Inventions

Konstantin Chaykin inventions

• Martian calendar

  

  Martian calendar

  Chaykin’s Martian calendar displays the Martian date, Martian months and even a Martian leap year. Moreover, the patent specifically states that a timepiece with a Martian calendar “can be used both on Earth and on Mars". Perhaps the most charming variant of this complication is Chaykin’s unique Martian wristmon, the indicator of which is a broad smile on the “face-like” dial that determines the Martian date and weekdays.

  • 

• Konstantin Chaykin’s Joker indicator

  

  Konstantin Chaykin’s Joker indicator

  The “regulator” style dial with a disc-shaped hour and minute indicator and smiling moonphase indicator was invented and constructed by Konstantin Chaykin for his “Joker” watch and other models in the “Wristmons” collection.

  • 

• Chaykin’s “mysterious” time indicator system

  

  Chaykin’s “mysterious” time indicator system

  For the “Levitas” watches Konstantin Chaykin invented his own version of a “mysterious” time indicator with a single rotating transparent disc, used to drive both the hour and minute hands – the first in the history of watchmaking. The minute hand is mounted directly onto the rotating transparent disc, while the hour hand is driven by a hidden.

  • 

• The extravagant “Joker” watchstrap with “shirt” and “tie”

  

  The extravagant “Joker” watchstrap with “shirt” and “tie”

  The ingenuity particular to Konstantin Chaykin is demonstrated in anything he undertakes. This was shown at the beginning of 2018 when thinking about an order for a unique “Joker” watch, where he came up with an unusual watchstrap. “One of my clients asked me to think about making a watch with the facial features of a famous politician. After working long and hard on sketches, when the range of possible design details, from a reddish face to yellow hair, was exhausted, and still nothing suitable had been created, I suddenly thought – why not dress the “Joker” in a white shirt and red tie?” – that is, as Konstantin Chaykin remembers it, how the signature “Joker” with a “shirt” and “tie” watchstrap was invented, an extravagant strap for collectible watches. Konstantin thus became one of the few watchmakers to create his own watchstrap design.

  • 

• “Cosmic” functions

  

  “Cosmic” functions

  For his “Mars Conqueror” Martian watch project Konstantin Chaykin developed a series of special functions and complications, designed for practical use by astronauts during both the spaceflight and the colonisation of other planets. This is a new class of functions for haute horlogerie, which he calls “cosmic” functions.

  • 

• “Dracula time” indicator

  

  “Dracula time” indicator

  Specially for his “Dracula” watch Konstantin Chaykin invented a modified “day/night” indicator. On this, Dracula’s fangs appear and disappear on the moonphase indicator, which follows the trademark smiling moonphase indicator synonymous with all models of the Wristmons collection, originally invented by Konstantin Chaykin for the “Joker” watch. Dracula’s fangs begin to grow shortly before midnight, becoming fully extended at about 1am, starting to retract at about 3:40am, and completely disappearing again by 5:30am.

  • 

• Chaykin’s Muslim calendar calculation system

  

  Chaykin’s Muslim calendar calculation system

  Timepieces with Hijra Muslim calendar indications are incredibly rare. Konstantin Chaykin invented his own version of the “Hijra” calendar device in 2006, and since then he has been producing “Hijra” wristwatches and “Lunar Hijra” table clocks with several Muslim calendar variants. The inventions are characterised by a combination of the relative simplicity of the watch movement and the extreme flexibility of its use. Chaykin’s system of calculating the Muslim calendar works on a yearly basis, that is, its manual correction when taking into account alternating 29- and 30-day months is required only once every two years, namely in the leap years of the Muslim calendar cycle, and is just as accurate whether following the 30-year Arabic cycle or the 8-year Turkish cycle. His system is used in both wristwatches and the table clock “Lunar Hijra”.

