After becoming bit by the Vostok bug, I then was tempted to start doing mods. At first I thought maybe I would just swap the straps and actual bezels and inserts. Then an admin from a Vostok group on facebook was kind enough to send me numerous bezels and random parts that I was free to play around with. I had about a dozen different bezels that came from Komandirskies and Amphibias that I could work on with little consequence. I recently had seen a few cases and bezel combos that had been stripped that looked really cool and vintage with brass being exposed. And since the cases the Dirskies come with start to wear rather quick I felt inclined to start with some bezels that would look cool if I decided to strip a case to match. I chose 4 different bezels to strip first as a test and to learn the basics. My one Dirskie was my training model with mods and it was chewed up and worn the most. Some spots were exposing brass through already as I sweat and work my watches hard in the Summer heat.
Note: I am not an alchemist, a chemistry major, or even a person very familiar with metals or chemicals. That being said take precaution if you choose to do this mod or any other mod that may result in injury or death. This is my personal take on stripping Vostok parts to get down to bare brass. There are many ways to do this, but this is my account. Be safe, follow the directions on the chemicals you use, and you should be fine. Im just a dude who likes watches and figured I could try doing this.
Supplies needed are:
Gloves
Two containers - Glass or Plastic
Toothbrush
Wooden chopsticks or skewers
A scrubby sponge - Green side and yellow side
Muriatic Acid - Concrete etching solution (Hydrochloric Acid or Spirit of Salt)
Water - Or added baking soda to water if you have it. Not required but good to have.
Also, parts you want to strip obviously.
Important note: the Dirskie cases and parts are all different. The gold tone colored cases and bezels are made of brass with a titanium nitride coating. The silver or chromed Dirskies are Brass that are chrome plated. To be fair this example and test I used only silver chromed Dirskie parts. In theory if you stripped either type the results would look the same in the end if done completely. As both types are the same base material.
Before I started I was very careful about reading the instructions for the Muriatic Acid. The fumes and any contact with the chemical needs to be minimized. If you plan on doing anything with chemicals you should be reading the directions and precautions first. For most applications of this concrete etching solution, the chemical needs to be cut with water. Again the instructions give the specifics on the ratios and amounts for how to use it for different applications. Do not use Muriatic Acid inside. Just plan on doing this mod outside to be safe. The acid I used was 30-35% hydrochloric acid.
Since the container of the chemical was in plastic I grabbed a tupperware bowl that was going to be thrown away to use for the Muriatic Acid. I had a glass jar for plain water to use as a stop solution to halt the chemical reaction. You can also mix in the water some baking soda to help stop the reaction even faster. In my plastic bowl of the acid I was a bit worried about how strong it would be pure straight from the bottle. What I did was a mixture of 50/50 chemical and water. This was just in case I noticed it was eating the brass parts too quickly. Later you can adjust accordingly after seeing how it initially reacts.
The first of the four pictured above I tried to remove as much of the finish I could with a green scrubby pad. It worked okay but was really really difficult. The acid bath is much easier.
In the beginning I bathed the four bezels in the 50/50 acid water solution for one minute. I dunked the parts from the acid bath into the stop solution of water and then checked them with the wood chopsticks. It was apparent the bubbles on the bezels were the reaction of the chemical on the parts. Do not use anything else to fetch the soaking items out of the acid. Wood After one minute and checking It was safe to say that it was working but with the 50/50 bath made it would take longer. The next few times around the 50/50 solution worked fine for 3-5 minute baths with the stop solution in between. After a couple of times of doing this I would scrub the parts with a clean toothbrush and scrubber pad to get any extra metals or finish off that may be loose. Be careful not to get the toothbrush in the acid bath or it will eat the bristles up. Use the chopsticks to get anything out of the acid bath.
After about 20 minutes of being careful I added more acid to the soaking bath. It was probably 75% acid and 25% water. This did help speed up the reaction process. I continued 3-5 minute cycles of sitting in the acid solution but I didn't let it sit unsupervised for very long. I think some people assume you can leave certain solutions sit overnight or for hours on end. I do not suggest doing this with Muriatic Acid on these Russian watch parts.
