Material Sources

Below you will find a list of suppliers that either I have used in the past, or are mentioned as reliable sources in well established forums such as WUS and /r/vostok on reddit. 

CASEBACKS

Solid Casebacks, Clear Casebacks,  and Caseback retaining rings.

CASES

Bare Casebacks with attached crystal, gaskets, and case specific winding stem/crown assembly.

MOVEMENTS/PARTS

 New Movements, Used Movements, Movement Specific Parts and Screws, Movement holders

PARTS

Datewheels, crowns, stems, gaskets, crystals, gilt rings, movement holders, lug adapters. (Kind of a catch all for sites that dont have specific ranges per se)

DIALS

New or NOS vostok dials.

VINTAGE DIALS

Includes Dials that have been removed from doner watches.  May also include salvage for parts non working watches (dial doners)

HANDS

Standard New hands, new custom hands, used hands

Bezel Modding

THE VOSTOK BEZEL

Height 3.7 mm.
Outer Diameter 39.7 mm.
Inner Diameter 31.2 mm
Outer Base Size 38,3 mm.
Inner Base Size 33.7mm.

• Bezel insert accepted:  Inner  Diameter of 31.5 and an Outer diameter of 38mm.
• The Retaining Spring is made of brass or spring steel and had a diameter of .5mm.
• The bezels on the standard, non-SE Amphibia models, are chrome plated brass. The chrome is fairly durable and evenly applied.  SE models have stainless steel bezels.
• All bezels are bi-directional: they will turn both ways. They turn freely with no clicks.
  The friction can be adjusted by slightly adjusting the shape of the thin wire which holds the bezel in place
• Aftermarket bezels made for Amphibia will also fit the Komenderskies.

WHAT FITS WHAT

Most bezels will fit most cases. The exception:

Vostok factory bezels made for the larger cases (# 090 , 100 and 110) are slightly wider, and will not allow enough space for the crown on the smaller cases because these cases are slightly larger and are sold with a slightly wider bezel.  ANY bezel will fit these cases, but the bezels sold with these cases WILL NOT fit the smaller cases (060, 100, 120, 420, 710 / SE cases 150, 960)  Any bezel not from a #90, 100, or 110 case will fit any other Amphibia or Komenderskie. 

Bezel Inserts & How to install them onto your blank

Aftermarket vostok bezels are made to accept a FLAT bezel insert that has an inner diameter of 31.5 and an outer diameter of 38mm. This opens up your choices of insert immensely as that is the size that the Seiko SKXxxx uses, and therefore there are a huge amount of aftermarket inserts from a huge number of outlets.

Bezel inserts can be made from aluminium, ceramic, steel, and sapphire. Some have lume, some don’t. I could take you down the rabbit hole of all the different bezel markings and their functions, but I will spare you.

My favorites are dlwwatches.com, and namokimods.com but a quick web search for “Skx bezel insert” will return pages of results.  Also Aliexpress has a bunch of inexpensive options, just make sure they’re the right size and that they are flat.

Adhering and Removing Bezel Inserts

To adhere the bezel insert to the bezel blank you can use a sticker made for SKX bezels, or any type of adhesive that works with metal.  I prefer the stickers because they are easier to remove later. Using superglue works, but you are making your life harder down the road when you have to remove it.

Be sure to clean the mounting surface of the insert and bezel with acetone (nail polish remover) and wipe dry before installation.  It is best practice to install the bezel onto the watch, then apply the insert. This way there is no chance of damage to the insert while you are forcing the bezel back to the case. The nice thing about friction spring bezels is that you never have to worry about misalignment of the insert so the pip does not exactly line up with the indices when turned. Vostok bezels always line up.

If the bezel you are removing was applied with a bezel sticker, you can use a hair dryer for a couple minutes to weaken the adhesion. Then gently work around the bezel with a flat tool to pry it out.

Tips:

If this is your first time, the very first step you should take is to watch the videos in the video section at the bottom of this page.

Here’s some lessons I have learned about bezel modding:

Be careful. Pry away from your other hand.
I tend to use the bezel spring from the bezel I am replacing in the new bezel. Seems to snap into place the on the first try most of the time.
When installing the new bezel, twist slightly while pushing down.

• If the bezel does not want to go on with a reasonable amount of force- don’t try to force it- there is something that needs to be adjusted or tucked in better.   If this happens click here for a trouble shooting guide from Dave Murphy. 
• If the bezel is too loose (or tight) when you spin it, remove and adjust the angles of the bezel spring.
• You should be able to give it a healthy tug and have it stay in place. If it pops off too easy- adjust the angles of the bezel spring.
• Buy a few extra bezel springs.

