[A73M]

Hi all
Last birthday I was presented with the best, most thoughtful gift I've ever had....a vintage Boctok watch, and I cherish it hugely!
Unfortunately my teenage son decided to borrow it without asking and proceeded to overwind it and then drop it cracking the glass.
I'm wondering if anyone can identify the exact model and point me in the direction of somewhere I can source the replacement glass or have it fully repaired (the UK if possible).
Attaching pics
Many thanks in advance

 

[joedigital]

Hi,

the crystal and mainspring can be repaired at pretty much any watchmaker as its a pretty simple job. the watch is a Vostok, I don't believe they have names or models for all their watches but im not a Russian watch expert

I would go on Ebay and just type in Vintage Vostok and you will find listings like the following 2 i found quick that are pretty similar.

VOSTOK Vintage 2409 Early Watch USSR WOSTOK Retro Soviet Rare Men Wristwatch | eBay

Find best value and selection for your VOSTOK Vintage 2409 Early Watch USSR WOSTOK Retro Soviet Rare Men Wristwatch search on eBay. World's leading marketplace.

www.ebay.ca

Original Soviet USSR Vostok vintage wrist watch 17 jewels RARE model working | eBay

Find best value and selection for your Original Soviet USSR Vostok vintage wrist watch 17 jewels RARE model working search on eBay. World's leading marketplace.

www.ebay.ca

best of luck. 🖐

 

[Avidfan]

To help on the model number here's a page from a Vostok catalogue from around 1990, it looks like yours is a 548345 with a 2409A movement (top row third one along)...

 

[A73M]

Excellent, thanks guys, looks like I came to the right place.
Any ideas on how easy it is to source the glass as the jeweller I visited in my lunch hour said £500 as an early estimate

 

[SuffolkGerryW]

Excellent, thanks guys, looks like I came to the right place.
Any ideas on how easy it is to source the glass as the jeweller I visited in my lunch hour said £500 as an early estimate

A case for the 'Yorkshire Battle Cry' - "HOW MUCH?!?!"

 

[Kotsov]

Or Geordie “Hadawaynshiteman”.

 

[mightymiloquinn]

Excellent, thanks guys, looks like I came to the right place.
Any ideas on how easy it is to source the glass as the jeweller I visited in my lunch hour said £500 as an early estimate

Yikes! I mean, you can buy a full watch with that case style for under $50. Others can likely point out better sources for crystals.

 

[Avidfan]

Any ideas on how easy it is to source the glass as the jeweller I visited in my lunch hour said £500 as an early estimate

You should realize your watch is worth about £20...

£500 really is taking the p*ss...

 

[joedigital]

Excellent, thanks guys, looks like I came to the right place.
Any ideas on how easy it is to source the glass as the jeweller I visited in my lunch hour said £500 as an early estimate

lol... you can probably buy 10 of those watches for that much

 

[joedigital]

lol... you can probably buy 10 of those watches for that much

The LOL meaning that £500 to replace a crystal and a mainspring is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, im thinking more like $80 Canadian or so but even then you might consider just buying a new one from ebay for that much.

 

[stadiou]

If you measure the crystal carefully it is highly likely thatCousins would have a suitable replacement. It may well be cheaper for you to source a complete new movement from Meranom that have somebody replace the spring and service yours.

 

[Odessa200]

After reading all this... let me give, what I think, a practice advice:

This watch has some sentimental value to you and you want to restore it. Paying 10 times the value of the watch does not make sense. Search ebay for Russian watchmakers. Ship the watch to Russia or Ukraine. Get it fixed. I would estimate total cost under 100$. Alternatively, find a buy a donor watch and find a reasonable watchmaster. The job like this will take under 1h. Your guy wants to make 500 in 1h? Then he is probably only doing Rolexes and other luxury brands....

 

[A73M]

Thanks for all your help and advice.
I think the £500 repair estimate was basically an "If I say £500 he'll go away" amount. So I will.... and I did have my grandfathers ww2 RAF watch to service too so they missed out on business.
My oldest friend bought the Vostok for me last year a few weeks before she died..... so yep, huge sentimental value to it. So I think I shall try to purchase a donor watch and get someone who knows what they're doing to swap things around

 

[Odessa200]

Thanks for all your help and advice.
I think the £500 repair estimate was basically an "If I say £500 he'll go away" amount. So I will.... and I did have my grandfathers ww2 RAF watch to service too so they missed out on business.
My oldest friend bought the Vostok for me last year a few weeks before she died..... so yep, huge sentimental value to it. So I think I shall try to purchase a donor watch and get someone who knows what they're doing to swap things around

Yes, watchmaster do that: give ‘go away quote’. Truth is: he does not know what this watch is. He is careful. People who work with this watches know that there is a huge % of breaking off footer from the small chrono hand. Finding a replacement is super hard. Fixing not always possible and takes time. As we saw with a super qualified Pro who serviced 3133 and released video: he made a mistake and did not set quick calendar function (and also broke the hand). If the client pays 500$ and the calendar does not work as before he will bring back the watch (and that is again expense for the watchmaster). So he knows from his practice to overestimate watches that he has no parts for and never seen before.

 

[Kotsov]

Or they could just be honest with you.

 

[Ligavesh]

Yes, watchmaster do that: give ‘go away quote’. Truth is: he does not know what this watch is. He is careful. People who work with this watches know that there is a huge % of breaking off footer from the small chrono hand. Finding a replacement is super hard. Fixing not always possible and takes time. As we saw with a super qualified Pro who serviced 3133 and released video: he made a mistake and did not set quick calendar function (and also broke the hand). If the client pays 500$ and the calendar does not work as before he will bring back the watch (and that is again expense for the watchmaster). So he knows from his practice to overestimate watches that he has no parts for and never seen before.

that's why I hoard 3133s in all shapes and sizes, so that when one goes wrong, I could (theoretically) replace the whole movement.

 

[SuffolkGerryW]

Yes, watchmaster do that: give ‘go away quote’. Truth is: he does not know what this watch is. He is careful. People who work with this watches know that there is a huge % of breaking off footer from the small chrono hand. Finding a replacement is super hard. Fixing not always possible and takes time. As we saw with a super qualified Pro who serviced 3133 and released video: he made a mistake and did not set quick calendar function (and also broke the hand). If the client pays 500$ and the calendar does not work as before he will bring back the watch (and that is again expense for the watchmaster). So he knows from his practice to overestimate watches that he has no parts for and never seen before.

Mind you, he could have just given the answer that a local watch repairer/jewellers gave me, sorry, we can't guarantee the repair, so we won't work on it - honest, and didn't harm customer relations (I'll still take a watch to them to see if they'll work on it)