Konstantin Chaykin: the Inventor Inspired by Time, Part 2

How did the Russian make it into the pantheon of master watchmakers? The story continues.

In 2009, Konstantin Chaykin turned his attention to the vintage genre, which wasn't half as popular as it is now at the time. He invented two vertically mounted crowns for the Heritage of Horology Aviator watch.

One of them was used to wind the movement and adjust the hands, while the other was used to select between the crown modes on the first crown. A more complicated version of this invention with an extra aperture to indicate which crown mode is activated was put to use in Chaykin's Mars Time program.

It was used in the Mars Conqueror Mk3 Fighter watch — the world's first Marsian aviator developed in 2020. Chaykin had already explored the theme of outer space in 2011. That was when he presented his famous Lunokhod (Rus. lunar rover) watch, which of course came equipped with a whole range of its creator's inventions.

The most impressive of these was the spherical moon-phase mechanism for driving the simulated shadow of the Earth on the Moon, in the shape of a black rhodium-coated silver half sphere which rotates around the fixed lunar sphere.

Few know that a differential gear drive was integrated in this mechanism to connect the half sphere of the Earth's shadow, the wheel and mechanism for adjusting the moon phase. The first thing everyone notices when they look at the watch is the spherical moon-phase display, which is the largest 3D wristwatch display of its kind.

At the beginning of the year, Arnold & Son announced they'd be releasing a watch with what they claimed would be the biggest 3D moon-phase display, although it's still roughly a millimeter smaller than the one installed in the Lunokhod watch released ten years earlier.

This watch actually features another innovation — the first application of true stainless Bulat steel in watchmaking. According to Chaykin, this should be acknowledged as an ideal material for watchmaking, as it's remarkably durable and resistant to wear.

Even if scratches and dents do appear on its surface, they're almost impossible to notice against the backdrop of this material's characteristically rough texture. After experimenting with a number of different types of stainless Bulat steel, Chaykin chose the alloy with optimal characteristics.

It was later used in the Russian watchmaker's most ambitious projects — Joker Selfie Only Watch 2019 Piece Unique and this year's new one-of-a-kind piece which was also created for the Only Watch auction: the Martian Tourbillon Only Watch 2021 Piece Unique.

By the way, the Lunokhod watch case along with the strap's fastener and lunar sphere are all made of real stainless Bulat steel. Staying on the subject of timepieces created for Only Watch, it's worth noting the inventions implemented in these pieces. In the Joker Selfie Only Watch 2019 Piece Unique — the self-portrait watch genre conceived by Chaykin — a miniature watchmaker's magnifying glass is fitted over one of the subdial eyes on the dial.

This is something no one had ever done before Chaykin, who divised a shutter which could placed in two positions, closing either the hour indicator or the secret “third eye” weekday indication with joker-style emojis Chaykin designed in his drawings. The Martian Tourbillon Only Watch 2021 Piece Unique was the world's first complicated mechanical watch to only tell Martian time.

Apart from its hour and minute hands which tick in sync with the revolutions of the Red Planet, it has a tourbillon that completes a revolution every Martian minute, which equates to roughly 61.65 Earthly seconds. Like the Joker Selfie, Chaykin used the Martian Tourbillon to demonstrate his artistic talent.

He devised and drew a Martian numbering system to create authentic-looking numeral markers with symbols for the scales of the Martian calendar along with the hour and minute subdials so that the watch looks as if were created by Martians for Martians. The indication of Martian time is accompanied by a representation of the Martian month in the Wristmon's trademark Joker's smile.

The Martian calendar Chaykin used in this watch is based on the algorithms from American engineer Thomas Gangale’s calendar system, with 24 Martian months consisting of mostly 28 sols (Martian days).

What he created became the world's first Martian calendar in a mechanical wristwatch. The Martian Tourbillon has yet to find its owner, as the Only Watch auction is not set to take place until November, 6, 2021.

Casting our minds back to 2012, it's worth mentioning the Quartime watch, where Chaykin devised a system which corresponds to the traditional Russian way of telling the time by giving hour followed by the time of day: "morning", "day", "evening" or "night".

