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Minotaur watch on hand

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.

Konstantin Chaykin - Wristmon Minotaur watch

Watch features

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.

  • Manufacture of body parts on the machine
    production of parts for the movement
    Minotaur watch-movement and dial separately
    otaur watch-movement, dial, and case separately
    Minotaur watch-movement and dial on a brown background

Сase back

Сaseback with sapphire window Minotaur watch

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

Specification

Specification

Base movement: Swiss-made Vaucher VMF 3002
Basic mechanism: ETA 2824-2 (diameter 25,6 mm, height 4,6 mm)
Size: diameter 31,5 mm, height 7,6 mm
Escapement: lever escapement
Half-wave frequency: 28 800
Number of stones: 36 (base mechanism – 28 stones, module-8 stones)
Module parts: 67
Materials: Brass, steel
Functions: Joker time indication with discs for the hours and minutes, and a large double-disc day of the week indicator



Photo of the movement Minotaur watch

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

Specification

Specification


Case: Iron bronze
Glass: Sapphire crystal with antireflective coating, diameter 34.5 mm
Case parts: 36
Dial finishing: Guilloche relief décor, ‘labyrinth’ relief décor, multilayer lacquer coating Dial components18
Dial parts: 18
Strap: Exclusive cognac-shade buffalo-leather with ‘vintage’ finish, white stitching, branded with the Konstantin Chaykin manufacture logo personally carried out by Konstantin Chaykin himself
Buckle: Standard, titanium, produced by Konstantin Chaykin manufacture, with ‘labyrinth’ relief décor
Water resistance: З АТМ (30 m)

Gallery

  • Minotaur watch on a box of pencils
  • Wristshot Minotaur watch in a brown leather jacket
  • Wristshot Minotaur watch on a blue background

  • The Minotaur’s nostrils

    The master decided to use the Minotaur’s two nostrils, flared in anger, as apertures in his large day of the week indicator. Perhaps not entirely respectful of the mythical monster, but such is the essence of watchmaking, putting everything at the disposal of watch mechanics. In order to make the indicator more convenient, Konstantin Chaykin opted to use sapphire lenses in the aperture window, the same as he had previously developed for the unique emoji-joker day of the week indicator in the Joker Selfie watch.

    Изображение товара