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Hey everybody, Craig Hester here with R2Awatches.com and thank you for joining us today as we continue on our journey through all of the watches that are available at R2Awatches.com. That is the letter R, the number two, the letter A, watches.com. If you are watching this on YouTube you want to hit like and subscribe. We are regularly loading up new videos all the time now and you want to get that notification when we've got a new one up there so you can catch it right away. If you are watching this on Facebook, you want to join the group Vostok Europe, Timepieces, or V, E T and that is a location to find out all the latest news to share your enthusiasm for our watches with fellow watch fans. It is the absolute place to be. It is a closed group on Facebook. If you want to learn more about our watches or in particular Vostok Europe, which we are talking about today.

We have a lot of great videos on our YouTube channel at R2Awatches or we are loading them now consistently on the blog at R2Awatches.com. Today we are talking about the Expedition North Pole One from Vostok Europe. If you're a fan of Vostok Europe, you have to be aware of the Expedition North Pole One. In a lot of ways it is an oldie but a goodie. It was not one of the first watches that Vostok Europe produced, but it has been around for quite some time. It is a staple of the Vostok Europe collection. In fact now there are two sizes of the Expedition North Pole One. There is the 48 millimeter that you're looking at here and there also 43 millimeters available because this has been such a popular case and in fact, there's another version of the Expedition which is the Expedition Underground Everest, which is based off the same case but added a lot of features that weren't on the original expedition case.

So you can see how this is just a very important part of the Vostok Europe collection. It is an evergreen favorite for a lot of reasons. First of all, it is one of the most affordable watches that Vostok Europe has that also meets the 20 ATM professional dive grade quality designation. Any watch that's greater than 20 ATM or what we'd call 200 meters is considered a professional dive quality watch. And the Expedition North Pole One is in the most affordable category that allows you to still get that level of water resistance in a Vostok Europe. Now, as I've mentioned many times, and those of you know, Vostok Europe, every single watch has a story. They are designed well. They are inspired by and designed after some kind of an inspiration. Usually that inspiration is something physical, like a rocket or a ship or something along those lines.

In this case, the inspiration for this watch was actually something that was an expedition that was taken up, an actual journey that was made. It was a journey to the North Pole was actually a floating ice station that launched in the 1930s and it floated on the Arctic Sea for nine months, set many world records in terms of what they accomplished. It was a scientific expedition that went over 2,800 kilometers over the course of those nine months and gathered a lot of interesting scientific data and that is the inspiration for this. I'm going to flip over the stainless version here so you can see on the back again, I love Vostok Europe's case work, you can see on the back of, it would help if I got it right sign up the image of the camp,

on the ice flow from the Expedition North Pole One. So I'm going to quickly go, as I always say, I find myself always repeating the same refrains when I'm doing these videos, but I'm going to quickly go through the specs of the watch and then we'll get into a little more detail about what this watch is about, why, where it fits into the Vostok Europe collection, and why you want to get one on your wrist. And, some of the additional, accessories that were put together in a package that you can see, really how many different ways you can make this watch look different and be a different watch. First of all, it is a 48 millimeter time piece, but I will do like, I always do and we'll turn on my trusty caliper here. I'm going to zero it out if it will. Let me zero it out. There we go. Oh, excuse me for bumping the camera there. And we've got,

okay, well

when you use a caliper, it's showing it's at 46.6. So I guess I've been wrong to call this a 48. I've called this a 48 for years. I think some of it depends on how you're measuring. If you're using those cuts on the side, you're getting up to about 48 if you're going from one side to the other year, around 47, so 47 48 millimeter thickness is about, 17 millimeters thick. So definitely as I like to say, not a small watch, not off the charts big by today's standards. Certainly there are many, many watches in the 49, 50, even above 50 category. You won't see Vostok Europe doing a watch actually 50 or above anymore. I think that their ceiling at this point is 49 in terms of what will work as far as popularity goes with their, well, with the fans of Vostok Europe, with their customer base.

Um, so, 47, 46, 47 is a good size time piece. This watch does have the gorilla glass system when they do with my points, or I'll use this one today. This does have the gorilla graph gorilla. I can't, I always want to say gorilla grass. I wonder, is there actually a variety of grass that's gorilla grass? Maybe some of you, botanist out there will know that. Anyway, the gorilla glass system also known as the K one system, that is the crystal on this watch. It is, it sits on the mose scale, right between Sapphire and mineral, Sapphire being a nine mineral being a seven. Excuse me being a five and the K-1 or gorilla glass system being a seven. So it gives you nearly the scratch resistance of Sapphire, nearly the shatter resistance of mineral. So it is the perfect complement to a watch built for going to extremes, which is Vostok Europe's slogan.

And they do build mostly sport watches. In this case, when I show you the actual crystal, I am actually showing you a crystal from the Expedition North Pole One. Usually I have to let people know that this is a crystal from another watch when I show it. But I want to show you that this is, let's see, just how thick it is. This crystal, it's four millimeters thick. I laugh every time because there- most bracelets on, most watches are not even four millimeters thick and that just shows you the caliber of construction that goes into a Vostok Europe. It's not only the gorilla glass system, but the fact that it is a four millimeter thick crystal on this watch. It's just off the hook. The examples that I'm showing you today are both in surgical grade, stainless steel, one with the sandblasted, or matte look on the case and the other with the grade a PVD.

