Vostok Europe’s Anchar is not their first diving watch, but it might be one of the most attractive diving watches around. Its design is traditional, and the dial even has something of an antique look. This watch is named for a Russian submarine, the fastest ever built. Vostok doesn’t generally make Russian-style watches, but the style of this watch is just a little bit Russian all the same. The brand certainly didn’t go wrong there.  Immediately after the watch was released, they began to get orders from groups of professional divers who wanted custom watches made for their teams.

The Anchar is a mighty big watch, 48 millimeters wide. The case is made out of steel, but it is treated in such a way that it has the slightly whiter and more matte appearance of titanium. The whole watch is sealed tight, and it is water resistant for up to 300 meters. Every watch is individually tested and certified. The look of the case and dial are utilitarian at heart, but it is still pretty elegant. There is an etching of a submarine on the back. In spite of its size, the watch isn’t very heavy at all, only 150 grams (this is partially due to its not having sapphire crystal for the watch glass). You wouldn’t want to wear a heavy watch while exploring the depths of the sea, after all. Being underwater slows you down enough as it is.

The rotating bezel is quite high, which gives the dial a slightly sunken feel, a bit like the ocean itself. A flange surrounds the bezel on the inside, sloping down to the dial and helping to give it the look of a porthole. The crown is on the northeast part (two o’clock) of the watch rather than right on the side. It is shaped much like the grips on the side of the bezel, geometric yet soft. The design of both adds to the timepiece’s overall ocean feeling. It makes you think of, well, a submarine. The dial is crystal with an anti-reflective coating, but it doesn’t have the hardness of sapphire (because it isn’t sapphire).