Company Portrait - VOSTOK-EUROPE

Against a backdrop of emerging worldwide interest in Russian watches, Vostok-Europe debuted in 2003. Its striking new vision of cost effectiveness, inherent quality and the pedigree of the eldest and largest Russian watchmaker quickly established the brand as force among European watchmakers.

Since being unveiled at “Baselworld 2004” the brand has steadily grown in prominence and popularity. The cornerstone of Vostok-Europe was the marriage of the enormous potential of the watch movement factory of Vostok with a groundbreaking design and marketing philosophy focused on unparalleled quality for the price.

Conceived with the intention to compete on the level of the finest and most aggressive Western watchmakers, Vostok-Europe developed a sales and marketing strategy with an unmistakable brand identity and a style to rival anything in its category. Under the slogan “the best Soviet technologies for modern watch design”, each member of the Vostok-Europe model line is inspired by, and christened with, a Soviet technological, architectural or cultural achievement.

The seeds for this new brand were sewn in Lithuania. There, a watch-making team in Vilnius had been building models for other major Russian brands since the early 1990s. Realizing the growing interest in Russian watches and with intent to capitalize on a vast untapped market, Vilnius and Tschistopol (the home of Vostok) created a joint venture of tradition and innovation now known as Koliz-Vostok.

At the urging of Koliz, the two companies brought together the brightest and most ingenious of the talented watch and movement designers from both bases of operation. Their collaboration resulted in the development of original and exclusive case and movement designs to create the all-new Vostok-Europe line. Specifically, the first exclusive movement grew from the approved 2416 to give all the new VE styles a day & night and 24-hour indicator. Owing to the favourable business climate in Lithuania, a European Union member nation, the home base and chief operations hub remains in Vilnius.

Harkening back to the styles of the sixties and seventies, the first models drew inspiration from space and jet-aircraft exploration pioneers of the then Soviet Union. Building on the concept of “Soviet Techno Design”, subsequent models honoured Soviet and Russian nautical, automotive and other aeronautic accomplishments, among many others.

But more than just an homage or a moniker to simply justify marketing campaigns, the models are designed as true reflections of their namesakes, incorporating shapes, styles, colours and mechanical elements of the achievements they honour.

For example, the rectangular sharp-edged stainless steel case of the "Arktika" watch line is similar to the ship trunk of the famous icebreaker that was the first to reach the North Pole. Ship rivets on the case, the wavy relief on the dial, as well as the second hand in the form of an anchor stress the maritime style of the "Arktika" model.

Similarly, the AN-225 “Mriya” and the N1 Rocket models incorporate key elements of their inspirations. At present the largest transport aircraft in the world, the Mriya airplane was developed at the Antonov design office and was a natural choice for a Vostok-Europe model. The rotating bezel and crown are made to resemble the turbine impellers of the “jumbo queen” and they sit on a 43-mm case to reflect the size of the plane.

The world’s largest rocket, the N1, as a basis for a model, led to the new modification 2426 of the Vostok movement 2416 with the addition of a central 24-hour hand for the first time. The form of the N1 case is reminiscent of the first stage of the Soviet rocket, built originally for implementing a moon-shot program. Still today, this rocket remains the largest and strongest of all rockets ever manufactured. The additional hour-hand and rotating bezel with 24-hour indicator made it possible for the first time to successfully carry out the "dual time" function based on a Vostok watch movement as well.

With this unified and unprecedented concept and execution, along with an aggressive advertising campaign, the Vostok-Europe line became well known in Western Europe within just one year. Now, less than 36 months later, Vostok-Europe is establishing a foothold in North America. Major watch publications, such as Chronos, International Watch, Uhren-Magazin and Europe-Star have written editorial features on the brand. In addition, Vostok-Europe is sold through television sales channels, such as Shop-NBC, in both the US and in Great Britain.

All the while, the inherent quality has been maintained as the foundation for the marketing strategy. Vostok-Europe holds the distinction of being the first Russian watch to have been tested by the German watch magazine Chronos. Even the manufacturers found themselves surprised by the results of the January 2005 test, which returned a rating of 69 points. This compared to 71 points for a Tissot model “1853” and 73 points earned by a Longines’ “Evindenza” in the same issue. However, VE alone received a note in the column for “excellent cost-effectiveness.”

VE watches also garnered the distinction of serving as the official timekeepers of the Expedition Trophy Rally 2005, the longest winter race in a single country. This served as a true test of reliability under difficult to extreme road and weather conditions in a rally from Murmansk to Vladivostok, covering a total distance of 12,000 km. The Vostok-Europe performance led to a repeat as official watch for the coming rally in 2006.

The founders of the VE project set out with the goal to manufacture a product unique from all well-known Russian watch brands. Because of the new movements, up-to-date design and unified brand marketing they succeeded even faster than they could have expected. Within one and a half years since the company’s launch, Vostok-Europe has made its way from the stage of preliminary technical drawings to a reliably functioning watch company with a sales network in 14 highly developed countries from the US and Western Europe to South-East Asia.