The crystal used on the Komandirskie is a domed acrylic crystal.
This does come with some disadvantages over mineral or sapphire
crystal, most notably the ease at which it scratches (I have written
about the benefits and drawbacks of different crystals in an earlier
blog post So You Want To Buy A Watch? ) on the plus side most surface scratches can be removed with a little elbow grease and a tin of Brasso .
What it does lose in scratch resistance it gains in shatter resistance,
it is unlikely unless great force is applied that the plastic face of
this watch will shatter.
As with a lot of domed crystal watches (but not all as this effect can
be mitigated) there is a lensing distortion effect when viewed at acute
angles, this can be seen in the above picture where the area between 7
and 4 is slightly distorted. When this watch is in normal use and on the wrist this is rarely an issue.
The bezel, is a unidirectional smooth movement non ratchet affair.
On mine it is not particularly smooth and it requires a reasonable
amount force to get it moving, is not easy to set to a particular
interval and it really makes it a aesthetic feature rather than a
practical one. Design wise it looks good and maybe I just have a badly manufactured one that could be fixed by removing, cleaning a reseating.
Given that this watch is only rated for 3ATM and is never going to be
used as a dive watch I do not think this is a particular loss, that said
it would be nice to have done away with movable bezel altogether and
had a differently designed case.
The caseback is a two piece construction in stainless steel and
features an intricate engraving of a double headed imperial eagle, the
coat of arms of the Russian Federation , this is an excellent flourish for a watch that is under £30
The case dimensions are 41.5mm wide and 44.5mm high, with a thickness
of 11.2mm, I would say this is a comfortable size that will suit most
wrists, it falls into what is currently considered the gentleman's
standard size of 39 – 42mm. I have always found this watch enjoyable to wear and although smaller than some of my dive watches it sits well on the wrist.
