Vostok Komandirskie 030935 24 Hour Watch

The Vostok Komandirskie 030935 24 Hour Watch was released in the winter of 2020. It is one of three Vostok 24 hour watches that were released at the same time. This model reviewed here, the 030936 has a blue dial and black / blue bezel. The other models are the 030934 with a white dial and black bezel and the 030936 with a black dial and black bezel.

24 hour watches were originally used pilots, submariners, military and navy, astronauts, scientists and workers in polar regions. One can imagine that a 24 hour watch is a very useful tool for military personnel who work with the 24 hour clock. They are also useful for anyone working in an environment where it is not apparent if it is night or day: on a submarine or in regions where the polar night or day can last 24 hours round for example. Sometimes these 24 hour watches are also known as “Arctic” or “Polar” watches for this reason. 24 hour watches remain relatively uncommon. They are some 12 hour watches with extra complications such as a day / night indicator like the Vostok Komandirskie 350753. Other 12 hour watches sometimes have a 24 hour sub-dial so the wearer can see what part of the day it is, like the Vostok Komandirskie 030788. These are not really considered “true” 24 hour watches.

So what is a 24 hour watch? Essentially a 24 hour watch is one which works on a 24 hour scale rather than a 12 hour scale. In the case of the Vostok Komandirskie 030935 this means that the hour hand takes a full 24 hours to make one full rotation of the dial rather than usual 12 hours. The minute and seconds hands operate as normal. This watch features Vostok’s 32 jewel, 24 hour movement, the 2431.01, a self-winding automatic movement. As well as Vostok watches, I have also seen the 2431.01 used in other watches including Volmax Sturmanskie Traveler 24 hour watches. One of the other major Russian watch brands, Raketa, also have a long history of producing 24 hour watches with their 2623.H, or modified 2609.HA, movement. Read more here. Newer 24 hour Raketa watches, like the Raketa Baikonur, feature Raketa’s 2624 movement. The Baikonur is an attractive looking watch, but when you compare the price to this watch, well, the Raketa is out of my price range!

The Vostok Komandirskie 030935 24 Hour Watch features the same case and hand design as the Komandirskie 030787 and the same case as Meranom’s Amphibia SE 02s, so I am not going to describe it again. I am, however, going to talk about the dial, bezel and strap. The dial is a lovely iridescent dark, cobalt blue colour which has an attractive sunburst effect in the light. Word son the dial feature from top to bottom the командирские (Komandirskie in Cyrilic), the Vostok “B” logo, 32 jewels, 200m and сделано в России (made in Russia).

The dial has 24 hour divisions and markings. There are Arabic numerals denoting the even hours from 0 through to 24 and simple white line markers for the odd hour markers. 24 is at the top of the dial and 12 is at the bottom of the dial (where 6 o’clock would be on a 12 hour watch). Thus midnight is at the top of the dial and noon at the bottom. Around the outside of the numeral hour markers is the minutes scale which sits inside a plain steel chapter ring. The minute markers are simple white markers with numerals at 5 minute intervals, 5, 10 15 etc. Each minute division is divided into a further four with smaller white markers. The dial is pretty clear to read but training one’s brain to think “in 24 hours” can be a little tricky.

The bezel for the Vostok Komandirskie 030935 is a compass bezel. The bezel is made from stainless steel and is bidirectional with a coin edge. The dark blue (which matches the blue of the dial) and black bezel insert looks like it is aluminum and the cardinal points of the compass are indicated by their Cyrilic characters. Therefore the bezel has north, east, south and west marked by “C”, “B”, “Ю”and “3” in a golden colour with a red triangle marker beneath the C at north. These are short for Северной, Востоке, Южной and Запад respectively.

The bezel insert is divided to show degrees. There are numerals at 20 degree intervals, 20, 40, 60 etc., interspersed with plain markers. In most lights the bezel looks either black or dark blue, but it is actually two colours. There are two sections which are blue from 315 to 45 degrees and 135 to 225 degrees. The rest of the bezel is black. I have been racking my brain trying to think what this might represent and can’t work it out. Any suggestions? Some 24 hour bezels (and GMT bezels) are two colours, half and half which represent the two halves of the day, but not in this case. Any watch can effectively be used as a compass and the compass style bezel makes this easier to do. This quick video explains it as succinctly as possible.

The hour and minute hands are simple “pencil” hands. I sometimes see them called “index” or “baton” hands too (there is a good list of watch hand types at Watchranker.com). They are stainless steel with a generous amount of lume in the centre of the hands. The seconds hand is a red needle with a small rectangle of lume towards the tip. As well as the hands the even hour numerals are lumed too. Lume shot below.

The bracelet on the Komandirskie 030935 seems pretty good. Out of the box it was too big for my 7.5 inch wrist, so I’ll have to take a couple of links out. They are fairly large links, three across. The outside links are polished, the centre is brushed, it feels pretty solid and has a butterfly type clasp.

This is my first 24 hour watch. I really like the deep blue colour of the dial and bezel. The sunburst dial really looks great in the light (hard to catch in a photograph though) and the whole watch feels well put together. The strap feels heavy and solid too. It does take some time training ones mind to remember it is reading a 24 hour dial, but with a practice it gets easier, although I still have the odd moment when I really have to think what I am doing!

Purchased from Komandirskie.com January 2020 at approximately £60 / $74.

24 Hour Watches – Further Reading :

Watchuseek 24 Hour Watch Sub-forum
Russian24hours.info
24HourTime.info
24 Hour Watches at Wikipedia