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Zlatoust Diver's Watch

The awful stock strap

Screw-pin detail

Crown detail

A Type One Movement. It is a Russian made copy of an old American Dueber-Hampden pocketwatch movement,

About three inches from end to end.

Weight lifting :)

According to watch industry buzz, big watches are "in" these days. I regularly hear folks discount 38mm watches as being far too small while the old 34mm standard man's size watch is barely considered large enough for ladies now. Well, if big watches are your cup of tea, I've got the thing for you. The Zlatoust diver's watch is big, really big. I've owned alarm clocks that weren't this big. How big, well its 58mm in diameter (not including the huge canteen crown which brings the overall width to 74mm!), 24mm in thickness (which is thicker than the width of many a ladies watch), the lugs are 24mm wide, lug to lug the watch measures 73mm and the it weighs 10oz. (For those of you who are curious, my wrist measures 7 1/2" around. The watch, as you can see, completely covers it and actually sticks out a bit) Needless to say, this is not the most comfortable watch out there. Frankly, it�s at best clumsy and at worst (on the stock band) downright painful to wear.

The watch itself is undeniably fascinating. I wore it around my law firm one day and at least a dozen people commented about it. No one had ever seen a watch like it and a number of folks actually tried it on. Even people who probably were not all that interested in watches were amazed. The Zlatoust uses a one piece case design (the movement is installed through the front) with an unusual screw-down bezel to hold the thick acrylic crystal tight against a rubber gasket. The watch ships with a sort of rubberized canvas band (complete with CCCP logo) that is possibly the least comfortable watch band I have ever encountered. It is stiff, sticky and does not breathe at all. I suppose the band would make sense if worn over a wetsuit but otherwise, it�s more like a handcuff than a watchband. I currently have my Zlatoust on an old Rhino band I had lying around. It�s still not remotely comfortable but it is wearable. In addition to the odd band, the bezel unscrews completely to allow the wearer to remove the protective grill and place a thicker (included) gasket in its place. The lug pins are of a screwed in type and can be removed with the small screwdriver that also came with the watch. The huge canteen style crown screws down and has a rubber gasket to protect the movement from water. An attached chain keeps the crown from getting lost. The numerals and hands on the watch face are luminous and, in a pleasant surprise, the lume is pretty good. The movement on this model is the same one used in the old First State Watch Factory Type One (reviewed below). It is a 15 jewel hand wound mechanism that must be wound once daily by unscrewing and partially removing the canteen crown cover. I have not actually opened the case to see the movement since this type of case design is tricky to extract a movement from, but the frequency sounds exactly the same as the low-beat tick of my Type One models. The one curious bit of data that I don't have is water resistance. I have fully immersed my watch with no damage but I don't know how deep it can go. I read a post over at watchuseek.com that stated that this watch is not really meant for very deep water at all but is instead meant for prolonged use in shallow water along the lines of a diving bell. I honestly don't know for sure.

The Zlatoust watch factory has an interesting history. During WWII, the one of the Moscow watch factories (I believe it was First State Watch Factory) was evacuated east to Zlatoust in the Chelyabinsk region to avoid being captured or destroyed by the advancing Nazi army. (many other Russian factories were moved this way as well) There, watch and clock production was quickly brought back online. According to the factory, (be patient, the page loads very slowly) over 90 percent of the clocks installed in Soviet tanks and aircraft were made at Zlatoust. After the war, the factory continued to produce all sorts of clocks and watches including stopwatches and this huge diver watch. (As an aside, they don�t just make watches in Zlatoust. This place was also the center of the old Soviet nuclear weapons industry. See: Zlatoust . It is also reputed to be one of the most contaminated places in the world as well. Scary stuff. (Additionally-If you are interested in modern Russian history I recommend reading Andrew Meier's book Black Earth. It is a collection of stories consisting of recent reporting by the author as he traveled throughout Russia. A real eye opener.)

It bears noting that watches like this one appear on frequently ebay and other Russian watch seller�s web pages these days. Many of them are clearly modern reproductions of the Zlatoust diver. Models with the text �700 Meters� on the face or with a centrally located second hand or a subdial are not, to my knowledge, real military diver�s watches. They may be made at the Zlatoust factory, however, but their movements are probably not the old low-beat Type One variety. Additionally, I have heard that modern examples have chrome plated brass cases instead of the solid stainless steel cases the originals used. If you are going to suffer owning one of these, try to get one that is as historically correct as possible. (Mine isn�t perfect either, it doesn�t have the plain back that the real issued ones have). Watches like this are available from a number of Russian watch sellers. I got mine here.

