Amfibia Vostok Amphibia Red Sea 2416/040690

In Autumn 2017 some new Vostok Amfibia watches began to appear for sale on various websites. There are five new models of Vostok Amfibia – the Black Sea, Red Sea, Reef and Scuba. I think there are new Turbina models too but I am not 100% sure. As one might have guessed from the rather nautical / maritime names, these are all diver type watches. I have seen various Amfibia watch models from when they were last produced but have never managed to get my hands on any. So the big question this time was: which watch would I treat myself to? I am pretty bad at making such tough decisions, so I ended up with two! This watch, the Amphibia Red Sea and a the Amphibia Reef 2415.01/080495.

The Vostok Amfibia line of watches was first released in 2007 as a more luxury option to the wide range of Vostok Amphibia watches. I assume they were produced more for the export market rather than for the domestic market. The Vostok Amfibia range all feature higher quality, chunkier watch cases, straps and fittings and, as I understand it, the production of all of the components was outsourced to a watch factory in China. The watches were then assembled at the Vostok factory using Vostok movements. I don’t know if this is true of the new releases.

There are three new Red Sea models. The one I have is model 040690 with a sunburst dark blue dial and Vostok’s 2416 movement. There is also the 040688 model, which has a black dial, and the 040692 model with a white dial and black seconds sub-dial at the 10 o’clock mark. The latter model has Vostok’s 2415.02 movement.

The first things I have to say is that it is big and heavy watch. The case is 44 mm across without the crown (about 48 mm with the crown), it is 54 mm lug to lug and has a depth of approximately 14 mm. The lug width is 22 mm. It has to be the heaviest watch I own, it weighs in at around 227 g. The case itself is probably best described as a cushion type case. The top and the bottom surfaces are brushed with contrasting polished sides. There is a screw down crown at 3 o’clock which is about 4 mm deep and 7 mm across. The end is polished and features the wavy Amfibia logo. The crown is protected by a couple of quite prominent crown guards each of which have a slightly protruding slot type screw in the centre. The crown guards are part of the case, so it would seem that the screws serve no other function other then for decoration (and, for me, making the crown difficult to get at!). These decorative screws are about 3 mm across and they match the screws that attach the strap to the case. The biggest change in design from those first Red Sea models released in 2007 is the location of the crown – in those original older models the was located at 4 o’clock. The 2007 models also had crown guards which completely enclosed the crown with a locking mechanism. There are some pictures and a review of the 2007 Red Sea in this forum thread at www.hablemosderelojes.com.

The strap fits perfectly to the body and the lugs with a very snug fit with no discernible gaps. The strap is very solid and the links are brushed with a polished mid section. The strap is also huge. I have a 7 ½ inch wrist and with the strap un-sized I can get three fingers between my wrist and the strap. I am going to have to take a good few links out for it to fit – there are 10 links that can be removed by taking out small slot head screws (there are 4 of these on one side of the clasp and 6 on the other). The clasp has a locking clip and two buttons either side to release the clasp. The locking clip and the sides of the clasp are polished, the rest of the clasp is brushed and features the Amfibia logo. There are three adjustment holes on the clasp. The strap is good quality, a big jump up from Vostok’s usual offerings.

The bezel is nicely brushed and has black markings with 15, 30 and 45 markers, a black line at five minute intervals and black dots marking each minute. There is an inverted white triangle of lume marking the top of the bezel. The bezel is unidirectional with 60 clicks and is all well-aligned. The edge of the bezel has small teeth for grip and is polished, a nice contrast to the top of the bezel. The bezel is slightly sloping and forms a nice, curved surface with the slightly domed mineral glass crystal. The back of the watch features is brushed with a screw down case back which appears to be 39 mm in diameter. The case back features a heavily blasted matt finish and features the Amfibia logo and Amfibia Russian Watches in the centre. Around the edge of the caseback are the words Stainless Steel, Water Resistant to 200m and Vostok Watchmakers Inc. All of the logo and wording on the case back is slightly raised and polished.

The dial is a very pretty blue colour with a nice iridescent, sunburst finish and to my eye I seem to detect a faint purple hint. The centre of the dial is plain whilst the outer part of the dial, starting around the inside of the hour indices, features a pattern of concentric circles which lead up to the stainless steel chapter ring. The dial has slightly raised lume indices. All of the indices, the hands and triangle bezel marker are lumed with Superluminova and the lume is good. There is the Amfibia logo at 12 o’clock, numerals 3, 6 and 9 and small blocks for the other hour markers. Below the logo are the words Amfibia Automatic in white and above the 6 o’clock marker are the words Red Sea 200 m in orange to match the orange second had. There small white marks for the minute markers, a date window (white numerals on black background) between the 4 and the 5 o’clock markers and Made In Russia at the very bottom of the dial.

Lastly the hands. Both the minute and hour hands are the “dagger” type hands that one sees on quite of diver’s watches. They are silver with a good amount of lume in the middle. The seconds hand is orange (matching the writing on the dial) with a good lume dot towards the tip. The hands are a nice length too meaning that the minutes and seconds are quite easy to ready against the outside of the dial. I see that Ebay Store One.Second.Closer is selling some aftermarket hands that are a similar dagger shape to these – perhaps it would be nice to see Vostok / Meranom selling some of these hand sets for all the modders out there. If you are interested in modding, One.Second.Closer also make some great bezels and bezel inserts.

The watch comes in a nicely appointed card box, black with an orange lid with Amfibia Russian Watches and the Amfibia logo foiled on to it. Inside the box watch is presented on a black cushion and there is a colour co-ordinated warranty card in a separate compartment. Apparently my watch’s “birthday” was the 12^th October 2017, so it shares a birthday with both Aleister Crowley and Hugh Jackman!

I haven’t seen one of the 2007 versions of the Red Sea in the flesh (I would love to get my hands on the black dialled version though). Comparing the 2007 and 2017 models I think I prefer the location of the crown at 3 o’clock on the new model and I certainly think the bezel on the newer models looks cleaner, less cluttered and more streamline. However, looking at some pictures of the older model, I really like the the older baton hands set. I think perhaps the new watch with the old hand set might be a more attractive watch. Other than that this is a faithful update of the older Red Sea model and I like it a lot. I think the weight might take some getting used to but I’ll get there. By the way, if anyone has swapped out the strap for something different I would love to see some pictures. I am thinking this watch could look pretty cool on a quality rubber dive.

The price in on release in Autumn 2017 was $236, which I think is a very fair price. Let’s hope they aren’t going to wait until 2027 to release another batch.