have a definite “racer” edge to them (the 100474, 100475 and the rally-esque 100652, a dial I have pondered over many times). The Vostok Amphibia 100485 has a  white dial with black markings but it is not to much of a “racer” style however I kind of thought it deserved a rally-type strap. The watch has Vostok’s 31 jewel automatic 2416 movement.

Here are the parts I assembled:

Vostok Amphibia 100485 from Meranom.

Replacement Vostok Amphibia bronze bezel from Ebay user Summerspring100 (who no  longer seems to sell them).

Green ceramic bezel insert – from Ebay, I can’t remember who. It didn’t really it over the crystal properly and I managed to break it by putting a crack in it.

Red bezel insert – Five.Dots.One custom insert for Seiko SKX from dr.seikostain a.k.a one.second.closer

Leather Rally Type Watch Strap from Etsy user VVdesignerShop. A very nice strap, nicely hand-finished and presented in the bag you can see in the picture above. The only small downside is that is seems to pick up dirt really easily. Perhaps I might give treat it with a bit of wax.

Vostok Amphibia 100485 After

There you have it a rally-inspired Vostok Amphibia mod. What do you think? I really like it, in fact I haven’t worn any other watch since I completed this a couple of weeks ago.