I think it should be obvious from this review that the Zlatoust diver is clearly never going to be anyone�s daily wear watch (That is unless your wrist is over eleven or so inches around. Then it might work for you). Still, I�m very happy to have this beast. It is, without question, the most unusual watch I own and may be the biggest wrist watch ever made. It is also an interesting piece of history. The one thing it is not is boring.

P.S.-Another great review of this watch can be found here

Seiko Monster Review SKX779

On a nylon band for a change of pace

I wasn't originally going to write this review because it seemed to me that there was nothing much left to say about this excellent watch. However, after living with the Monster for a few weeks now, I just couldn't resist putting my own two cents in.

The Seiko Monster is one of those rare products that rightly seems like it should cost a lot more than it does. From its massive stainless steel case to its big solid-link bracelet everything about the Monster says first class. Its hard to explain it but this watch has that perfectly designed and assembled look about it that sometimes you don't see on watches that cost twice the Monster's price or more. Count on this big Seiko being noticed by anyone who appreciates nice watches. Its really that well done.

Externally, the Monster is 42mm in diameter (not including the crown), 12mm in thickness and has a 20mm band lug width (although the stock bracelet flares out to a width of 24mm thus making the lugs look much wider). The watch is equipped with a very large stainless steel unidirectional diver's bezel (with its own luminous marker embedded) and a screw-down crown. Water resistance is rated at 200 meters and the crystal is made of Seiko's proprietary Hardlex reinforced mineral glass (Hardlex sort of splits the difference between regular mineral glass, which scratches very easily, and sapphire, which is best at resisting scratches but is expensive and can shatter when knocked.) Additionally, it deserves noting that the bracelet on the Monster is exceptionally well done. It is a heavy, solid link design (including solid end-links thankfully) that frankly seems better made than any other watch bracelet that I have ever encountered, irrespective of price. The bracelet uses a double locking clasp and includes a diver's extension. Lastly, the Monster's lume is, far and away, the best light activated lume available anywhere. Expose this watch to light for a little while and it will remain visible in darkness for at least eight hours. It may last longer for all I know but that is as long as I have tested it. With the exception of tritium lume watches (and their lume does lose power over a number of years) the Monster is as good as it gets when it comes to visibility in the dark.

Internally, this Seiko is powered by a 7s26 21 jewel automatic movement. This is a very popular movement among Seiko models and is renowned for its durability and longevity. 7S26s have been known to run reliably for ten years or more with no maintenance and are reputed to be very resistant to abuse. It should be noted that the 7S26 will neither hack or handwind, if those features are important to you. To wind the watch, you just set it and give it a shake. The automatic winding mechanism takes over from there and your normal body motions throughout the day will provide a day or so worth of power at a time. Seiko's automatic winding mechanism is considered to be among the best in the industry. For a detailed explanation of its operation, check out this fine review by The Purists.

All told, it is my personal belief that you can't go wrong with this watch. Truthfully, if I could only own one watch (horrors!), the Monster would likely be it. It has no real weaknesses (the inability to hack or handwind might bother some folks but it has no practical effect on the use of the watch) and it possess loads of strengths. If you want a very high quality watch that will give trouble free service under all conditions for many years, look no further. Best of all, the Monster is a bargain. New examples regularly appear on ebay in the low to mid hundred dollar range, the PMWF Sales Corner seems to regularly have them in stock for very good prices (and Reto and Helen are a pleasure to deal with). I happened to get mine while vacationing in the Philippines at the Seiko store in the Glorietta Mall in Makati (Very nice folks there by the way. Great place to buy a watch.) I really can't sing this one's praises enough.