These both have the 6S21 Miyota chronograph in it. That is the Miyota quartz chronograph as I like to point out. That is a, let me make sure I've got the numbers right on this one. This is the 6S21/5955199, with the matte. And then on the black it's going to be the 4199. Now I always like to point out that the chronograph system from the 6S collection is what you would refer to as a hybrid. This is a high end quartz chronograph movement on here from Miyota. You've heard me say it a million times. If you follow me, there are quartz movements and there are quartz movements. You're never gonna see Vostok Europe using a basic three hand quartz movement in a watch. They always use the high end top quality quartz movements.

In this case, it is a hybrid movement, which means it has mechanical parts along with the traditional parts that are involved in a quartz mechanism. So that gives you the accuracy of a quartz, which is the best accuracy you can possibly get in timekeeping and it gives you some of the features of an automatic art of a mechanical is a better way of putting it. And one of them, which I already showed you when I press this button just a second ago, is that the sweep second hand. And I want to point out that is the second hand for a lapse time function on the chronograph. The chronograph simply means that you have a function on the watch for measuring a lapsed time. In the case of a quartz, you're going to recall this, you're going to actually call this a function as opposed to a complication is what you would call it on a mechanical.

But you can see how the sweep second hand is moving almost like a mechanical, in fact, with watches that have a very low VPH, that's vibrations per hour. You can actually sometimes see more stutter in a mechanical second hand than you do on the second hand here with the 6S21. So this is going to give you a full function chronograph. It gives you up to 60 minutes summing action. That means you can measure an event for up to 60 minutes. And then the actual second hand, which does tick more traditionally like a quartz is the sub second over here to the right. And also you have the date function. Some of what I wanted to talk about today in particular about this watch, you're probably familiar again with the Expedition North Pole One. If you've been following Vostok Europe for several years.

Again, you know, this model, again, its affordability, its durability, its styling and so forth. Make it one of the perennial favorites of Vostok Europe. But I wanted to show some accessories today. First of all, the bracelet option, both in the matte stainless and in the black PVD on this particular model is just off the hook. Vostok Europe does not mess around when it comes to bracelets. If you haven't seen the new brace that's available on the Expedition, excuse me, on the Energia, you should definitely see that cause that bracelet is just crazy. But this gives you a, shows again, the quality of construction that Vostok Europe has in terms of their bracelets. Let's see how thick

the [inaudible]

the link is on this- 4.3 millimeters. Now again, getting back to the crystal being almost that thick, look at the thickness on this bracelet. This is a high quality heavy duty, very much sturdy sport bracelet. There are no folded links. The end links here are all solid. Imagine how much metal there is between there and the solid end link. It does have the safety class for sporting use. It is a generous bracelet, although extra links are available that all of Vostok Europe bracelets come very generous out of the box so you've got a lot of room. I can almost put this watch on. Actually. I think I can put this watch on. Just a little shy of putting it on without actually opening it up so that shows you the link. I'm going to show you the black on the leather on my wrist so you can see a wrist shot of this.

Let me back up a little bit so you can really see it better. There you go. I have about a seven and a half, a little more than a seven half interest. I do not have a big risk, but I wear 47, 48 millimeter watches all the time. They are perfectly comfortable for me, unless you have a seven are smaller wrist, I think this watch is going to fit quite comfortably for you. The other options that are available, again, the bracelet just off the hook and there are several, several strap options that are available. In fact, we put together in the dry box a special package that's available only through a secret link. Right now. We're keeping it as a secret link that you can get below this video on YouTube or if you're in the Facebook group. We're actually not making this package a public option yet a public option-

okay, now I'm going not going there. We're not making this available to anybody to just click on the site yet. We made it a private link where you can get this watch with a bracelet, either the stainless, or the black, with five straps total. That includes the bracelet, two silicone, a NATO and the leather and the leather will come with the white stitching down the center, like I'm wearing it in the wrist shot I was showing you and how you see it here with the matte. The leather strap on this is just fantastic. It's a multilayered strap. It has the two rivets that go against the case to give it, gives it a really great sporting look. It's a double Tang buckle. It's a fantastic leather strap on this. And then the soft supple silicon that Vostok Europe makes for all the silicon straps that they do, is available in white and black.

And then it also has NATO, a black NATO that's available again right now, and a secret link that's only available to people who are watching our videos, or are members of the group. You can get it in the, in the dry box with the full package full kit with the changing tool, it'll come with the bracelet and four other straps. Now that's, that's a really cool package. So you definitely want to check that out. So again, this is the Expedition North Pole One by Vostok Europe. It is a full function chronograph. It is 20 ATM. It comes with the gorilla glass, K1 mineral gorilla glass system. It has the full function Miota 6S21, hybrid chronograph movement. Um, it is a 47, 47, 48 millimeters. So it's a good solid size, because it does not have a bezel.

And the fact that the dial runs all the way, the edge of the case means it's gonna actually wear very big. So if you're somebody who likes big watches, this is a great option for you. It is a screw in crown, so you know that when you're getting it, if you tried to pull out the crown without unscrewing it, you're just gonna keep pulling and pulling and pulling all day, because it does, it is a screw in crown. So those are the basic features of the, of the 4199 and 5199 that's the last four digits. By the way, the last three digits of every Vostok Europe are the unique numbers to that particular watch. So we have the matte stainless, we have the black PVD available with the bracelet and multiple strap options at R2Awatches.com so that's a quick overview of one of the oldies but goodies. One of the standbys, one of the evergreens, whatever term you want to call it, it is an extremely popular and extremely well made watch by Vostok Europe, the Expedition North Pole One. And hey, until next time, I'm Craig Hester and keep watching