VOSTOK | Komandirskie 211398 216398 Mechanical Wrist Watch

If you were to judge this watch purely on specifications, then you would have a cheap, dated, inaccurate, toy-like mess. If that's the case, how does this watch manage to have an almost cult-like following?Straight out of the box, this watch is charming in its quirkiness. It is 2023, but here you get a watch that was designed in 1965.Instead of sapphire or mineral glass, you have domed lucite-acyrlic.Instead of a screw-down caseback, you have a keyed press-fit caseback with a screw-down securing ring.Instead of a spring-loaded screw-down crown protected by crown-guards, you have a screw-down crown which is de-coupled from the stem and 'wobbles around' to protect it from shocks.Instead of automatic-winding, you have hand-winding only (and no hacking!)Instead of a 90 or 120 click unidirectional bezel with markings, you get a friction only bidirectional bezel with NO markings (which serves no practical purpose!)Instead of a quick-date setting, you have to set the date by winding the hands past 12 o'clock, then back to the 9 o'clock position, then past 12 o'clock, and so on...Accuracy is rated at an unimpressive-30 to +60 seconds a day. On the timegrapher, my watch is running at -5 seconds per day, with almost NO positional deviation. That's pretty phenomenal, and what you expect from a watch costing thousands!The lume isn't great, but it is functional. I charged my lume at 11pm, and by 7am the following day it was still visible (albeit very weak)It cost just under £80. It has a 10 year service interval (compare with Seiko at 5 years, and Tudor at 3!)*WARNING** : If you decide to buy this watch, it will have you questioning all the other watches in your collection. The value proposition is amazing. Just excellent!