You probably need to see this one in the flesh to appreciate it fully, but the fun part here is a completely transparent dial: a mystery indeed!
Look away now if you don’t want to know the answer, but it all comes together courtesy of some clever clear disks and a very small movement :-)
Good stuff.
Two versions of the Mystery watch will be made, in either red or white gold. Each will wear a hand-stitched black alligator strap.
There’s so much to like about this Konstantin Chaykin special that it’s hard to know where to start.
I love the fact that it uses a real pearl for the ‘moon’ though, and the crystal coverage is absolutely fantastic – amazing view of the tiny internal details mixed with the ‘foreground’ details.
Beautiful!
The press release follows, but we’ll have to wait until Baselworld 2012 to see more of this one.
[Press Release] Konstantin Chaykin recently previewed his new Lunochod Retrograde at the Top Marques 2011 Exhibition in Shanghai. This new timepiece will next be presented at Basel 2012.
The Lunochod Retrograde timepiece is a tribute to Russian space exploration, innovation and engineering. “Lunokhod” or “moonwalker” (Луноход), was part of the Soviet Union space program and Lunokhod-1 was the first lunar rover to land on the Moon.
The heart of this complex timepiece is a fixed, three-dimensional spherical Moon with a silver hemisphere that rotates around it to indicate the lunar phase. The first Lunochod was represented by a 12mm ball made of wootz Damascus steel. In its updated version, the Moon is represented by a large, perfectly round saltwater pearl.
Prized for centuries, a perfectly round and smooth natural pearl is extremely rare. After examining hundreds of examples, Konstantin Chaykin discovered eight perfect 12mm saltwater pearls for each of his eight limited edition timepieces.
The technical design of the Lunochod Retrograde calibre was entirely conceived, designed and developed by Konstantin Chaykin. Integrating a spherical moon phase indicator presented a unique challenge and the calibre is the only mechanism to use a raw natural material as a functional element of the design. The new Lunochod calibre has been upgraded and refined. The hours are still displayed in the 12- and 24-hour format with a day/night indicator; however, the minutes are indicated by a retrograde scale located at the bottom of the dial.
Moon phases are continuous with equal intervals. A revolution period is 29 days, 15 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds. The caliber is equipped with a patented Moon phase continuous correction device. Konstantin Chaykin was the first one in the world to introduce this innovative solution in a mechanical watch.
Lunochod Retrograde
Movement
Case
Here’s a fascinating (and kind of spooky!) new piece from Konstantin Chaykin.
The tiny sphere in the middle represents the phases of the moon (with the back of the watch being the ‘dark side’!).
[Press Release] The New Moon
The New Moon was brought by Konstantin Chaykin into the world of watchmaking. Its tiny model, a 12-millimeter wootz steel ball, is placed at the center of the dial. As well as the Orb of Night is always drawn to us with one of its part the lunar globe in Konstantin Chaykin watch is fixed, and changing of phases is displayed by rotating around of a silver half-sphere, covered with black rhodium, which symbolize the shaded part of the Earth’s satellite. Such innovative solution of lunar phases indication is used for the first time. The watch got its name in honor of heroic achievements of the Soviet space navigation in the Moon opening up.
Space for real men
For the case of the Moon watch Konstantin Chaykin chose an unusual material – steel wootz. And there is good reason. Complex patterned structure of this amazing steel recalls the relief of lunar surface. The steel wootz used for the case is made by one of the best gunsmiths in Russia, expert on damask steel and wootz, Sergey Lunev. And the case appearance is designed by Konstantin Chaykin and designer Vikenty Gryaznov. As planned by the developers the watch in profile resembles outlines of a lunar rover.
Mystery of the wootz
Ancient Indian legends tell us that many centuries ago from the Himalaya Mountains in Punjab (an ancient principality in India) came the blacksmiths caste, well experienced in the iron business and able to make iron weapons with unusual pattern and properties. Metal used for this weapon was called wootz (damask). The ancient masters carefully kept the secret of making this metal and it did not live up to our days. Scientists of later times found the ways to create patterned damask steel, but none of them exactly echoed the ancient skills, and modern damask still differs from the legendary Indian wootz.
The Dark Side Of the Moon
Manufactory caliber of the watch Lunokhod is completely designed and developed by Konstantin Chaykin. Each part was polished by hand, in the best tradition of watchmaking. Non-standard technical device is caused by need to drive the large spherical lunar phases indicator – maestro’s patented invention. Material for the winding and drum wheels is ancient Indian wootz. The back cover is transparent to allow observing of complex and amazing life of micro details which drive the whole movement.
The case measures 50mm x 10.7mm. The crystal is sapphire and it features an ostrich strap.
The movement measures 32mm x 37mm x 6.6mm, has 25 jewels, and beats at 21,600 vph. It has a power reserve of 48 hours.
Functions are hours and minutes, lunar phases and day & night indications.
