vostok 2409 Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough

[VWatchie 104]

Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough Disassembly Pictures (Please sort by name in ascending order)
Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough Assembly Pictures (Please sort by name in ascending order)

Being able to service the ETA calibre 2824-2 was a long-term goal and a dream when I started servicing and repairing watches some years ago. However, my first “calibre love” was the Vostok 2409; a reliable Soviet/Russian 17 jewels manual workhorse without any complications which has been around since 1970. It is still in production and found in Vostok’s Komandirskie series of watches, by some called the AK-47s of the watch world, together with its bigger brother the Vostok Amphibian dive watch.

Modern-day Vostok Amphibians use the automatic Vostok 2415 (w/o date complication) and 2416 (with date complication) calibres, but the Amphibian that I’m servicing in this walkthrough, an Albatross Radio Room, popular among collectors, is from the 1980s and in those days the manual 2409, as well as its predecessor 2209, was commonly used in the Amphibians as well as the Komandirskies.

While I was servicing this watch, I noticed that the crystal didn’t fit perfectly in the watch case. Being a serious dive watch originally designed for the Soviet navy this was, of course, unacceptable, so I replaced the crystal and video recorded the event in my “Bergeon No 5500 Crystal Press Review”.

For me, the 2409 was a great movement to get started with as it probably is the most affordable movement on the planet, and spare parts are readily available and cost next to nothing. A lost or damaged part never spells financial disaster. Also, eBay offers an abundance of used Vostok watches in decent condition housing this movement for as little as $20 and sometimes less. A brand new Vostok 2409 (www.meranom.com) can be had for as little as $27. Be aware that, almost without exception, the eBay listings always state that these Vostok watches have been serviced, but in my experience they never are. Well, maybe dipped in a can of naphtha, left to dry and then injected with a bit of oil here and there. I’ve seen horrible examples!

A somewhat tricky bit about the 2409 is to remove and replace the anti-shock springs. For this, I use a self-made tool made from peg wood. It’s shown in one of the assembly pictures together with a description of how I made it. A very similar tool is demonstrated in this video.

Later, as I was working myself through Mark Lovick’s watchrepairlessons.com courses, I trained with the Unitas 6498 pocket watch movement which is the selected movement for the courses. In all honesty, from a learning point, the Unitas 6498 would have been an easier movement to get started with (especially the anti-shock springs), but the tinkering with the Vostok 2409 was a low-cost and fun way to get started and made me better prepared for the courses which answered a bunch of questions and was amazingly instructive.

Eventually, I plan to publish a “Vostok 2414 Service Walkthrough”. The 2414 is identical to the 2409 but adds a very uncomplicated date complication.

So, if you want a whole lot of fun for next to nothing when it comes to money, there is no other movement I would recommend before the Vostok 24XX movements, and the 2409 is a great starting point if you have a desire to begin tinkering with watches. Be warned though; tinkering may take over a substantial chunk of your life! 

[Endeavor 307]

Again one of those exquisite walkthroughs with pictures second to none. Very well done   

Guess what I bought today?

A box full of Vostok 2414 movements, in plastic containers and fully sealed ......... these have the gold-colored anti-shock springs so they are from the Soviet times, pre-1992

One just can't get enough of them; brilliant CCCP quality 

Edited July 6 by Endeavor

[VWatchie 104]

Thanks for your kind words @Endeavor! Heartwarming! 

Well, that box looks more tempting and exquisite than a box of fine Belgian chocolate! You'll never be out of spare parts and movements for your finest CCCP dials. I just bet you got that box for a trifle!

Well Endeavor, we have been promoting these Russian watches for a long time now, but I must say, the passion for them doesn't seem to catch on much here on WRT.

Anyway, never give up, never give in! We'll just keep going with our collusion, oops, I mean promotion! 

[m1ks 97]

11 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough Disassembly Pictures (Please sort by name in ascending order)
Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough Assembly Pictures (Please sort by name in ascending order)

Being able to service the ETA calibre 2824-2 was a long-term goal and a dream when I started servicing and repairing watches some years ago. However, my first “calibre love” was the Vostok 2409; a reliable Soviet/Russian 17 jewels manual workhorse without any complications which has been around since 1970.

Thanks hugely for sharing these, I'm a Vostok fan and enjoyed the detailed photos immensely.

Could I ask, do you lubricate the tip of the centre pinion wheel where the brass pressure plate contacts it?

I have a few Vostok but haven't yet serviced one.

[Endeavor 307]

10 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Thanks for your kind words @Endeavor! Heartwarming! 

Well, that box looks more tempting and exquisite than a box of fine Belgian chocolate! You'll never be out of spare parts and movements for your finest CCCP dials. I just bet you got that box for a trifle!