What I noticed what of the 4 bezels, 2 of them were cleaning up much quicker. The parts are not all made the same and its apparent. The two that were difficult to strip were coated either through a different process or were just different metals I thought. But it is possible the two that were difficult were better finished and just had more of the chrome plating on them. One bezel I even roughed up with a scouring pad before and realized that it was not the way to go about stripping these by hand. I assume after doing this experiment that all the parts and pieces of a Vostok watch will be different to work on. Not all the finishes were equal or the same. And all the parts looked slightly different after working on them for about an hour total. After an hour of soaking and scrubbing and rinsing, the 4 parts were about 80-90% completed. The acid bath turned green/bluish after a while. This seemed to be normal.
Dispose of the used acid properly. Seek instruction from label. Do not dump down drain directly. I cut the used portion (probably 1-2 cups worth of acid) with lots of water and then just disposed of it in my grass near my parking pad outside. It was harmless at this concentration when I poured it out.
The results were nice. The enamel or paint the factory uses did not appear affected by the acid. Which was fine if that is what you want. The brass underneath the chromed finish was very nice. It would look great left alone or with a forced patina. What I am really curious to see is if the brass would look good intentionally aged and with a nice patina on it. I will be looking to find the optimal solution to use to get the stock bezel paint off that wont damage the brass. The paint could be scraped out probably carefully with a toothpick made of wood or plastic but if there is a chemical that is safe to use on it, I will try that out. You can also buff the parts out with fine nail file blocks with different grits as well after its all done for a high polished shine on these brass parts.
After I did this soaking and rinsing, I used Acetone nail polish remover and worked on some of the numbers and enamel engraved areas. What I didn't expect was the enamel didnt come off in the acid, and it actually protected the chrome finish underneath. I may leave one like this to put on one of my projects but the other really nice one I am stripping completely. The metals all were slightly different even though they apparently are the same base brass. None of these were the same. None of them were predictable. Doing multiple pieces as a single project would be okay for a experiment like this, but I suggest cutting the acid down and working slow. Wouldn't want to ruin any pieces in this process.
The primary reason I wanted to write this up was to hopefully help and encourage people to mod their watches, especially Vostoks. With them being so easy to mod and cheap there is little to risk with the AK's of the watch world. So far all of my Russian watches have had their quirks. All of mine were right around the $30-35 mark and the parts are all over thanks to a cult community of fans. I appreciated getting my parts for free from the facebook group. This allowed me to not only test some methods I probably never would have. It also helped me to write this entry up to help new fans of the Vostok to take the plunge and to make their watch their own. This is my part of paying it forward to the watch community. And I really hope others can find this account somewhat useful and informative. When I searched how to videos and posts on this specific mod I came up with very little. Maybe some other folks will feel inclined to start doing the same and help others out with these more daunting mods. Between bead and sand blasting, chemical stripping, painting and powder coating, there is a huge list of ways to change the look of your Vostok and make it your own. You should try it if you do not mind tinkering and experimenting yourself. After all this is half the fun of Vostoks. Right?
Before I started I was very careful about reading the instructions for the Muriatic Acid. The fumes and any contact with the chemical needs to be minimized. If you plan on doing anything with chemicals you should be reading the directions and precautions first. For most applications of this concrete etching solution, the chemical needs to be cut with water. Again the instructions give the specifics on the ratios and amounts for how to use it for different applications. Do not use Muriatic Acid inside. Just plan on doing this mod outside to be safe. The acid I used was 30-35% hydrochloric acid.
The first of the four pictured above I tried to remove as much of the finish I could with a green scrubby pad. It worked okay but was really really difficult. The acid bath is much easier.
