Vostok Compressor 800b27

The Vostok Compressor 800b27 was released in the Spring of 2018. It features two crowns with a rotating inner bezel.

What is a Compressor Watch?

Most people assume a compressor watch is exactly what this Vostok Compressor 800b27 is: a dual crowned watch with a rotating inner bezel. Well, actually it would seem that there is no clear definition. In its simplest form a compressor watch is a watch that compresses under increased water pressure thus becoming more watertight, so I suppose that one can argue that all Vostok Amphibia cases are a type of compressor case.

What is without doubt is that Ervin Piquerez, a Swiss watch case maker (Ervin Piquerez SA or EPSA) patented designs for three main different types compressor cases in the late 1950s. He would subsequently sell the case to many other manufacturers. There is a long list of watchmakers that used the compressor case including Droz, Enicar, Hamilton, Longines, Tissot and Zenith to name but few. It was a very common design for diver’s watches in the 1960s and 1970s. Eventually the compressor type case declined in popularity and was replaced with the more common screw down case back style.

As I understand it there were three types of cases developed by EPSA, the Compressor, the Compressor 2 and the Super Compressor. The Compressor and Compressor 2 cases are the simplest form, a simple snap on case back which would sit over a rubber gasket. As a diver descends the water pressure increases thereby pushing down on the case and increasing the waterproof seal. The Compressor case type was for round watches and the Compressor 2 case for cushion or tonneau type cases. The Super Compressor case has a screw on case back which screws down against a spring assembly which helps to keep the seal tight even when not under pressure. The patented Super Compressor watch case can normally be identified by a trademarked divers helmet logo on the inside of the case back. Many producers would also feature this logo on the outside of their Super Compressor case backs too. Additionally the crowns of Super Compressor watches would often have a cross-hatching pattern on them. Strictly speaking a Compressor watch can only be called a Compressor if it has one of the EPSA designed cases. For more reading you can find Piquerez’s patents here.

So, that appears to be the basics. A Super compressor is not a larger compressor. There are designs with and without an internal rotating bezel, some do not have screw down crowns and there are even Compressor watches with one, two or three crowns (the third for an alarm). There are many, many designs. There is an excellent post here which goes into more detail about compressor watches and has some excellent pictures of various 1960s divers watches.

Vostok Compressor 2018 Releases

The 2018 Vostok Compressor watches were released as a project watch for one of the Russian watch forums in conjunction with Meranom. I missed out on the original sign up this but Meranom made some of the unsold watches available at his website earlier this year. There were two versions the 800b27, the watch in this review, and the 800b28 – they differ only with slightly different dial designs, additionally the 800b28 has a date window at 3 o’clock.

The original Vostok Compressor is one of the most sought after Vostok watches. It is pretty rare. They were made in the 1980/90s and I believe it was really only released as a prototype, or at least only in very small quantities, and was fitted with the Vostok 2416b, 21 jewel, automatic movement. As Mark Gordon at ussrtime.com puts it, this original release was “considered by many to be the most elegant & beautiful dive watch produced by this factory.” The two new watches are very sympathetic updates to this original watch. In fact the 800b28 has an almost identical dial to the original release from the 1980/90s. There are some good photographs of this original release at Koutouzoff’s Soviet Watches.

Vostok Compressor 800b27

The stainless steel case of the Vostok Compressor 800b27 is quite large. It measures approximately 43 mms across excluding crowns, 48 mms lug to lug and is 14 mms deep. The lug width is 20 mms. The case is quite close in design and size to the Komandirskie K-34. There is a nicely polished, clean bezel whilst the sides and back of the case are polished. There are two crowns, one at the 2 hour and one at the 4 hour marker. The former rotates the inner bezel whilst the latter is for setting the time. These have knurled sides but are unsigned. The dial is sapphire crystal. The case back features the scuba dude in the centre with the watch number beneath. Mine is number 038/150. There are various bits of Cyrillic around the dial. These read water resistant, shock proof, antimagnetic, automatic and waterproof 200m, I believe.

The dial is a nice matt, dark grey / black colour. It doesn’t look completely black to me. There inner rotating bezel is quite wide at about 3 to 4 mms which allows for easy reading. The inner bezel has white minute gradations with white numerals at 10 second intervals. From 40 through to 60 these markings are orange and at the top is a inverted triangle of lume with an orange outline. The dial proper features 12 really good Superluminova lume dots at the hour makers with lumed numbers at 3, 6, 9 and 12. Other markings on the dial are the “Boctok” under the 12, 31 jewels above the 6 and “Made in Russia”, сделано в России, at the bottom. The lume is good. The 800b27 is fitted with Vostok’s 2415 Automatic Movement.

The hands are the same shape as the typical Amphibia hand set: silver hour and minute hands and an orange lollipop seconds hand. However the hands are much larger (wider and longer) with much more lume than a standard set. The strap is a pretty stiff, black sailcloth style strap with white stitching and leather backing with a brushed steel clasp with the Vostok “B” logo.

Initially I was a little disappointed to miss out on the 800b28 which I think has a cooler, retro styling very similar to the original release from the 1980s. However, the 800b27 is perhaps a little less cluttered on the dial and clearer to read. It has grown on me. The watch does sit quite large on the wrist (my wrist is 7 ½ inches) but not overly so, certainly not by the standards of some modern watches. The only grumble I have is the strap. It is a little uncomfortable and is definitely in need of an upgrade. I have seen some very nice strap combos including some nice brown leathers, black leather rally straps, French Marine Nationale Nato and some on some pretty bright orange rubber diver’s straps. Which to go for? Maybe I’ll have to try it on all of them!

Price at time of purchase $263, Spring 2018.