Four months ago I bought my third mechanical watch: a Vostok K-65 Komandirskie 1965 (K-65 2414A 680220).
I hadn’t expected to buy this watch because its silver-and-black version had been out of stock for several months – pretty much since it had gone on sale in August 2015, in fact.
But, as I was writing my roundup of affordable watches post back in March, I discovered – much to my delight – that Meranom had it back in stock! Not wanting to miss out, I ordered it immediately. Which was just as well! That batch was completely sold out three days later and this model hasn’t been available since.
Shipping woes
Of course buying this watch was one thing; getting it shipped to Australia was something else entirely.
That’s because, for whatever reason, the express mail service EMS decided they didn’t want to deliver it from Russia to Australia. Of course it took them almost two weeks to figure that out. So, fifteen days after being shipped, my watch was returned to Meranom’s offices in Chistopol.
Fortunately, a few quick emails later, it was on its way to me via regular Russian Post and the awesome Rustem from Meranom was quick to refund the difference in shipping fee costs. Rustem also told me that this was the second watch EMS had refused to deliver to Australia. Strange.
Because delivery via regular post takes time, all told, it took over a month and a half from purchase to final delivery in Melbourne.
Now that I have this watch, though, it's quickly gone into rotation and I find myself wearing it regularly to work and on weekends. It's classy, unobtrusive, and I can wear it with a wide variety of outfits. Basically, I love it!
So let's talk about the watch itself.
About the Vostok K-65 Komandirskie
This 2015 reissue of the K-65 Commander’s watch from 1965 celebrates 50 years since the Chistopol Watch Factory became the official supplier of watches to the Ministry of Defence of the USSR. (The Chistopol Watch Factory was founded in 1942 and renamed itself Vostok in the 1960s.)
The K-65 has a no-nonsense, clean and clear design aesthetic.
It has a 39mm round, stainless steel case with a domed acrylic crystal and open case-back.
The dial is black, with:
- solid, white hour markers;
- solid, sliver baton hands (filled with a bit of lume); and
- solid, white Arabic numerals in a neo-grotesque 1960s Russian typeface (which I adore).
The movement is a hand-wound Vostok 2414A with a date complication, 17 jewels, and a 36-hour power reserve. I wind it every night and it keeps good time.
Basically, this is a solid, dependable, good-looking, versatile military watch with a 1960s neo-grotesque design aesthetic. What’s not to love?!
(For more on this watch check out this review on Krishna’s Russian Watches.)
State of the watch collection
I now own three mechanical watches: a pilot watch (Techné Goshawk), a dive watch (Orient M-Force Beast), and now this military watch.
This means I’m halfway to completing my sub-$500 mechanical watch collection. To do that I need a dress watch (Orient Sun and Moon or Melbourne Watch Company Portsea), a sport watch (Seiko Alpinist), and a chronograph (Seagull 1963 Air Force Chronograph). If all goes well, I’ll have done that by the end of 2017 :)
Stay tuned!