Unknown watch brand. Help!!!

[JseTay]

Someone sent me this watch to repair, but I can’t even understand the name that is on the dial. Does anyone have any knowledge of what brand this watch is and if I can get some parts for it? The winding pinion is cracked in half, but I don’t know where I can parts for this watch because I can’t even identify the brand. Thank you for any help!

[mbwatch]

This is a Vostok Komandirskie made in the Soviet Union. The movement is a Vostok 2414 (or 2414a since it has a date indicator). https://17jewels.info/movements/w/wostok/wostok-2414a/

It should be possible to find parts donor movements inexpensively on ebay or on etsy.com from sellers in eastern Europe.

I believe @VWatchie knows a lot about these and probably can advise on parts sourcing.

Edited March 27 by mbwatch

[JseTay]

Wow! Mbwatch, you have no idea how much I value your help! I couldn’t even figure out the name on the dial. I will see if I can find a donor movement on eBay. Again thank you so much for your help!

[Nucejoe]

 No problem, Neven understands Russian, not morning his local time yet ,  he got a lathe you know, on which he makes anything in a jif.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HectorLooi]

There are many old Russian movements available on ebay. Many of the parts are interchangeable. I'll leave @nevenbekriev to advise you.

[AndyGSi]

This maybe of interest to you.

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

That a good read Andy, Hakan has terrific knowledge on Russian watches.

[JseTay]

Thank you everyone for the replies and the help! Definitely not an expert on Russian watches, but surely all this information really helped me!

[VWatchie]

12 hours ago, mbwatch said:

The movement is a Vostok 2414 (or 2414a since it has a date indicator)

All Vostok 2414 movements have a date complication, regardless of whether they include the small "a" or not. I believe—but I'm not entirely sure—that the small "a" indicates the movement has chamfered bridges, as shown on the 17jewels.info page you linked. Vostok 2409 in the calibre w/o a date complication.

The watch is a Russian Komandirskie Paratrooper, which, in my opinion, has the coolest dial—so, of course, I own one myself  СДЕЛАНО В СССР is Cyrillic letters for MADE IN USSR. My Paratrooper has the inscription "ЗАКАЗ МО СССР" on the dial, meaning "By Order of the Ministry of Defense of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic," which is more desirable among collectors.

The only difference between the Vostok 2409 and the Vostok 2414 is the date complication. Here is my service walkthrough of the 2409:

And if you need help with the date complication, you can read the following post:

12 hours ago, mbwatch said:

It should be possible to find parts donor movements inexpensively on ebay or on etsy.com from sellers in eastern Europe.

Exactly! eBay is usually a good place. With a bit of luck, you can find a whole batch of movements for very little money.

Unfortunately, Russian sellers are no longer on eBay since they were removed, so you’ll have to turn to mostly Ukrainian alternatives. However, don't trust Ukrainian sellers. They often promise much more than they deliver, and in many cases, they are borderline fraudulent.

The Russian sellers were generally more honest, service-oriented, and faster, although, of course, there were a few bad apples among them as well.

A little anecdote about Russians:

When I was new to servicing and repairing watches, I had no idea that parts could be found on eBay. So, I emailed Dimitry at meranom.com and asked if he could help me with some screws for a Vostok movement, telling him I was willing to pay well.

Ten minutes later, I received a friendly reply saying he could send the screws later that afternoon if I could transfer $10 to his PayPal to cover the shipping cost. When I insisted on also paying for the screws and his trouble, he refused to accept any extra money and simply wished me "good luck." My screws arrived in less than two weeks!

Later, I started talking to many Russians on the Russian forum at watchuseek.com, and they were always very helpful and friendly. So, it’s no surprise that this further fueled my interest in Russian watches.

This is a picture of my latest "love" that I just serviced and repaired—a Raketa Big Zero. It’s said that Mikhail Gorbachev wore this watch during a visit to Italy in the 1980s, though this hasn’t been confirmed.

Edited March 27 by VWatchie

[mbwatch]

37 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

The only difference between the Vostok 2409 and the Vostok 2414 is the date complication. Here is my service walkthrough of the 2409:

@VWatchie Since it seems like the more recent (80's/90's) movements like the 2414 & 2416 are not always as easy to find bulk donors as the older movements like the 2209, can you comment on parts interchangeability of the more basic parts like the OP's broken winding pinion?

To OP: I will add that I have not had any bad experiences with Ukrainian sellers on either ebay or etsy, typically about 3 weeks for delivery to USA. The only thing that went less than according to plan was a parts watch I bought which the seller then could not find in inventory. He sent me 4 others with the same movement instead.

[JohnL]

VWatchie's service walk-throughs are excellent. There are also excellent videos on YT for working on Vostoks

I've found some Ukrainian sellers on eBay good for buying movements for parts. Most issues, where they're sold as movements, can be seen where pictures of front and back are provided.

I don't want to get political here, many, many people do not agree with their governments: I've recently bought movements on eBay that from a seller in a country purported to be politically aligned with Ukraine, and on the border with Russia. The watch was sent from well inside Russia. After receiving it I checked the details again and the country it was to be sent from differed from the seller's country, and neither were Russia.

 

3 hours ago, mbwatch said:

can you comment on parts interchangeability of the more basic parts like the OP's broken winding pinion?

Most parts like that are interchangeable between the 24xx series I think. VWatchies link earlier covers most that aren't obvious.

[VWatchie]

3 hours ago, mbwatch said:

Since it seems like the more recent (80's/90's) movements like the 2414 & 2416 are not always as easy to find bulk donors as the older movements like the 2209, can you comment on parts interchangeability of the more basic parts like the OP's broken winding pinion?

I'm sorry I can't as I have zero experience with the earlier 22xx calibres. That said, In the past (I haven't checked recently), I've seen several lots on eBay with the 2409 and 2414 movements. The automatic calibres such as the 2415, 2416, and 2431, etc., are much less common.

3 hours ago, mbwatch said:

I will add that I have not had any bad experiences with Ukrainian sellers on either ebay or etsy

That's great!  I guess my bad experiences come from when I was new and bought many, many complete watches. The Ukrainian sellers always overstated the status of the watches and would almost always say "Serviced by Master Watchmaker". When they arrived, they would most often tick, but the inside was a rat's nest. Well, it suited me well as I bought them to learn repair and service, but for a normal buyer, it would have been a major disappointment. I seldom had these kinds of problems with the Russians. BTW, in my opinion, watches have nothing to do with politics.