Fle market score -Vostok Amphibia

[anilv]

Sharing pics of my latest flea market acquisition.

I am a long time flea-market addict, dating back 30 years ago when I was working in Singapore and there was an area called Sungei Road (River Road) where old tools, electronic stuff and watches could be had cheaply. I usually focus on getting non-working watches as they are usually cheap and even if I can't get them working they will usually be a good source of parts!

Two weeks ago I was at a flea-market local to me and stopped by a coin-vendor as he usually will have some watches. I asked to look at a Seiko 5 and the Vostok. He was a bit grumpy and said that the watches were not working so MYR30 (less than USD8) each. The Seiko was a Feiko but I couldn't take my money out fast enough for the Vostok. 

Now here's a top tip when buying old watches.. if the seller is saying the watch is not working do not try to wind or shake it because the moment it starts to tick the price will change! I just paid the man and only started to fiddle with it once I was away.

These Vostoks have a screwdown crown and the problem with a screwdown crown is there has to be some play in the stem/crown movement to accomodate the screw-down. Most watches with a screwdown crown have a springloaded crown but Vostok cheaped out on the spring!. Once you unscrew the crown you have to apply a bit of outwards movement to engage the crown with the stem to hand-wind. Easy enough if you're used to it but it would be easy to mistake the for a defect. To set the time you just pull the crown further like you would on any other watch.  No quickset or semi-quickset (where you move the hands past midnight to around 8pm and move forwards) but the date does go back when you set the time backwards so you are never more that 15 days away from the correct date!

Overall it's in decent shape and running well enough but I will need to service it properly as the timegrapher trace is a bit erratic. Didn't even change out the strap .. just drenched it in some sanitizer. The dial is not really to my taste but not a problem at the price!

 

Anilv

Edited June 15, 2022 by anilv

[gbyleveldt]

Nice find, and thanks for the tip to not mess with the watch in front of the seller. My curiosity usually can't wait so I want to check it there and then. But you right, for $8 you grab and walk away!

Not sure why your semi-quickset doesn't work, but I have two Vostok Amphibia's here where you can advance the date by doing the 12 to 9 to 12 thing without issue.