Minotaur
The Year of the Bull – a good reason to create a new Wristmon
Watches dedicated to the symbolic creatures of the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac are one of modern watchmaking’s more beautiful traditions, enabling the timepieces to be imbued with the meanings and stories of Chinese mythology.
Konstantin Chaykin noted that the bull, in one form or another, appears in almost all mythologies of the world. Bulls were honoured (while also widely used in ritual sacrifices) in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, ancient Greece, ancient Rome and, of course, in China, where the bull is ranked second in the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle.
NOSRALS OF THE MINOTAUR
The two nostrils of the Minotaur, flared as if in anger, the master decided to use as paired windows of the large day of the week indicator he had invented. Perhaps not entirely respectful of the mythical monster, but this is the essence of watchmaking - it puts everything at the service of watch mechanics. To make the indicator even more convenient, Konstantin Chaykin decided to put sapphire lenses in the windows, the same as he had previously developed for the unique day of the week indicator with emoji jokers of the Joker Selfie watch.
PRODUCTION
Konstantin has always been amazed at how incredibly meticulous the ancient Greeks were in their myths when it came to numbers. In the myths about the Minotaur, it is stated that the Athenians, in paying the tribute demanded by King Minos, every year brought seven boys and seven girls to be devoured by the bull-headed monster. Seven and seven – for a watchmaker these numbers instantly bring to mind associations with the day of the week indicator. Chaykin immediately thought of a technical solution for how to make the day of the week indicator big enough to fit his idea of the Joker indication as a calendar. With two discs indicating the hours and minutes, there was no room for a day of the week indicator disc of a size to suit Konstantin. The two ‘sevens’ of the legend of the Minotaur led him to the idea of constructing a watch with a double-disc day of the week indicator, with the first letter of the day of the week on the first disc, and on the second, the second letter.
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СASE BACK
MOVEMENT
The base, as in the Mouse King 2020 watch, is the Swiss-made automatic Vaucher VMF 3002 movement. Inspired by the legend of the Minotaur, Konstantin produced the two discs of the day of the week indicator in two different metals – bronze, symbolizing the Bronze Age, masculinity, and belligerence; and silver, symbolizing the Moon, femininity, and poetry. These two parts are almost completely hidden under the dial, yet, even so, like all other parts of the display module and a number of the parts of Chaykin’s modified base movement, they are produced at the Russian manufacture with extreme meticulousness. When finishing the components, classical techniques are used – perlage, fine straight and circular grinding, sandblasting, bevelling and chamfering by hand, engraving, countersinks polishing for screws, pins and jewels, spherical polishing of pivots, and rhodium plating.
As has become tradition for Konstantin Chaykin’s watches featuring the Joker indication, the second fixed crown of the case is used as an indicator corrector – in this instance, for the day of the week indicator, which has a built-in corrector to make setting the index to the required day quick and convenient.
Caliber: K.08-1 automatic winding by Konstantin Chaykin manufacture
Power reserve: 50 hours
Accuracy: +/-15 seconds per day
CASE
And so, in Chaykin’s imagination, the Minotaur – the creature of the myths of ancient Greece – burst its way into Chinese mythology. In the course of his reflections, Konstantin Chaykin gradually created the image of a watch – a bronze case, a dial made with bronze tones, a brutal buffalo-leather strap, and a watch décor featuring the motif of the Knossos labyrinth, where, legend has it, the Minotaur lived. This motif can be found in the relief pattern on the dial, the engraving on the strap buckle, and on the automatic winding system. The upper lugs are made in the form of bull’s horns, without which the image of the Minotaur would be incomplete and unconvincing.
Case dimensions: Diameter 42mm, thickness 13mm
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