One of the pleasures of collecting Amphibians is finding all of the unique designs, many of them with Russian military themes. Unlike most watches that are available with either white, black, silver and perhaps blue faces, the Amphibia comes in a huge variety of colors and graphics.
I’ll discuss this further in the Accuracy section below, but this all helps the Amphibia to actually work as a “real” dive watch, unlike many of the pretenders. The watch has an acrylic crystal, a screw-on back with a nice gasket underneath and a screw-in crown which operates in, shall we say, a fashion that is unique to the Amphibian. Otherwise, the Ministry case Amphibian has the same movement and 200 meter depth rating as the round case. However, the case shape is such that the watch doesn’t look quite right with every strap, so choose carefully. The Ministry case is square or rectangular in shape and takes a 22 mm strap, which allows a wider choice. The round case on the Amphibians seen in the photos is a classic but the watch is also available in a “Ministry” (sometimes called “Minister’s”) case. The Amphibia is available in two different case types. A Watchuseek Russian watch forum member wrote an interesting detailed analysis of the waterproof capabilities of the Amphibian, so be sure to check it out.
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In fact, some Amphibia owners have taken Vostok up on the claim, with underwater photos to prove it! And a Vostok Amphibia was worn by Bill Murray in the quickly-forgotten movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou…if that means anything. It has a claimed 200 meter depth rating, which is the minimum number usually considered for a watch to be a true “diver’s watch”. The Amphibian, as the story goes, actually was designed to be a diver’s watch. That it comes in a huge variety of colors and face designs makes it even more desirable, and you may find that one, two or more Amphibians will end up in your watch box and in regular wrist rotation. While it may not look like the most modern watch in the world and the quality of parts like the bezel and the bracelet may be wanting, this is a very solid watch with a long and interesting history. Considering that even some of the most storied names in horology do not manufacturer their own movements, buying a sub-$100.00 watch with an “in-house” movement is rather a nose-thumb to those famous makes and indeed, may be one of the reasons why even experienced collectors have a few Vostoks in their stash! The watch can be found for around $60.00 USD plus, of course, shipping, which usually runs only about $15.00 USD. Many Vostok fans will tell you that the Amphibia is one of the best values going.
They are also used by other watch manufacturers such as Volmax, Poljot International and Vostok Europe (a somewhat related company and part of that very complex history). The movements in these watches (2416B automatic in the Amphibia and the 2414 or 2434 in the Komandirskie) have an excellent reputation as somewhat plain but robust and reliable engines. The Amphibian and the Komandirskie (“Commander”) are the two most famous watches produced by Vostok, but the company also manufactures several other interesting designs.
Amphibia and other watches have been produced at Vostok on the Kama River since the mid-1940’s and, even with the intense worldwide competition, the company is still producing watches, although the history of the Russian watch making profession is a long and complex tale that almost no one has successfully unraveled! The Vostok factory is still located in Christopol in the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation ( map). And certainly the Amphibian is just a good all-around fun watch to wear even if you’re not a collector! The Vostok, or Вoctok (“East”) is one of the most popular collectible watches for both beginner or experienced collectors. Imagine never having to worry about daylight savings time, leap year or power outages again! Tired of seeing that flashing dispaly and having to reset your clocks again and again? This Atomic Time Radio Clock set itself fully automatically, even after poweroutages.The story of the Vostok Amphibia (aka Amphibian) has been told many times.
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