Introducing The Konstantin Chaykin Genius Temporis

Konstantin Chaykin’s latest creation the Genius Temporis Watch, once again highlights the Russian watchmaker’s concern with time and the way we consume it. During this year’s SalonQP, at the Saatchi gallery, the self-taught independent watchmaker introduced a single-hand watch that indicates the hour, but only shows the minutes on demand.

A single hour hand engages in a command performance framed by a luxurious face decorated in the style of 17th century pocket watches: first it indicates hours and then minutes, all at the whim of the owner. The change is effected by pressing a button located at 2:00 on the side of the case, at which point the hour hand leaps gracefully and shows the precise minute.

The Genius Temporis Watch runs on the proprietary K01-5 caliber, which was developed especially for this model. The K01-5 caliber is highly complicated in construction, production, assembly and adjustment. It consists of over one hundred details, each of which is finished by hand in the Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture.

Konstantin Chaykin’s latest creation once more shines some light on his reflective mood. It follows the Carpe Diem, a watch imbued with symbols of death. That was a memento mori watch meant to capture the importance of «seizing» life. The Genius Temporis seems to suggest another take, for those like to “take their time,” and release themselves from the pressure of the minutes hand.

In many ways, the new design harks back to the days of the sundial. The sundial needed the rays of the sun in order for the gnomon to cast a shadow. Hands as we know them today first appeared in tabletop clepsydras and then eventually in tower clocks. When you travel through Europe today, you can still see old towers with strange single handed clocks.

Photo Credit: Haute Time. For more information, please visit the official Konstantin Chaykin website.