In the beginning I bathed the four bezels in the 50/50 acid water solution for one minute. I dunked the parts from the acid bath into the stop solution of water and then checked them with the wood chopsticks. It was apparent the bubbles on the bezels were the reaction of the chemical on the parts. Do not use anything else to fetch the soaking items out of the acid. Wood After one minute and checking It was safe to say that it was working but with the 50/50 bath made it would take longer. The next few times around the 50/50 solution worked fine for 3-5 minute baths with the stop solution in between. After a couple of times of doing this I would scrub the parts with a clean toothbrush and scrubber pad to get any extra metals or finish off that may be loose. Be careful not to get the toothbrush in the acid bath or it will eat the bristles up. Use the chopsticks to get anything out of the acid bath.
After about 20 minutes of being careful I added more acid to the soaking bath. It was probably 75% acid and 25% water. This did help speed up the reaction process. I continued 3-5 minute cycles of sitting in the acid solution but I didn't let it sit unsupervised for very long. I think some people assume you can leave certain solutions sit overnight or for hours on end. I do not suggest doing this with Muriatic Acid on these Russian watch parts.
What I noticed what of the 4 bezels, 2 of them were cleaning up much quicker. The parts are not all made the same and its apparent. The two that were difficult to strip were coated either through a different process or were just different metals I thought. But it is possible the two that were difficult were better finished and just had more of the chrome plating on them. One bezel I even roughed up with a scouring pad before and realized that it was not the way to go about stripping these by hand. I assume after doing this experiment that all the parts and pieces of a Vostok watch will be different to work on. Not all the finishes were equal or the same. And all the parts looked slightly different after working on them for about an hour total. After an hour of soaking and scrubbing and rinsing, the 4 parts were about 80-90% completed. The acid bath turned green/bluish after a while. This seemed to be normal.
Dispose of the used acid properly. Seek instruction from label. Do not dump down drain directly. I cut the used portion (probably 1-2 cups worth of acid) with lots of water and then just disposed of it in my grass near my parking pad outside. It was harmless at this concentration when I poured it out.
The results were nice. The enamel or paint the factory uses did not appear affected by the acid. Which was fine if that is what you want. The brass underneath the chromed finish was very nice. It would look great left alone or with a forced patina. What I am really curious to see is if the brass would look good intentionally aged and with a nice patina on it. I will be looking to find the optimal solution to use to get the stock bezel paint off that wont damage the brass. The paint could be scraped out probably carefully with a toothpick made of wood or plastic but if there is a chemical that is safe to use on it, I will try that out. You can also buff the parts out with fine nail file blocks with different grits as well after its all done for a high polished shine on these brass parts.
After I did this soaking and rinsing, I used Acetone nail polish remover and worked on some of the numbers and enamel engraved areas. What I didn't expect was the enamel didnt come off in the acid, and it actually protected the chrome finish underneath. I may leave one like this to put on one of my projects but the other really nice one I am stripping completely. The metals all were slightly different even though they apparently are the same base brass. None of these were the same. None of them were predictable. Doing multiple pieces as a single project would be okay for a experiment like this, but I suggest cutting the acid down and working slow. Wouldn't want to ruin any pieces in this process.
The primary reason I wanted to write this up was to hopefully help and encourage people to mod their watches, especially Vostoks. With them being so easy to mod and cheap there is little to risk with the AK's of the watch world. So far all of my Russian watches have had their quirks. All of mine were right around the $30-35 mark and the parts are all over thanks to a cult community of fans. I appreciated getting my parts for free from the facebook group. This allowed me to not only test some methods I probably never would have. It also helped me to write this entry up to help new fans of the Vostok to take the plunge and to make their watch their own. This is my part of paying it forward to the watch community. And I really hope others can find this account somewhat useful and informative. When I searched how to videos and posts on this specific mod I came up with very little. Maybe some other folks will feel inclined to start doing the same and help others out with these more daunting mods. Between bead and sand blasting, chemical stripping, painting and powder coating, there is a huge list of ways to change the look of your Vostok and make it your own. You should try it if you do not mind tinkering and experimenting yourself. After all this is half the fun of Vostoks. Right?