Well Endeavor, we have been promoting these Russian watches for a long time now, but I must say, the passion for them doesn't seem to catch on much here on WRT.

Anyway, never give up, never give in! We'll just keep going with our collusion, oops, I mean promotion! 

Perhaps one day they will wake up to watches the Swiss can learn from, perhaps they never will ............

Meanwhile we are having a field day 

I'll leave m1ks question and his introduction to WUS f/10 your honor ......

Great job !!!

Edited July 7 by Endeavor

[clockboy 1,274]

19 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough Disassembly Pictures (Please sort by name in ascending order)
Vostok 2409 Service Walkthrough Assembly Pictures (Please sort by name in ascending order)

Being able to service the ETA calibre 2824-2 was a long-term goal and a dream when I started servicing and repairing watches some years ago. However, my first “calibre love” was the Vostok 2409; a reliable Soviet/Russian 17 jewels manual workhorse without any complications which has been around since 1970. It is still in production and found in Vostok’s Komandirskie series of watches, by some called the AK-47s of the watch world, together with its bigger brother the Vostok Amphibian dive watch.

Modern-day Vostok Amphibians use the automatic Vostok 2415 (w/o date complication) and 2416 (with date complication) calibres, but the Amphibian that I’m servicing in this walkthrough, an Albatross Radio Room, popular among collectors, is from the 1980s and in those days the manual 2409, as well as its predecessor 2209, was commonly used in the Amphibians as well as the Komandirskies.

While I was servicing this watch, I noticed that the crystal didn’t fit perfectly in the watch case. Being a serious dive watch originally designed for the Soviet navy this was, of course, unacceptable, so I replaced the crystal and video recorded the event in my “Bergeon No 5500 Crystal Press Review”.

For me, the 2409 was a great movement to get started with as it probably is the most affordable movement on the planet, and spare parts are readily available and cost next to nothing. A lost or damaged part never spells financial disaster. Also, eBay offers an abundance of used Vostok watches in decent condition housing this movement for as little as $20 and sometimes less. A brand new Vostok 2409 (www.meranom.com) can be had for as little as $27. Be aware that, almost without exception, the eBay listings always state that these Vostok watches have been serviced, but in my experience they never are. Well, maybe dipped in a can of naphtha, left to dry and then injected with a bit of oil here and there. I’ve seen horrible examples!

A somewhat tricky bit about the 2409 is to remove and replace the anti-shock springs. For this, I use a self-made tool made from peg wood. It’s shown in one of the assembly pictures together with a description of how I made it. A very similar tool is demonstrated in this video.

Later, as I was working myself through Mark Lovick’s watchrepairlessons.com courses, I trained with the Unitas 6498 pocket watch movement which is the selected movement for the courses. In all honesty, from a learning point, the Unitas 6498 would have been an easier movement to get started with (especially the anti-shock springs), but the tinkering with the Vostok 2409 was a low-cost and fun way to get started and made me better prepared for the courses which answered a bunch of questions and was amazingly instructive.

Eventually, I plan to publish a “Vostok 2414 Service Walkthrough”. The 2414 is identical to the 2409 but adds a very uncomplicated date complication.

So, if you want a whole lot of fun for next to nothing when it comes to money, there is no other movement I would recommend before the Vostok 24XX movements, and the 2409 is a great starting point if you have a desire to begin tinkering with watches. Be warned though; tinkering may take over a substantial chunk of your life! 

Great walk through

[VWatchie 104]

7 hours ago, m1ks said:

Thanks hugely for sharing these, I'm a Vostok fan and enjoyed the detailed photos immensely.

Could I ask, do you lubricate the tip of the centre pinion wheel where the brass pressure plate contacts it?

I have a few Vostok but haven't yet serviced one.

Thanks for your kinds words @m1ks!

Usually yes, but in this case, I decided not to as I was thinking that it might create drag reducing amplitude. Anyway, I may very well be wrong about that and perhaps a tiny amount of Moebius 9010 would be beneficial at the contact point and on the arbor. Anyway, I was thinking back to this post when I serviced the movement. Also, this post might add something to the discussion, but I'm not sure.

There is a pretty strong following of Russian watches at WUS. There are several interesting threads but perhaps the most useful thread is this one although a bit cluttered.

[VWatchie 104]

1 hour ago, clockboy said:

Great walk through

Thank you @clockboy! 

[VWatchie 104]

Just noticed that I had forgotten my lubrication suggestion for the outside of the cannon pinion (Moebius HP-1300), picture 122 (when sorted by name in ascending order). Taken care of now!