  • 
  • 

• Hourglass Animation

  

  Hourglass Animation

  The dial of the “Carpe Diem” watch has an integrated hourglass animation – newly created by Konstantin Chaykin as a unique interpretation of the vanitas style in watchmaking. The image of a watch, whether mechanical or as an hourglass, is one of the classic elements of the vanitas genre, which is designed to signify the transience of everything and the value of the current moment. Konstantin Chaykin enlivens the image of the hourglass on the dial of the “Carpe Diem” watch, forcing it to count the minutes by purely mechanical means and without a single grain of sand, naturalistically depicting the movement of sand using moving shutters.

  • 
  • 

• Chaykin’s one hand time indicator

  

  Chaykin’s one hand time indicator

  For his “Genius Temporis” watch, Konstantin Chaykin invented a unique device with the time being shown by just one hand, which switches between hour and minute indication when pressed, returning to the hour indication when not pressed. This makes the dial of the “Genius Temporis” incredibly concise.

  • 
  • 

• Selfie Watch

  

  Selfie Watch

  A new genre in watchmaking, invented by Konstantin Chaykin in January 2019 while preparing a unique watch for the charity auction “Only Watch 2019”. Konstantin Chaykin gave the anthropomorphic dial of the “Joker Selfie” watch the look of his own face, with the irises of the “eyes” of the dial – discs showing the hours and minutes – mixing the green-yellow colours of his own irises. In addition, over the left “eye” of the watch, he placed a miniature version of a watchmaker’s loupe on the watch crystal – for the first time in the history of watchmaking.

  • 
  • 

• Analemma Indicator

  

  Analemma Indicator

  The analemma is a little-known astronomical peculiarity in the form of an imaginary trajectory in the sky, over which the path of the Sun passes during the course of the year if the Sun’s position is noted at the same time and place each day. Konstantin Chaykin was the first in the history of watchmaking to use an analemma indicator, the first version of which he invented in 2008. For the grand complication table clock “Moscow Computus” he developed a new, more elegant version of this indicator. The analemma turns the clock into a unique timepiece, which allows the current date to be determined by the position of the Sun, the calculation of the equation of time, and the moment of the summer and winter solstices to be found.

  • 
  • 

• Chaykin’s Russia-wide time complication

  

  Chaykin’s Russia-wide time complication

  A unique piece showing the time across different time zones, Konstantin Chaykin’s invention was specially created to do so across the whole territory of the Russian Federation. In a standard version of a world time complication the watch has a 24-hour scale in conjunction with a world map (hemisphere), or at the very least a list of cities, which represent the time zones in which they are located. This allows the local time to be seen in every time zone in the world, or, more often, in most of the time zones in the world. Chaykin’s Russia-wide time complication involves a non-standard dual time zone complication, which is designed to make the process of determining the local time in any one of Russia’s eleven time zones simple and visual. In the upper part of the dial of the “Russia Time” and “Russia Time. Krusenstern” watches 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.

  • 
  • 

• Chaykin’s moonphase indicator complication

  

  Chaykin’s moonphase indicator complication

  Implemented by Konstantin Chaykin in the “Diana” watch, the most concise yet decorative version of a moonphase indicator has just one central hand, the tip of which is in the form of a large ring. The dial is comprised of two zones, a darker zone and a heart-shaped lighter zone. The ring passes over these, with the correct moonphase appearing in the circle as represented by the lighter portion. Given the effective simplicity of its construction and design, Chaykin’s moonphase indicator is without compare.

  • 
  • 

• Oppositions and superopposition indicator

  

  Oppositions and superopposition indicator

  This is one of the functions belonging to the new class of cosmic complications of watch movements, introduced into watchmaking by Konstantin Chaykin. The opposition and superopposition indicator was first implemented on the third dial of the “Mars Conqueror Mk1” watch, as a planetary indicator with hands for Earth and Mars. This complicated multifunctional mechanical watch was developed by Konstantin Chaykin for the future conquerors of Mars.

