The Konstantin Chaykin Mystery Watch - It's Not What You Can See ... It's What You Can't.
On display at Baselworld 2012 will be the Konstantin Chaykin Mystery watch, the latest timepiece from the Saint Petersberg-based Master Watchmaker. If you are lucky enough to view it, you may leave the booth a little perplexed...and with a few questions - What drives the hands.....? Where is the calibre...? How did he do it.....?
Konstantin Chaykin has a knack for creating timpieces which amaze, confound and confuse. His Lunokhod watch is one of the most striking pieces you are ever likely to see. It was first produced in grainy, manly wootz and its latest edition is encased in gold - but this is a watch which even the most precious of metals cannot tame, it is as arresting as ever.
The Mystery watch could not be more different than the Lunokhod, it is elegant, classical and understated - with this piece the appeal lies not with what you can see, but with what you cannot. In fact, most of the dial contains absoutely nothing, it is transparent. Like the Mystery Clocks which have amazed on-lookers for generations, this piece features "floating" hands, and a calibre which has been compacted and concealed, this is micro-deception at its finest.
With this piece, the mechanisms are hidden beneath the rim of the watchcase. The large atypical transparent section dominates the dial, on it the hands rotate on clear discs, driven by a covert system of miniature gears to great illusory effect. On the right are applied graduating Roman Numerals. Within the confines of the rim, the Watch Maker has even managed to integrate the additional components required for the moonphase indicator, a Chaykin speciality, which is located at 3 o'clock.
Two versions of the Konstantin Chaykin Mystery watch will be available, red gold and white gold and the piece will be presented on a hand-stitched black alligator strap.
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