Vostok Europe is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and the Russian-made watch brand plans to celebrate with an aggressive expansion into Western Europe.
Vostok Europe describes itself as an extreme watch brand for extreme customers. Its timepieces have been worn by the world’s greatest free diver and several national rally champions. In 2012 the company’s N1 Rocket Tritium watches were tested on a two week expedition into the 2km deep Krubera-Voronia cave, the deepest cave in the world.
Vostok Europe makes its own movements in a factory in Russia, and also offers Japanese-made Seiko units in some of its newer models, including its 10th Anniversary Expedition watches, which have a unique combination of a mechanical movement powered by quartz instead of a mainspring, Vilma Alekniene, the company’s international sales manager told WatchPro when we met at Baselworld.
Other watches in Vostok Europe’s 2014 line up, all given names drawn from Russia’s rich history, include Lunokhod 2 (a 1973 unmanned lunar rover), Rocket N-1 (the rocket that launched soviet astronauts into space); Mriya (a large Russian cargo plane), and GAZ – 14 (the official limousine of Soviet leaders in the 1970s and 80s)
Vostok Europe has been active in the UK market for a year, working with its agent Kevin Reynolds of Arbro Limited. The brand has already featured in a trial on a TV shopping channel, but Alekniene admits that the company is in the very early stages of establishing itself and wants to push forward this year.
An appearance at July’s London Watch Show is being discussed with the brand’s UK agent, Alekniene told WatchPro.
I have been collecting Vostok watches for a long time, every one is so different in design and style just love the make.