Vostok Watches

Vostok Watches

Coordinates: 55°21′56.19″N 50°36′18.64″E / 55.3656083°N 50.6051778°E / 55.3656083; 50.6051778

Vostok (Russian: Восток, meaning East*) Watch Makers, Inc. produces mainly rugged military and diver mechanical watches at its factory in Chistopol, Tatarstan, Russia. It also makes clocks and watch movements for other watch brands.

The Vostok Company was founded in 1942 when one of the Moscow watch-making plants of the First Moscow Watch Factory was evacuated to Chistopol, a small town located on the Kama River in Tatarstan. Only defense equipment was produced during the war years, but as soon as the war was over the company started making mechanical wrist watches. However, the Company did not begin using the "Vostok" brand name until the 1960s. *Presumable "Vostok" brand was named after the Vostok space program, which gave the initial advancement of the USSR in the Space race (as some others soviet watch brands, named to space topics in 1960s - Poljot and Raketa).

The company was appointed an official supplier of watches for the Defense Department of the Soviet Union in 1965. This year also marks the creation of the well known Komandirskie ("Commander's") watch. (See photo, below left.)

The experience gained through development of the army watch led to the Amphibia, a stainless-steel watch able to withstand a 200 meter depth (20atm). By 1980, Vostok Watch Makers was producing 4.5 million timepieces per year.

Watches issued to the military were marked "ЗАКАЗ МО СССР," meaning "By Order of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR." These models were subject to rigorous quality control and sold exclusively through Voentorg stores, which catered to military personnel with identification only. (Today, these models have become sought-after collectibles.)

At turn of the 21st century, Vostok launched a line of 1940s-style replicas called the Kirovskie K-43 collection. Vostok also began producing a "luxury" line of watches called Kremlevskie. Both lines are made of stainless steel, produced in limited quantities, and aimed toward a more affluent consumer.

In 2004, Vostok Watch Makers began supplying movements to the Koliz Company of Lithuania, makers of the Vostok Europe brand of timepieces.

In 2006, Vostok Watch Makers began marketing another new line of watches branded "Amfibia." This brand, like most other Vostok products, features the familiar 31-jewel automatic (No. 2416B) movement. These watches feature "diver" styling with polyurethane or stainless steel bands.

An updated version of the Komandirskie debuted in summer, 2007, and a special anniversary edition of the Amphibia (called the "1967") appeared in early 2008. Both of these models feature high-quality assembly, materials and packaging.

Despite the introduction of the new lines of Komandirskie and Amphibia, the "classic" models (mostly designed in 1960s and 1970s) of these lines was still in production (as of 2012).

In early 2010, Vostok Watch Factory filed for bankruptcy and their official web page was disabled. Despite that, the production didn't stop and the factory is still working and supplying watches and movements (as of 2012).