Interesting Vostok (translation please)

[Militarywatchdude]

See images:

[a_godumov]

Very interesting watch. On the dial there are two planes - Su-27 and MiG-23 with an inscription - Tactical Aviation (Фронтовая Авиация), Russian Airforce (ВВС РФ).

I'll try to decipher the inscription on the back of the watch.

ВВС - it is pronounced as VVS - it means "Air Force" (the literal translation of the abreviation is "Military Air Force"

от Ком. роты - from company commander
ЗКВ1 - I don't know what this means. I googled it and this abreviation came up on several articles regarding the Russian military (including air forces) but there was no explanation what it meant. Apparently the authors of the articles assumed that their educated audience would know what it means:)

Judging by the inscription on the back it looks like the watch was a gift to somebody from a company in the Air Forces. It seems more than likely that the person to whom the watch belonged was also in the Air Force. Now i'm not familiar with the organisational structure in the Russian Airforce but i don't think that the owner of the watch was a pilot - if he was a pilot the watch would have been a gift from the squadron commander or from the regiment commander and not from the company commander. The fact that the owner of the watch served in company, which probably was part of batallion and so on, i think means that he or she served in the support structures that operate under the chain of command of the Air Force.

PS

Take all of that with a grain of salt. I'm not a native Russian speaker, the translation is based on my loose understanding of Russian because in some aspects it is close to my native language (Bulgarian). Also i don't know much about military and what i've written is simply an educated guess.

[Seele]

The markings on the back looks very casually made, as if by someone without access to proper tools, and without much planning beforehand: "Hey guys; anyone got a nail?"

[storyteller]

In did my military service in the infantry, where ЗКВ meant deputy (зам.) commander of a platoon (взвод), always a non-commissioned officer in our regiment. Maybe the watch was given to the deputy commander of the 1st platoon (взвод, abbreviated to взв). For the rest, I second the translation of a.godumov.

[shadow_ru]

From the ebay listing description:

The back case is signed: 'To the Deputy commander of the 1st Platoon VVS (Air forces) from the Company Commander'.

So you guys are correct with the translation. As for the watch, it's an interesting one indeed. Never seen such Vostok before.

The markings on the back looks very casually made, as if by someone without access to proper tools, and without much planning beforehand: "Hey guys; anyone got a nail?"

I've came across Vostok Komandirskie watches with similar inscriptions, it seems that soldiers used the available tools to leave a commemorative note at the watch. By the way did you notice that the case-bask is glass-polished? Somebody spent a lot of time to get this job done :)

[a_godumov]

In did my military service in the infantry, where ЗКВ meant deputy (зам.) commander of a platoon (взвод), always a non-commissioned officer in our regiment. Maybe the watch was given to the deputy commander of the 1st platoon (взвод, abbreviated to взв). For the rest, I second the translation of a.godumov.

A very good explanation! And now i also know what is written after ЗКВ1 - i couldn't make it out before, but now that i know the context, it looks like it is written ЗКВ 1 взв - deputy commander, 1st platoon.

[Max...]

It's a really interesting example and even more so for the rough and ready basic engraving on the rear - one that was 'over there' for sure as it were, very nice find.