  • 
  • 

• Chaykin’s “Russian Time” system

  

  Chaykin’s “Russian Time” system

  In Russian tradition, the day isn’t divided into two 12-hour periods as is customary in Europe, but into four 6-hour periods – morning, day, evening and night. Konstantin Chaykin made the time display on the “Quartime” watch according to Russian tradition. That is why the “Quartime” watch shows the time using Chaykin’s “Russian Time” system, for example “three o’clock at night”, “seven o’clock in the morning”, “two o’clock in the afternoon”, “eleven o’clock in the evening”. For that reason, there are six windowed hour markers on the dial, which are switchable according to the relevant 6-hour quarter, the name of which is shown in a special supplementary window.

  • 
  • 

• Graphic numeral indication

  

  Graphic numeral indication

  A graphic indication, in which an informative image is formed by mechanical means on the dial of the watch, is used extremely rarely in watchmaking. Konstantin Chaykin invented his own version of a graphic hour numeral indicator, in which the Roman numerals representing the hours I to XII is formed by a chain wound by the mechanism on the cylinder. This graphic hour numeral indicator was originally conceived of by Konstantin Chaykin for wristwatches, however he first used it in the complicated “Lukomorye” table clock.

  • 
  • 

• Chaykin’s natural moonphase indicator system

  

  Chaykin’s natural moonphase indicator system

  According to astronomical observations, from the Earth it looks as though the Moon doesn’t rotate on its axis, but the shadow on the Moon, indicating the phase, glides over the motionless spherical surface of our planet’s natural satellite. Konstantin Chaykin, wishing to implement the most realistic moonphase indicator in his “Lunokhod” watch, invented an indicator with a motionless lunar sphere, around which a black hemisphere rotates – the shadow on the moon. Konstantin Chaykin’s spherical moonphase indicator is the biggest of its kind on a wristwatch in the world. The 12mm “Moon” is made of real bulat stainless steel (in the “Lunokhod” watch) or from natural white pearl from the South Seas (in the “Lunokhod Prime” watch).

  • 
  • 

• Orthodox Easter date indicator

  

  Orthodox Easter date indicator

  Konstantin Chaykin is the inventor of three different constructions showing the date of the Orthodox Easter. He completed his first in 2005 with the “Easter of Christ Computus Clock”. In 2007 Konstantin Chaykin developed a much more complicated device to calculate and display the date of the Orthodox Easter. It’s the first indicator of its kind in the history of watchmaking and one of the most complex, which was used in the table clock “Resurrection Computus ” (2007), and later in modified form in the “Northern Computus Clock” (2015), and finally in the “Moscow Computus” clock (2016). The third version of the Orthodox Easter date indicator with a double also invented by Konstantin Chaykin, has not yet been implemented.

  • 
  • 

• Vintage cinematography in a wristwatch

  

  Vintage cinematography in a wristwatch

  Specially for the “Cinema” watch, Konstantin Chaykin made a modified version of a zoopraxiscope, a device for creating animated images, based on a series of photos, which was invented in 1879 by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, one of the pioneers of cinematography technology. Konstantin Chaykin was able to create an incredibly compact animation – perhaps the most compact zoopraxiscope in the world.

  • 
  • 

• Heleks and Regs.

  

  Heleks and Regs.

  The reverse side of the movement of the first version of the Decalogue Rega watch is used to indicate the time in heleks and regs. To do this, a special bridge was attached to the calibre, under which the gear train of both indicators was installed.

  • 
  • 

• “Shabbat” function

  

  “Shabbat” function

  Konstantin Chaykin invented a unique device in which the tourbillon, a symbol of haute horlogerie, is combined with the ancient ban on those of the Jewish faith from performing 39 kinds of work on Shabbat, a ban which still exists to this day. This “Shabbat” function, invented by Konstantin Chaykin and implemented in the “Shabbat” table clock, allows the clock owner to avoid having to set the clock during the Shabbat period. This device guarantees that the clock won’t stop before the end of Shabbat, or that it will stop 5-6 hours before the start of Shabbat. The “Shabbat” function is a mechanical logic device, a kind of mechanical computer that analyses both the calendar and the winding barrel, and based on this information decides whether to allow the clock to continue working or not.

  • 
  •