The sublime Genius Temporis watch from Master Watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin is a masterpiece of extraordinary beauty, presence and unique functionality, showcasing the horological invention of one of the world's most innovative watchmaking talents.
Genius Temporis is very much styled in the fashion of the seventeenth century pocketwatch, which often used a single hour hand on a twelve-hour dial to compensate for the relative inaccuracy of a two-hand watch of the time. Such watches 'indicated' the time more than actually precisely telling the time, yet they left a strong impression on the Moscow based watchmaker and provided the inspiration to honour its memory - albeit with a novel complication - in the Genius Temporis watch.
To overcome the problem of absolute precision, which is an inbred characteristic of the single hand genre, Konstantin Chaykin devised a solution which, at the press of the pusher at 2 o'clock, would instantly convert the function from its default hours to indicating the precise minute for as long as the pusher was held in, and then revert to its original setting once released.
The single pointer extends across most of the dial and is tipped with an arrow head at each end; the longer end for the hours, the shorter for minutes, so despite the unusual complication, readability is simplicity itself.
Encased in 18Kt rose gold, Genius Temporis (or zeitgeist/spirit of time) boasts an elaborately appointed hand engraved bronze dial, the hours demarcated in twelve individual hand applied brushed silver plates, with engraved roman numerals painted in black lacquer on a silver outer ring, and the minutes slightly closer to the centre.
Inside the 44mm case, the proprietary K01-5 manual winding calibre has been entirely conceived and created in house, its plates, bridges and tiny components lovingly hand finished to a standard only to be found from the finest watchmakers in the world, which Konstantin Chaykin surely is.