[Endeavor 307]

2 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Thanks for your kinds words @m1ks!

Usually yes, but in this case, I decided not to as I was thinking that it might create drag reducing amplitude. Anyway, I may very well be wrong about that and perhaps a tiny amount of Moebius 9010 would be beneficial at the contact point and on the arbor. Anyway, I was thinking back to this post when I serviced the movement. Also, this post might add something to the discussion, but I'm not sure.

There is a pretty strong following of Russian watches at WUS. There are several interesting threads but perhaps the most useful thread is this one although a bit cluttered.

There are many ways leading to Rome and whether to lubricate or not can be up for debate

I normally do lubricate the seconds pinion and indirectly the dog-leg leaf-spring. For this job I'm using a 0.13mm new, but old-fashion Rotring pen with some light oil in the reservoir. I'm not using Moebius, but Dr.Tillwich 1-3 oil.

Just for the purpose of demonstration I took an empty 2409 main plate with the center-wheel inserted.

Normally the small tip of the Rotring pen is wet enough, due to the capillary working of the oil, to pick up the seconds pinion;

You can run the pen past the pinion and this will lubricate the pinion, if ever so slightly.

I than insert the pinion and push it carefully down the shaft of the center-wheel. The gently push on top of the seconds-pinion will lubricate the top of the pinion ..... and therefor indirectly the tip of dog-leg leaf spring.

The dog-leg leaf-spring can cause a variety of problems such as irregular amplitude, low amplitude, "dropping" second-hand when tilting the watch or a jittering second-hand. It needs therefore to be adjusted such that it just touches the top of the seconds-hand pinion, easy to be lift up but enough "push" to provide just enough friction to let the seconds-hand to run smoothly.

Anyway, it's up to the watch repairer to decide how & what ....

Just my two cents

Edited July 7 by Endeavor

[VWatchie 104]

Excellent! Very well explained and illustrated @Endeavor! Thank you! It would be interesting to compare timing machine readings before and after the oiling to see the difference if any. Maybe I'll get around to do that someday. Never heard about Rotring pens. Guess I really need to get me one of those. Looks very convenient. What's the risk of over-oiling using it?

[Endeavor 307]

34 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Excellent! Very well explained and illustrated @Endeavor! Thank you! It would be interesting to compare timing machine readings before and after the oiling to see the difference if any. Maybe I'll get around to do that someday. Never heard about Rotring pens. Guess I really need to get me one of those. Looks very convenient. What's the risk of over-oiling using it?

Before auto-cat and all those other computer drawing programs, all technical drawings were made first with pencil and concluding using Rotring pens, filled with black ink. They came / come in various sizes. For the work I used to do 0.13mm was impractical, too small and too fragile. I would say the chances of over-oiling with a 0.13mm pen are negligible. You could use your automatic oiler for the same purpose. Your imagination is the limit ......as you can see it doesn't have to be a tool out of  the watch industry. As for the old fashion German Rotring, which aren't made anymore, there are still some old stock sold on eBay. Make sure you get the old fashion German High quality and sadly they are not super cheap, have never been. Unlikely if they were ever intended as oilers, but it works to my satisfaction and I get to go down the memory lane

Edited July 7 by Endeavor

[VWatchie 104]

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Endeavor said:

Before auto-cat and all those other computer drawing programs, all technical drawings were made first with pencil and concluding using Rotring pens, filled with black ink. They came / come in various sizes. For the work I used to do 0.13mm was impractical, too small and too fragile. I would say the chances of over-oiling with a 0.13mm pen are negligible. You could use your automatic oiler for the same purpose. Your imagination is the limit ......as you can see it doesn't have to be a tool out of  the watch industry. As for the old fashion German Rotring, which aren't made anymore, there are still some old stock sold on eBay. Make sure you get the old fashion German High quality and sadly they are not super cheap, have never been. Unlikely if they were ever intended as oilers, but it works to my satisfaction and I get to go down the memory lane

That is so true, and so easy to overlook, especially for someone like me who has zero backgrounds in engineering and solving problems involving physical objects. I was into music, playing the classical violin until my early 20s, and after that (except for sorting physical mail to make a living) its all been about working with computers and software. I'm fascinated with that Rotring pen, I might give it a try eventually. Thanks for the shopping advice! I've already looked at them at eBay and there seem to be quite a few offers.

[m1ks 97]

9 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Thanks for your kinds words @m1ks!

Usually yes, but in this case, I decided not to as I was thinking that it might create drag reducing amplitude.

Thank you, I wondered if there was a reason not to as your walk through didn't show it. I would have without a guide to specify where oiling points were but often you find there's a good reason not to.