Vostok Mods!

[KarmaToBurn 1,419]

I had previously removed the chrome plating from a Vostok Amphibian and the results turned out pretty good.

 

 

I decided to order two Komandirskies (because they have a full brass body covered in chrome) to mod as future Christmas presents this year. At around $40 they make for a cheap and unique gift

 

The watches were ordered from Meranom and they both arrived yesterday.

 

 

I first removed the straps then the bezels. Just pry the bezel off with a sharp knife. It doesn't require a lot of force.

 

 

You can then either dismantle the entire watch to just the bare chrome plated case or if you're lazy like me you can put tape over the parts you don't want to damage during the bead blasting stage. Here's the taped up crystal. I also covered the raised part of the caseback with tape so there is no direct contact with skin and brass as it can result in green skin.

 

 

After bead blasting (I used glass beads rather than aluminium oxide because it has a smoother finish and there is less danger of loosing the case details by over blasting) you'll have a brass cased Komandirskie. If you don't have access to a sand blaster I also read that there is an acid you can buy at home depot to soak the case parts in for 24 hours that will strip the chrome away. The blasting took away some of the paint from the bezel so I refilled the spaces with black enamel paint. Don't worry about being messy with the paint because you can just take a scalpel or razor blade and scrape off the excess once the paint has started to dry.

 

 

Here are the parts blasted and painted.

 

 

And now put back together.

 

 

Now to give the brass a little bit of patina for character. Hard boil an egg then peel it. Place the egg in a large ziplock type bag along with the brass watches. Seal the bag then smash the egg. Leave it alone for a about 30 minutes then check on the progress. If you want more patina leave the watches sealed with the egg for a little longer.

 

 

Here are the completed brass Komandirskies

 

[sci2 0]

Those look great! Nice tutorial. I have a sub commander amphibia that I've thought about modding just for the heck of it. I don't think the case is brass, but I was at least thinking of putting vintage lume on it in place of the slightly radioactive sea salt is uses now.

[Gelg 0]

These look great! Don't they sell them in brass though?

[KarmaToBurn 1,419]

Those look great! Nice tutorial. I have a sub commander amphibia that I've thought about modding just for the heck of it. I don't think the case is brass, but I was at least thinking of putting vintage lume on it in place of the slightly radioactive sea salt is uses now.

 

It might have a brass bezel. The lume that comes with them does suck :P

 

These look great! Don't they sell them in brass though?

 

Thanks! I'm not sure if the gold ones are polished brass or gold chromed? Either way I wanted to get a couple with green dials which weren't available with the gold case.

[Odyseus 1]

Vostok's are brilliant watches to practice on!!

 

I've photographed a strip down and rebuild of the Automatic movement 2416, I need to write it up and post it???

[Gelg 0]

Vostok's are brilliant watches to practice on!!

 

I've photographed a strip down and rebuild of the Automatic movement 2416, I need to write it up and post it???

That would be cool. I don't own any automatic Vostoks, but I am sure other people would definitely find it useful.

[markeym3 2]

They look really nice , erm do they smell of egg ? but nice work , great value those Vostoks

[KarmaToBurn 1,419]

They look really nice , erm do they smell of egg ? but nice work , great value those Vostoks

 

No egg smell

[popspacket 0]

How the hell did someone figure out that using a smashed hard boiled egg would produce patina?

[Haltec 0]

Amphibian is cool, and pretty afordable on ebay. Your case looks pretty ok. You sanded out just bezel, right?

 

 

As you are ony one I know to have Amphibian in possesion, I'll have to ask....: do you think, can it withold some swimming???

 

 

I looked some pics and not so sure....

 

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

Haltec

[KarmaToBurn 1,419]

Amphibian is cool, and pretty afordable on ebay. Your case looks pretty ok. You sanded out just bezel, right? As you are ony one I know to have Amphibian in possesion, I'll have to ask....: do you think, can it withold some swimming??? I looked some pics and not so sure.... Kind regards Haltec

 

Yup, just the bezel on the Amphibia. I think it can handle swimming and if it doesn't it wouldn't be a super expensive mistake :P I wouldn't trust it for timing a dive though since the bezel is bi-directional and doesn't click. Lots of case options on the Amphibia if you don't like the 090.