Dials

There are many standard dial designs available for Vostok Amphibias and Komandirskies, but that's only part of the story. Vostok also produced hundreds of non-standard dials over the years. During the Soviet era, factories, organizations, military branches, and government agencies frequently commissioned custom dials for anniversaries, commemorative events, service awards, and special presentations. When you add all of these together, there may well be thousands of unique Vostok dial designs in existence.

The standard Vostok dial diameter is 28.5mm, which happens to be the same size used by many Seiko watches. Unfortunately, Seiko dial feet and date windows do not line up with Vostok movements. In practice, this means only non-date Seiko dials are good candidates for modification. To install one, you'll need to remove the original dial feet and either attach the dial using adhesive dial dots or solder new 0.75mm dial feet in the proper locations.

There are also countless generic 28.5mm non-date dials available on AliExpress and eBay that can be adapted with the same methods.

On the Vostok 24xx movement family, the dial feet are positioned roughly at the 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions on the underside of the dial and are secured by small pinch screws in the movement. I have also successfully used dials from older 22xx movements by simply removing the original feet and attaching them with dial dots.

In fact, I've been known to buy inexpensive lots of old Amphibias and Komandirskies just to harvest interesting dials for future projects.

If you're cleaning an original dial, use only a soft brush, a little water, and cotton swabs. Never use acetone, lacquer thinner, or any aggressive solvent, as these can quickly dissolve the paint, printing, or protective varnish.

Vostok Lume

Factory Vostok lume has never been one of the brand's strong points. In fact, after the infamous "chocolate kiss foil wrapper" bracelets, the lume is probably the weakest aspect of an otherwise rugged watch.

eBay seller FAVINOV offers beautifully restored classic-style dials and hands that have been hand-relumed with Super-LumiNova, available in both green and blue. The application is thick, clean, and impressively bright. Highly recommended.

If you prefer the DIY route, reluming a dial and hands is entirely possible with aftermarket lume compound, a toothpick, and a steady hand. As you practice, keep notes on your powder-to-binder ratios. Getting the right viscosity is the key to producing smooth, even lume plots.

Repainting a Dial

If you want to completely refinish a dial, begin by stripping the original paint with acetone. Once clean, lightly sand the surface with 1000-grit sandpaper, then degrease it thoroughly until water sheets evenly across the metal.

Apply a self-etching or metal-specific primer before your final color coat. When painting, several light passes will always produce a better finish than one heavy coat.

Custom Graphics

For custom logos or graphics, I highly recommend the laser-printer waterslide transfer system from Sunnyscopa. The process is straightforward: apply the transfer, heat it gently with a hair dryer, and then peel away the carrier film, leaving only the printed image on the dial.

Before attempting your final piece, practice on a spare or dummy dial. There is definitely a learning curve involving the right amount of heat, transfer gel, and timing. On a painted dial, you generally only get one good attempt.

Trust me—I once had to painstakingly chip off a bad transfer, and it's not an experience I'd recommend unless there are absolutely no other options.

One limitation I've found is that very small text doesn't transfer particularly well. In my experience, lettering much smaller than about 1mm tends to lose crispness.

Hands

Replacing the hands requires patience, but it is one of the most rewarding modifications you can make.

I strongly recommend buying hands specifically designed for the movement in your watch. The vast majority of modern Vostoks use some variation of the 24xx movement family, and almost all aftermarket Vostok hands are made to fit these calibers.

Older watches equipped with 22xx movements require different hand sizes, and compatible replacements are much harder to find.

For an excellent walkthrough on hand replacement, check out the video by THE VOSTOKAHOLIC below. While you're there, do yourself a favor and watch the rest of his channel. If enough of us subscribe and show some support, maybe he'll start making videos again.

 AUTOMATIC VOSTOK MOVEMENTS

ALL MOVEMENTS WILL FIT ALL COMMON CASES. THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO MATCH IS THE HAND DIAL COMBINATION.  YOU WILL STILL NEED TO BUY A WINDING STEM TO MATCH YOUR CASE.

The only other variable is the date window- for a 6 o’clock date window, you will still use the same movement, but may need to supply a vertical date wheel.

If you install an automatic movement into a case that formally had a hand-wound only movement, you may need to buy a new case back