VOSTOK EUROPE
OF
t turns out size does matter. At least it clearly does when it
comes to watches.
Let’s be clear up front. This is not a piece about the
trends in the size of watches in general. But the latest offer-
one would call more “traditionally” sized watches.
Recently Vostok-Europe decided to call it “compact.” For the bet-
ter part of the past decade, Vostok-Europe has been moving to larger
watch cases as well. It’s not unreasonable. There slogan is “For Going
ing from Vostok-Europe is definitely a reflection of what is happening to Extremes” and they build big, aggressive watches with high water
in that area. resistance, rugged materials, top-grade illumination, and, well, bulk.
Ask any watch manufacturer what their most difficult design
That direction has come at a price, to a degree. And price is the
decisions are, and the size of the case will inevitably be in the top five. correct word. Those bigger, bolder, feature-loaded watches are more
Arguably, that decision alone will determine which group of watch buy- expensive – at least by boutique and niche watch standards. It pushed
ers will be interested in the watch and which won’t. It’s a demarcation many of the VE watches near the $1,000 mark.
line for many watch fans.
For much of the last decade, companies were fairly safe going
This also didn’t leave a lot of room for the customer who discov-
ers Vostok-Europe but isn’t an outsized watch fan or just doesn’t want
bigger and bigger. Some even went well past 50 mm, which would to leap all the way to the Energia, which is VE’s largest cased watch
have gotten you laughed out of the room 15 years ago. In recent all around.
years though, there has been a marked trend back to smaller, or what
72 | AboutTime Magazine
So, last year VE decided to redesign their hugely popular Expedi-