[jiraiya]

Hi Guys,
I just received my first amphibian blue scuba dude from Zenitar. I bout one for my buddy too. I have been looking forward to it like a kid at christmas everyday until it arrived and I was not disappointed. Being a fan of tool/functional watches this watch is everything I want and more. I have just a few questions if ye would not mind sharing some expertise with me.

1- Can having to turn the hands so much to set the date damage or have any negative effect on the movement. I'm most likely being over cautious but I was curious and I suppose there is no harm in asking. For instance if you did not initially know about the quick set, would going through the 24hr rotations to set it the first time do any damage.

2- The hands are perfect, and pretty much on the money with the indices. Is it normal for the hour hand not to be exactly dead centre with the indices when the minute hand is at 12. This is almost definitely being too anal as they are almost perfectly on the indices. Also I checked this on my buddies watch and his is the same.

I absolutely love the watch and will post some wrist shots this evening.:-!

Thanks,
Barry.

 

[Lindstrom]

I too had reservations about the quick-set date hack. Initially I used it as it's such a time saver but found the second hand would often stick and took some prodding get running again. Since that time, I always use 24hr rotations to set the date. Yes, it's a huge pain the the butt but I figure this is only for the initial setting as in the future I should be no more than a couple days off the mark and it's not a big deal to set it with standard rotations. In the end I decided that it was safer to use standard rotations than break the movement and then having to find someone in the States that could repair it. Not an easy task, I'd imagine. I also decided long ago that the quick-set was not a risk I would take with my vintage Vostok's ;-)

As for the hands, I would have to say that being off the indices by a hair is normal. All of my Vostoks are this way, as well as some of my other watch brands as well. I'm sure this could be corrected by a watchmaker but it's close enough for me that I don't really notice it very much. Your mileage may vary :-d

 

[jiraiya]

Thanks a million Lindstrom, exactly the advice I was after to a tee. I think I have caught a bug regarding Vostoks, I'm already looking at the other dials available and I reckon I will be back to Zenitar for more before too long. I will have to build a tunnel into the house or something to get them all by the wife without her noticing hahaha. Thanks again.

 

[CCCP]

The only real problem is the wear of the movement when you set the date. Going backwards shouldn't be an issue since movements are designed to avoid such damage and the instruction manual explicitly tell going back and forth.
Anyway setting the movement means that the cannon pinion slips on the shaft of the center wheel, and this put wear on both of them. This means that it's not a good idea moving the date too many days, and 24hr rotations put more stress on the cannon pinion than going back and forth. Once the date is set you only have to advance one day in 30d months and three on feubrary.
Personally I avoid setting the date when it's more than 5 days off.

P.S. About point 2 it's not a big problem, it just means the hands are slightly misaligned. Any watchmaker can fix it in a matter of minutes removing the hand and putting them again wit accurate alignment.

 

[jiraiya]

Great information. Doing this only once when the watch arrived would not cause significant wear would it? It was at 23 and I advanced it to 15th. But from now on it will only be the day so is this pretty much ok?

 

[CCCP]

Great information. Doing this only once when the watch arrived would not cause significant wear would it? It was at 23 and I advanced it to 15th. But from now on it will only be the day so is this pretty much ok?

Once it's not a problem, doing it over and over would cause unnecessary wear for the movement. ;-)
If the watch is worn everyday (as it was the case in the Soviet Union) it will only need to advance the date 7 times per year and we have around watches used more than 30-40 years and working fine (that means about 210 to 280 date adjustments). :-!

 

[rothko]

Buy a new 2416b movement from Zenitar for $35 to use as a spare, then enjoy the heck out of your Amphibian. Wear that sucker out if you can - don't worry about anything! Fow the price, you could even buy another complete watch as a backup to be kept pristine for yourself... or think what a great gift/ heirloom a brand new 2011 Amphibian would make 20 or 30 years from now!

 

[howie77]

... or think what a great gift/ heirloom a brand new 2011 Amphibian would make 20 or 30 years from now!

I often wonder about this!

I think part of the attraction to CCCP era watches (amongst other collectables, I suppose) is down to the dissolution of the State, a piece of history. Would in generations to come a piece of our contemporary society have the same attraction? Who knows, but they sure are collectable all the same.