The watch has six hour segments and an aperture to name the four times of day. Similar to many of the watchmaker's other timepieces, there's a fairly complicated movement behind this watch's apparent simplicity to facilitate this function.

The reason the Quartime watch movement is so complicated because it needs to ensure the rotating indicator for the time of day can instantly switch, with the hours markings also jumping back and forth in their apertures. Konstantin Chaykin compares the Quartime to the classical design for a perpetual calendar in terms of how complicated it was to develop, manufacture and adjust.

The Cinema model which was introduced in 2013 is the true star of the brand's collection. Its style inspired by old cinematic and photographic apparatus is by no means the only feature that make it appealing. An ingenious mechanical animation device for creating a stop motion animation from a series of photographs shown in rapid sequence can be found the miniature eyepiece at the bottom of the dial. Chaykin is the first watchmaker to have built a miniature mechanical animation into a wristwatch.

The idea seems obvious now that it's already been done, but Chaykin was the first to come up with the idea and put it in a watch. Its prototype was a seminal cinematic device for displaying moving images called the Zoopraxiscope, which was invented in 1879 by the English photographer Eadward Muybridge.

The Russian watchmaker modernized Muybridge's design with a built-in obturator (tiny shutter) to produce a clean and sharper moving picture of a galloping horse. Chaikin's version of the Zoopraxiscope also happens to be the world's smallest. The Cinema watch has revived the shutter sound made by mechanical cameras in the late 19th century., which is an undeniable bonus for the watch owner.

In 2014, Chaykin implemented yet another idea that other watchmakers had overlooked: a system for indicating the hours and minutes with the same hand by switching between them with the press of a button. This mechanism was put to work in the Genius Temporis watch, which is probably one of the most mystifying and deceptively simple-looking wristwatches in the world.

The idea of hoaxes, magic tricks and illusions are all straight out of a magician's box. It's something Chaykin was directly inspired by when he was developing his collection of mysterious watches: Mystery 1000 Jewels (2008) as well as the simpler models without any additional functions called Mystery (2012) and Levitas (2013).

The French illusionist, magician, inventor and watchmaker Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, known to have created the first mystery clock, was the figure who inspired Konstantin Chaykin's 2014 Carpe Diem watch as well. The hourglass illusion Chaykin invented for it doesn't contain sand but it imitates the movement of sand in an hourglass using traditional watchmaking mechanics.

The hourglass on the dial of the Carpe Diem model is a design element from the vanitas genre of allegorical still life and also serves as the minute indicator. This combination was something unique in the history of watchmaking up until 2021, when the idea was presented in a slightly modified form by Louis Vuitton. The brand also gave its watch the name Carpe Diem.

Chaykin's most popular innovation is probably the impressive leap forward he has made in terms of design rather than his mechanical feats, which is apparent in the Joker and other members of the Wristmons collection.These watches breathe life into the wristwatch's dial. The watchmaker wanted to use the anthropomorphic idea to create watches which were like moving works of pop art.

Almost no one recalls the art history which inspired these watches now. Everyone has already been swept away by an unexpected characteristic these Wristmons have — the remarkable emotional energy their dials are charged with.

It's their big round eyes, which serve as subdials for the hours and minutes, and their cheeky smile with a red tongue sticking out for the moon phase. Chaykin has made numerous updates to his Joker indication mechanism to date. He developed a unique Dracula day/night indication in the form of fangs that appear at night and disappear in the morning for his Dracula Special Limited Edition Halloween 2018. 

The Joker Selfie was given a winking eye with the watchmaker's magnifying glass and a secret weekday indication. A unique indication in the form of a large two-disk weekday was built into the bull's nostrils for the Minotaur Special Chinese New Year 2021.  The latest update is the representation of the Martian month designed for the smiling mouth of the Martian Tourbillon.

The most important thing is that Konstantin Chaykin is still unbelievably prolific, which means it's anyone's guess what kind of Jokers he has left up his sleeve. The watchmaker has no trouble bringing his ideas to life in metal form. The hard part must be choosing between all his different ideas, because thankfully he's full of them!