Is this a joke? (extremely wierd dial alert)

[Militarywatchdude]

I think this is a fake, but if somebody could tell me otherwise, please do so. This piece is a "USSR-China Friendship" Vostok export. It was only made in the 1957-1958 period. (was Vostok was not I company yet I believe but the watch has no logo on it so it appears to just be of the same factory).

What d'ya think?

[Jack Jehosaphat]

I think this is a fake, but if somebody could tell me otherwise, please do so. This piece is a "USSR-China Friendship" Vostok export. It was only made in the 1957-1958 period. (was Vostok was not I company yet I believe but the watch has no logo on it so it appears to just be of the same factory).

What d'ya think?

It looks legit to me, but I'm no expert. It has the earlier '57 ChChZ movement; I've also seen them with a later Vostok-branded shock protected movement.

[TZAG]

Communist countries shared things. I think it's genuine too.

[Militarywatchdude]

How rare would this be?

[Mark Gordon]

At a quick glance it looks okay.

This model was originally introduced at the ‘First Exhibition of Economic and Cultural Achievements of the USSR’ in Beijing in 1954. It seems to have been in production in small quantities after that for the rest of the 50s.

There seems to have been some variations in dial color. Of the 4 pieces I have in my collection, there are 3 variations. Perhaps these differences can be attributed to fading, but I don't think so.

To see these pieces, click 'Drujba' (friendship) under 'Dial IDs' in the pre-defined searches section of the search page on my website.

-- Mark

[Chascomm]

I think this is a fake, but if somebody could tell me otherwise, please do so. This piece is a "USSR-China Friendship" Vostok export. It was only made in the 1957-1958 period. (was Vostok was not I company yet I believe but the watch has no logo on it so it appears to just be of the same factory).

What d'ya think?

It looks correct to me with the angular Kama/Chaika case and the 15 jewel movement. You're right that the 'Vostok' description is anachronistic although this is a Chistopol watch. The dial on this example is unfortunately discoloured however the design is correct, in particular the off-white base colour and distinctive gold and black printing.

Fake Druzhba/Youyi dials are usually printed in black only on pure white, and are often applied to non-Chistopol watches. Then there are the much later Chinese homage dials printed in black and red on white applied to common Chinese-made watches. They're not fakes as such, but are often sold with deceptive descriptions.

[soviet]

These are not super rare in China, but they usually cost 40-70 euro according to conditions. Most have a demaged dial worse than this one.