THE MANUFACTURE

“Konstantin Chaykin” manufactory
is the only watch company that represents Russia

at the main international watch exhibition Baselworld, Switzerland, and its founder Konstantin Chaykin is the first citizen of Russia, who became a member of the International Academy of Independent Watchmakers (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants) in 2010. Now Konstantin is the head of the Academy, having been its president since 2017.

It all started with passion…

About 15 years ago a young inventor in St. Petersburg discovered a passion for watch movements. Konstantin Chaykin began repairing and restoring clocks and watches, and mastered the intricacies of creating watch movements. Naturally, Konstantin began to implement his own ideas. Soon he was driven passionately creating new and unique movements and watches.

Today Konstantin Chaykin runs his own manufacture and has registered over 70 patents for his innovative movements and inventions in general mechanics: a unique achievement for many century old manufacturers, not to speak of a young watchmaker.

Konstantin Chaykin is famous for the complex movements he has developed, especially for his astronomical clock ‘Resurrection’ with Easter calendar and Lunokhod watch. Konstantin won recognitions among aficionados of fine watches and clocks around the world.

The dream of exceptional watches

My task is not only to produce a watch with a certain function that provides time counting according to different religious calendars, but also to come up with the design that would match the mechanical filliing and be attractive. All the Members of religious organizations who study my timepieces, confirm that they are executed in compliance with all the canons.

«The idea to give the watches a pronounced anthropomorphic features has visited me long time ago, because I think that the watch is not only a mechanism, but an object of modern art, an art object that should cause strong emotions.” This applies to all my models, for example, Lunokhod does not look like any of the wristwatches in the world, Cinema has a built-in module of a unique zoopraxoscope, Carpe Diem is an allegorical interpretation of elusive time, made with the help of mechanics .This is a complex, artistic, and at the same time philosophical watch. In terms of the art Joker is the logical continuation of this line, I wanted to create a watch that comes into instant contact with its owner and elicit strong emotional responses.»

Piece unique production

Time passed and Konstantin Chaykin attracted a group of dedicated masters who were equally passionate about creating beautiful movements encased in unique designs. Thus, the first high end watch manufacture was born in Russia.Today, under the leadership of Chaykin, there are a little more than 10 people who help revive the classic traditions of watchmaking, based on the value of the manual labor of the master.

It was my task to find specialists involved in production processes from design and constructing to finishing and control. I have invested a lot in the training of every person who works at a manufactory, but something he himself learned from them.

Nevertheless, there are enthusiastic singles who are truly in love with their work. Our masters overcame all barriers with curiosity, self-education and always found bright, unexpected and original solutions, departing from the rules adopted in the conservative environment of the watchmakers of the Old World.

«We all do not only a common cause, but we are also a part of the world watch industry.»

The path to success is exciting, if not always easy. Russia does not have a tradition of fine watch making handed down through the generations from father to son. The only way to learn it is through the apprentice system, as there are no professional schools where one can master the basics. Thus, individual apprentices learn from individual masters: new artists are trained within the manufacture. Imagination, drive, creativity and inventiveness are the criteria for taking on potential masters, not experience. The team of watchmakers at Konstantin Chaykin is made up of precisely such individuals;,

people who bring a unique view of watchmaking
combined with a burning desire to create something magnificent, something astonishing.

The production of watches at the “Konstantin Chaykin” manufactory is about 100 watches per year.

The production of some author’s watches takes from 4 months up to several years. Piece unique production means that
every watch is unique – hence the high price.

«As a watchmaker, I want to, despite the colossal competition from Switzerland, Japan and China, that the Russians occupy their niche and develop powerful production.»

Watchmaking heritage

The Konstantin Chaykin manufacture is located in Moscow, in a unique place setting next to a park where the tower clock movement museum is situated.

The Kolomensky Museum has a working tower clock from the 17th century, as well as the only working exhibit in Russia of tower clock movements from the 16th to 19th centuries.

We are all inspired by masterpieces such as the 1539 movements from the Solovetsky monastery clock..

Visitors are welcome in our world of Time. Our modern two-story building houses a splendid watch making facility: our watchmakers, our designers, and our engineers, as well as production and testing areas.

Our artists perform amazing feats of precise hand work and use the latest state-of-the-art machinery. On the second floor there is assembly and quality control. The concentration of all units under one roof is designed to activate the exchange of skills between masters of different specialties.

In addition, this allows you to save the creative atmosphere of the manufactory.

Konstantin Chaykin watchmakers are passionate professionals on an eternal quest to uncover new and better ways to create the perfect timepieces. They are inspired by mechanical perfection and by the tranquil beauty of precious metals. They are immersed in an intricate ballet of precise movements, incredible design, and amazing technologies. The results are watches and clocks which inspire, astonish and rejoice the world.