On display at Baselworld 2012 will be the Konstanin 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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Just when you thought that every possible ingenious innovation for the design and presentation of the moonphase watch had been exhausted along comes a piece which is as unique as it is unusual.  Conceived and created by Konstantin Chaykin a Master Watchmaker based in Saint Petersburg, the piece is named Lunokhod in honour of Russia’s pioneering moon rover launched in the seventies.

If it were possible to blend De Bethune’s beautiful little spherical moonphase with Stepan Sarpaneva’s devilishly impure Korona Moonshine then this would be the end product.  Although it is perhaps unfair to compare the Lunokhod to other timepieces because it is quite simply peerless.

The generous 50mm case of the Lunokhod is constructed from wootz, a granular material similar to Damascus steel which historically has been used by master bladesmiths in the manufacture of swords, daggers and other weaponry.  This is a truly manly man’s watch.

In the dial centre is a striking 12mm wootz orb, static but covered with a black rhodium-plated silver mask, the movement of which represents the current phase of the moon.  Time is indicated on a 24 hour semi-circular scale with sun and moon indicators for day and night.  At 6 o’clock is a subdial displaying the minutes.  Substantial lugs frame then overlap the dial to form the lugs.

The movement is a manufactory calibre designed, created and patented by Konstantin Chaykin with hand polishing viewable through an exhibition caseback.  The exceptional Lunokhod comes presented on an ostrich leather strap.

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