Vostok Amphibia Ministerial vintage wristwatch USSR(Soviet) Automatic movement

Made in USSR (Soviet, Russia, СССР)

"Amphibian" is a series of waterproof wristwatches produced by the Russian enterprise "Chelyabinsk Watch Factory" (ChChZ). Watches in this series are widely known for their reliability and high degree of water resistance. They were developed in the USSR and were often used in military and aquatic environments.

Caliber 2416B is an automatic movement, which means that the watch winds automatically when the owner moves his hand. This eliminates the need to manually wind the watch on a regular basis. Caliber 2416B is mechanical, which means it operates without the use of batteries.

The "Amphibian Ministerial" watch with this movement probably has the classic design, water resistance and functionality characteristic of watches in this series.

It would be great find for any collector

Very good condition. All stainless steel case. Please see the photos for the assessment of watches. Runs well and keeps time accurately. Really watches look much better than in the photo. NEW strap as a gift!

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USSR

MANUFACTURER: Chistopol Watch Factory (ChChZ, Vostok, Russian: Чистопольский часовой завод)

OVERALL CONDITION (10-point scale): 9

CASE

Condition (10-point scale): 8-9

Inscriptions on the back cover (translated into English): waterproof 200 m, amphibia

GLASS

Material: acrylic

Condition (10-point scale): 9

DIAL

Condition (10-point scale): 9

Inscriptions on the dial: Amphibian

STRAP

New strap as a gift!

MOVEMENT

Mechanical: mechanical  (Automatic)

Caliber Wostok 2416B

DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT, FUNCTIONS

Dimensions of watches

HISTORY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_watches

Vostok (Wostok, 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 defence 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 programme, 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 Defence 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 metre depth (20atm). By 1980, Vostok Watch Makers was producing 4.5 million timepieces per year.

Watches sold to the military were marked "ЗАКАЗ МО СССР," meaning "Ordered by the Ministry of Defence of the USSR." These models were 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 2014).

In early 2010, Vostok Watch Factory filed for bankruptcy and their official web page was disabled. The factory went through restructure and resumed the production of watches and movements.

RECOMMENDATIONS

All Antique watches are mechanical. Many repairs will not be cheap, as most likely they will require replacement of non-standard parts (unlike most late model watches).

• Antique watches should not be beaten or dropped - because repairs may be expensive.
• Antique watches are generally NOT waterproof. This is because waterproofing was not in general production until the middle of the 20th century for most watches. Therefore you should protect your antique watch from exposure to moisture.
• If your watch becomes wet it should be dried off quickly. Carefully open all covers and use a hair drier to blow dry the movement, dial, covers, crown. This will reduce the amount of rust.
• If your watch becomes wet with any kind of salt water you should immediately immerse or spray your watch with fresh (no-salt) water to remove all the salt from the works before drying the watch completely. Any salt left in the watch will combine with moisture in the air to rust metal components of the movement, case etc.
• Winding any mechanical watch tight may break the mainspring. If you can avoid it do not wind the watch hard.
• When adjusting the hands of your watch, move them in a clockwise direction only. Counter-clockwise adjustments may damage the movement. It is desirable to adjust the hands of your watch at the same time every day. An automatic or self-winding watch should be worn for at least 8 hours a day. It is a mechanical watch in which the mainspring is wound automatically as a result of natural motion of the wearer's arm, to provide energy to run the watch, making manual winding unnecessary.
• If you must adjust counter-clockwise make it for small adjustments only (i.e. for minutes, NOT hours).
• Be careful and gentle when adjusting the movement speed (faster or slower). Don't make sharp movements, and don't touch other components in the movement especially the pendulum mechanism.
• Every 2-3 years it is necessary to service and oil vintage watches. If the course of your watches is worsening and the accuracy of the reduction in the duration of the clock (autonomy) from one fully wound spring - it need a service.
• IF the watch is dirty - allow the watch to run down, don't wind it again until you have it serviced by a qualified watch repair expert. Dust will absorb and remove important lubricants and cause the movement pieces to wear down.
• To clean the case, dial and crystal you should use a cloth that does NOT leave fibers as these may get caught up in the movement. Check with your Watch repair expert to get an appropriate cloth.
• Keep your antiques watch away from magnets. Strong magnetic fields may affect the accuracy of your watch since some vintage watches were made with iron based components in the movement.
• Most Cases and Covers are fine components and will not handle abuse well. The watch should not be shaken, beaten, or stressed.
• Antique watches generally experience an error of up to 5-7 minutes a day. Any accuracy of +- 5 minutes is very good.
• Mechanical watch is not recommended to use for engage in extreme sports, and expose them to excessive vibration loads. Recoil force, which take on the clock, affect their reliability and precision. No matter how perfect was not anti-shock mechanism, there is always the chance of excessive load that details of the mechanism can not survive.
• Watch with calendar. It is not recommended to adjust, the date between 20.00 and 06.00, because at this time involved a mechanism for automatic adjustment date. Translation pointers calendars manually in this position arrows may damage the mechanism. Date changes should be made, relegating pre-clockwise to lower sector of the dial (for example, to position 6 (18.00) hours).
• Chronograph watches. In most cases, these watches contain the "start/stop" button and "reset" button. It is strongly recommended not to press the "reset" if the chronograph is running. Before you use the "Reset" button need to stop the chronograph by button "start/stop". Using the "reset" when running chronograph can damage the mechanism of most models of watches.

PAYMENT

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2. Payment must be made within 4 days of auction closing. Non-payment may result in a UPI (Unpaid Item) being put on your account. eBay will automatically close your account if you accumulate 4 UPI's total.
3. Total amount due includes the final auction price plus Shipping.
4. Shipping will be determined based upon the SHIP TO address. PLEASE NOTE: Shipping does not include duties, local taxes or any other importation fees.

SHIPPING

We ship to any country. This item will be shipped to you from Europe (Ukraine) via registered airmail with tracking number and insurance within 7-14 days (except for the weekends and holidays) after the payment is fully received.

Typical Delivery Time

• European Countries: about 7-10 days;
• USA, Japan & other: about 10-14 days.

NOTE: Delivery time may increase because of postal services and/or customs. Please, don't worry and check location of your parcel using provided tracking number. In spite of delays all our previous lots have been successfully delivered!

The item will be packed very carefully!

WARNING!!!

List of countries to which we can send expedited international shipping (UPS express):

United States of America, Canada, Australia, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of), Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova (Republic of), Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Korea (Republic of), Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Viet Nam

RETURNS/REFUNDS

1. You have 3 days to contact us and 5 days to return it from the date it was received. If this item is in your possession more than 3 days, it is considered used and we will not issue you a refund or replacement. There are no exceptions!
2. All returned items must be in the original packaging and you must provide us with the shipping tracking number, specific reason for the return, and your eBay ID.
3. We will refund your full winning bid amount, upon receipt of the item in its original condition and packaging with all components and accessories included, after both Buyer and Seller cancel the transaction from eBay or you may choose to have a replacement.
4. Return shipping is to be paid by the Buyer.

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