How Tough Are Vostok Watches?

Whenever you hear people talk about Vostoks it is usually followed by how tough they are.

Vostoks are mechanical watches, so in theory they should be quite delicate; however, they are called the mechanical G-Shock for good reason. They are actually really tough and they can take a beating.

They may not be as extreme as the G-Shock, but they can certainly take a lot more than the average mechanical watch and this all comes down to their unique design.

Not All Vostok Watches Are Equal

While the majority of Vostoks have a lot of similarities, they are not all equal.

They were all designed for the Russian military and should be able to handle the stressful life of a soldier. They can work in the cold Russian weather and some models, such as the Ampihia, which I would argue is the toughest of them all, can dive to 200m. This is the highest water resistance of all the Vostoks, where as a Komandirskie only has 30m of water resistance.

There are also some models that have anti magnetic cases so that they can survive a nuclear attack. All this technology is over 70 years old and is still being used today, which speaks volumes about how reliable it is. They also have a range of dress watches, which are not as robust, but are still wonderful.

Vostoks may not be the most accurate watches, but they are certainly built to be tough. 

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How Tough Are Vostok Watches?

You can find plenty of stories of people dropping their watches and nothing bad happening to them. Usually this could seriously damage a mechanical watch.

There are also countless people, myself included who have used the “Vostok knock” to get the watch running. For some reason the watch can get stuck and the only way to fix it is to give it a knock. You literally bang the side of the watch into the palm of your hand and it starts running again. You would never see this with any other watch and it would probably break it further if you tried. This is just some strange quirk with Vostoks that some people experience.

You can also see even crazier examples of how tough they are like in this video here. This video shows some one running their Vostok over with a car.

This isn’t a one off. There are plenty of other videos like this and every time the watch seems to work just fine afterwards.

Some people argue that it’s not a lot of pressure, and it’s not really that impressive. I’m not scientist, but I wouldn’t let a car run over my foot and I certainly wouldn’t let it near any of my watches.

 (I also suggest you do the same as me and just enjoy the videos, you don’t need to risk your watch in anyway by testing it, watching a video is enough.)

What Makes A Vostok Watch Tough?

Vostoks are not expensive and they are not made out of extra strong materials, they are just designed in a way that all adds up to them being very robust.

10 Years Service Interval

The fact that they only need serviced every 10 years is a testament to how they are made. No other mechanical watch would suggest this length in-between servicing.

This is mainly due to the lower beat rate. Basically a Vostok runs at a lower speed than most watches, so it wears out slower. This is more through clever design, rather than toughness, but the fact it does this is part of the reason why it is so robust over all.

(You can read more information about How To Get A Vostok Watch Repaired or Serviced)

31 Jewels

The little pink jewels in a watch movement look pretty, but they actually serve a very important function. They are shock absorbers. The little pivots on the cogs are balanced with these jewels. They can move around slightly, meaning they can act like a shock absorber if anything impacts the watch.

The average watch will have around 17 jewels, so the fact that Vostoks can have up 31 shows how much extra protection they have.   

(You can read more about – Are Vostok Movements Good?)

200m Water Resistance

This level of water resistance is nothing spectacular and many watches can rival this and beat it, but it is still an impressive level to achieve. This is made extra special by the fact that Vostoks achieve this in a different way.

Vostoks use physics to their advantage. Instead of just trying to stop the water getting in, they use the force of the water to pushing down on the case back and the crystal to help seal it. The deeper the watch goes, the stronger this force is, which actually makes the watch more water proof.

Wobbly Crown

The wobbly crown is hated by many, it feels very strange to use and is very unlike any other watch, but this strange quirk is actually a very clever design.

The stem is totally detached from the watch; you need to wobble it to engage it with the movement.  This means if the stem takes a knock the force will not be transferred into the movement itself. This makes a Vostok so much tougher than other watches where the crown can be a weak spot.

(You can read more about – Are Vostok Watches Worth The Money?)

Acrylic Crystal

Many would argue that the acrylic crystal is actually a weakness and it can be.  It will pick up scratches like crazy, but in general, it’s actually quite hard to break, which makes it tough and robust.

The good news is that the scratches can be easily buffed out so it is more of an inconvenience than a weakness.

Antimagnetic

Not all models are antimagnetic, but if you see Антимагнитных (antimagnetic) written on dial you know your Vostok is.

Watches are very sensitive to magnetism and if a watch becomes magnetised it will not run properly and will usually run very fast. Being able to prevent this is a very cool feature, which is normally reserved for very expensive watches.

It is easy to correct a magnetised watch, but to be able to prevent it in the first case is always better. 

(You can read morea bout – How Are Vostok Watches So Cheap?)

Conclusion

Vostoks are certainly not indestructible, but are pretty tough. Of course they not as tough as a G-Shock, but for a mechanical watch they are very impressive and you will struggle to find a tougher watch.

If you already own one, you will know what I mean. They are just sturdy and robust and ready for anything. 

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