[Cynikal.Mindset 1]

here is my vostok amphibia KGB...been swimming many times no problems at all, its built like a Lada and as durable as one.

 

I wanna get the bezel that accepts seiko inserts and possibly relume it as the lume is dissapoint for a russian watch

 

 

here is the link for the bezel mod

http://www.murphymanufacturing.com/vostok_bezels.html

[KarmaToBurn 1,419]

here is my vostok amphibia KGB...been swimming many times no problems at all, its built like a Lada and as durable as one.

 

I wanna get the bezel that accepts seiko inserts and possibly relume it as the lume is dissapoint for a russian watch

 

 

here is the link for the bezel mod

http://www.murphyman...tok_bezels.html

 

 

Nice!

 

I'll probably be ordering another Amphibia for myself in the near future to mod with a Murphy bezel when they become available again.

[TheSav 2]

Nice job! Looks very cool and for $40 and a bit of effort is well worth it.

[Bash64 17]

Are all the Vostok watches a brass case with chrome plating, or only the Komandirskies?

 

 

Those look great! Nice tutorial. I have a sub commander amphibia that I've thought about modding just for the heck of it. I don't think the case is brass, but I was at least thinking of putting vintage lume on it in place of the slightly radioactive sea salt is uses now.

 

It might have a brass bezel. The lume that comes with them does suck :P

 

These look great! Don't they sell them in brass though?

 

Thanks! I'm not sure if the gold ones are polished brass or gold chromed? Either way I wanted to get a couple with green dials which weren't available with the gold case.

[Haltec 0]

Thx Karma,

 

@Cynikal.Mindset Lada?? Huh that's a compliment. They are legendary....

 

 

Really didn't know that they'll fit to another housing. Are crown & tube chromed brass or steel? Durability expected? They are a hand wind afterall...

 

 

Haltec

[KarmaToBurn 1,419]

Just a PSA for anybody interested in picking up a new Vostok. Meranom has free shipping on the Amphibian classic models until tomorrow (Feb 28th) and if you change the currency option to Rubles you can save a few extra bucks over the USD conversion. I just ordered another Amphibian for myself

[Robin195959 2]

I had previously removed the chrome plating from a Vostok Amphibian and the results turned out pretty good.

 

 

I decided to order two Komandirskies (because they have a full brass body covered in chrome) to mod as future Christmas presents this year. At around $40 they make for a cheap and unique gift

 

The watches were ordered from Meranom and they both arrived yesterday.

 

 

 

I first removed the straps then the bezels. Just pry the bezel off with a sharp knife. It doesn't require a lot of force.

 

 

You can then either dismantle the entire watch to just the bare chrome plated case or if you're lazy like me you can put tape over the parts you don't want to damage during the bead blasting stage. Here's the taped up crystal. I also covered the raised part of the caseback with tape so there is no direct contact with skin and brass as it can result in green skin.

 

 

After bead blasting (I used glass beads rather than aluminium oxide because it has a smoother finish and there is less danger of loosing the case details by over blasting) you'll have a brass cased Komandirskie. If you don't have access to a sand blaster I also read that there is an acid you can buy at home depot to soak the case parts in for 24 hours that will strip the chrome away. The blasting took away some of the paint from the bezel so I refilled the spaces with black enamel paint. Don't worry about being messy with the paint because you can just take a scalpel or razor blade and scrape off the excess once the paint has started to dry.

 

 

Here are the parts blasted and painted.

 

 

And now put back together.

 

 

Now to give the brass a little bit of patina for character. Hard boil an egg then peel it. Place the egg in a large ziplock type bag along with the brass watches. Seal the bag then smash the egg. Leave it alone for a about 30 minutes then check on the progress. If you want more patina leave the watches sealed with the egg for a little longer.

 

 

Here are the completed brass Komandirskies

 

 

They look fab but do they stink after the 'egg treatment' ?