6 years ago, when in-between cars, I hired a ‘98 Magna for 5 weeks from Rent A Bomb and expected my time with it to be torture. But the reality was very different. Its ratty condition meant I could park it anywhere and not worry. I got zero attention on the road. The stereo had a cassette deck, so I listened to my dad’s music collection, which filled me with nostalgia. So when I eventually had to return it, there was sadness.                                      The Vostok Komandirskie, an impulsive Ebay purchase, is similar. It was $120 and when it arrived, I had forgotten that I had bought it in the first place. The case is inelegantly-shaped and there’s no fancy finishing or interplays of brushed and polished surfaces here. The Vostok Komandirskie is as cold and as uniform as a Soviet-era block of flats. Other components are equally crude. The bezel feels imprecise. The crown is flimsy and the mechanism is very basic. The seconds don’t hack, there’s no quick-set date function and the power reserve is only 36hrs. Despite all this however, the more I wear it, the more I fall for its charms.

The WatchCheck app says that it’s currently running at +5 sec/day. The 100m of water resistance allows me to do everything I would in the normal course of my life. And while I initially hated the idea of the acrylic crystal, I’ve come to enjoy the shimmery distortions that it creates at the edges. The Russian text that adorns the dial gives the watch a slightly exotic flavour.

So this little watch might have been bought on a whim, almost as a bit of a joke, it has endeared itself to me, much like that old Magna did. It happens to sit next to my Grand Seiko Snowflake in the watch box, and is 1/78th of the price. It should come as no surprise to anyone when I say that the Vostok makes me appreciate the Grand Seiko even more. But what has been truly surprising is how much the opposite is equally true.