Vostok Radio Operator Review

On a newly acquired factory bracelet

The subject of this review, the Vostok Radio Operator watch is one of the new old stock (NOS) models that have been turning up of late on the worldwide tag sale. I got this particular example a few weeks ago in what looked like its original box with the factory paperwork. It did not have a strap, however, and I decided it would look good on a black Nilsen bund (Nilsen incidentally has a great selection of bund style straps for excellent prices. Quality is quite good too.) (For more information on the history of Vostok, check the monthly archives of this site for the Vostok Komandirskie review)

The watch itself is powered by Vostok's 17 jewel model 2409 hand-wound movement. It uses a thick acrylic crystal, the company's trademark two piece stainless-steel case back, the usual wobbly screw-down crown design (normal for this make), and Vostok's typically awful lume. The watch is rated at 200 meters water resistance but since this is NOS, I wouldn't rely on that figure without having it tested first. This Vostok has the old style octagonal stainless-steel case style that thankfully had nary a mark on it when it arrived. The case measures 38mm in width (42mm including the crown), 12mm in height and has an 18mm lug band width. Like most Vostoks, it has a bi-directional chrome plated bezel but this one also has a luminous marker embedded in it. So far, the watch has run flawlessly, gaining an acceptable 15 seconds daily.

Until recently, the radio operator was something of a rare bird. Even now, the examples available are apparently all there is of them as the style is not among the many being produced by the Vostok factory today. It is my understanding that the reason for the watch's name is that maritime law requires certain periods of radio silence between ships during which time they are supposed to monitor certain frequencies set aside for distress calls. The time periods in question are marked on the watch face, the first three minutes of each quarter hour. I have read that this system was developed in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster. Apparently at that time, the ship's distress calls were hard to make out amidst all the other signal traffic. For a better explanation of maritime distress communications, see this site.

In all other respects the Vostok Radio Operator is very typical of most of the company's products. It is rugged, reliable and accurate and makes a fine field watch or daily wearer. Since this is a somewhat unusual model, I don't wear it under less than ideal circumstances the way that I do with newer Vostok models. That is more a reflection of a desire on my part to preserve this watch than a result of concern that it would be damaged easily. I have little doubt, in fact, that the Radio Operator could take all the abuse that I could normally dish out. Final thought, get one while you can.

Update-The top picture shows this Vostok on a factory bracelet. Turns out, the current generation of Vostok Amphibia bracelets will fit these older style Vostoks as well. Unlike a Swiss watch, whose accessories can be unbelievably pricey, this bracelet set me back all of $4 on the world wide tag sale, new in its wrapper by the way. The shipping at $4.50 was more. I think it looks pretty good.

Tissot PR50 Review

An October 2010 pic of this one above. Seems to be ageing quite well.

It is always nice to be able to look at a fancy wristwatch and admire its engineering. Whether it be a fine gold case, a multi-jeweled automatic movement or a three face chronograph, there is an undeniable appeal to fine watches. That being said, however, most folks just want to know what the time is. That is what the Tissot PR50 is all about. If you are not impressed by plastic watches and instead just want a solidly built man's wristwatch that will faithfully get the job done, this is your watch.
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Tissot is one of the old, well-established, Swiss watch companies. It was founded by Charles Tissot in 1853, and has been making watches for over 150 years now. The company produces a large and varied line of timepieces that run the gamut from pocket watches to fancy automatic chronographs. These days, the company is a part of the Swatch Group family of watch making companies (like many other well known brands including Omega and Hamilton to name two), but still retains much of its unique character. (For a terrific article about Tissot, see Tissot: Industrial Power)
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The PR50 reviewed here is one of Tissot's quartz models. This particular example is powered by an ETA F06.111 (look under Catalog-Trendline) three-jewel quartz movement. The watch has a hacking feature, date function and an end of life battery indicator (I believe the second hand advances two seconds at a time when power is low). Additionally, the PR50 is water resistant to fifty meters and has a remarkable battery life of ninty-four months (7.8 years). The watchcase measures 38mm in width (including the crown) and 5mm in height. The overall length is 42mm from lug to lug and the PR50 has an 18mm band lug width. The lume on the hands and face is superluminova (which is the best lume available short of tritium tubes) and the crystal is made of sapphire (the best choice to ward off scratches). Lastly, the case and bracelet are made of stainless steel, the bracelet being of the folded link variety (not so nice as a solid link model but quite strong nonetheless). In addition to quartz models like this one, the PR50 line also includes a slightly more expensive model powered by a Swiss 25 jewel automatic movement along with a quartz chronograph and several ladies models.
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All in all, if you are going to own only one watch, the PR50 is really a very good choice. It is well made, quite accurate, reasonably priced, has a very long battery life, and to my eye admittedly, is good looking. It also has the added advantage of being made by a real watch company with a long history of making quality watches. The PR50 is probably not the first choice for dedicated watch collectors, but there is nothing about it that would raise an objection from one either. After all, even a watch collector needs to know what time it is.