Russian Time

Russia is one of the few countries in the world where there really is a need for watches with time zone indicators. The reason is clear – the country has the biggest length from east to west, approximately 171 degrees of longitude, because of which it had to be divided into eleven time zones.

Chaykin’s all-Russia time system works like a world time index and is unique in watchmaking, and not only because Russia is the only country to cover 11 of the 24 time zones of the world. Konstantin Chaykin invented a non-standard dual time zone indicator, which is designed to make the process of determining the local time in any of the eleven time zones of Russia easy and visual.

For the “Russian Time” watch Konstantin Chaykin developed the K.01-7 calibre with manual winding, in which he abandoned the industry-standard time zone indicator construction with a discreet switching system, where the indicator is usually configured in one-hour intervals. Instead he decided to use interference fit which is traditionally used, for example, in the gear train that turns the timepiece's hands. This solution enabled the use of buttons to be avoided. For setting the time on the “Russia Time” watch, the crown is extended and rotated clockwise, allowing all the time indicators to move together in perfect synchronicity. If the crown is turned anti-clockwise, only the time zone indicator is altered.

In the upper part of the “Russia Time” watch dial there is a standard 24-hour time zone scale running along the names of Russian cities, while at the bottom a similar scale slowly moves under a schematic, yet still relatively detailed, map of the country, spread over eleven time zones. At the same time, daytime hours from 07:00 to 18:00 are shown on the scale with a light silver background, and night-time hours from 19:00 to 06:00 are shown on a black background..

Case dimensions: Diameter 44 mm, thickness 12 mm