Konstantin Chaykin Smilodon Special Chinese New Year 2022

When you have been nurturing Wristmons for many years, coincidences and allusions are inevitable. January 2022 is coming to an end, and with it the Year of the Ox of the traditional Chinese calendar does so too. The diligent, sincere and honest Ox has gone the distance, leaving us with a charismatic, powerful, courageous creature, though one which at the same time is sometimes unpredictable and irritable – this is what they say in the Middle Kingdom about the Tiger, the third creature of the Chinese zodiac.

Konstantin Chaykin, the Russian inventor and independent watchmaker, creates his own mythology in the Wristmons collection. Political borders, the framework of historical eras, the traditions of different cultures – he never limits his imagination to transient entities that divide human culture into the parts that make it up. Separation is correct and productive when it comes to analysis, but synthesis brings us closer to progress, the creation of something new: not separation, but the search for a common, unifying goal.

The arrival of the Year of the Pig in 2019 was celebrated by Konstantin Chaykin with the release of a one-of-a-kind watch – the Unique Pig 2019. It was the first Wristmon dedicated to the Chinese New Year, a kind of Miss Piggy of Konstantin Chaykin’s Wristmon theatre. This happened 45 years after the appearance of this character in the Herb Alpert TV show (incidentally, just a year before the birth of Konstantin himself), even before Miss Piggy settled into the famous Jim Henson puppet show.

In 2020, the second episode of Chaykin’s Chinese New Year Special series, the Mouse King watch, released in honour of the Year of the Mouse, saw the light of day. Creating this model, the Russian master explored the parallels of Chinese mythology and the famous European fairy tale of E.T.A. Hoffmann, while at the same time realizing his long-held idea to turn the watch crown into a royal crown, made of pink gold and topped with a ruby cabochon.

The third episode of the Chinese New Year Special series was created in early 2021. According to the now-established tradition, the Minotaur Special Chinese New Year 2021 watch saw Konstantin Chaykin supplement the theme from Chinese mythology with a character from another cultural tradition, namely the Minotaur from the legend of the Knossos monster. This watch will forever remain in the labyrinths of haute horlogerie thanks to the large double-disc day of the week indicator, invented by the master especially for this model with each containing one letter of the abbreviated designation of the days of the week.

Year of the Tiger as a reason to create a new Wristmon

On February 1, 2022, the Year of the Tiger starts. The tiger, according to Chinese beliefs, is an unpredictable creature. Konstantin Chaykin also seeks to get away from predictability, and this time he looked for associations with prehistoric times. According to palaeontologists, armed with ultra-modern means of radiological analysis, about ten thousand years ago the last sabre-toothed tigers, or, according to the generally accepted classification, smilodons, disappeared from the American continent. At the same time, the first people settled in America, coming along the Bering land bridge from Asia. Exactly 180 years ago – in 1842 – these fossil monsters were named ‘smilodon’ by their discoverer, the Danish palaeontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund. The generally accepted interpretation of this name is that it was formed by Lund from the ancient Greek words ‘smilo’ (σμίλη; double-edged knife) and ‘odontos’ (οδόντος; tooth). The name attracted Konstantin Chaykin due to its unexpected association with the history of his watch collection – the ancient Greek word ‘smilo’ had one more meaning: ’smile’. In fact, Smile was the working title of the anthropomorphic dial watch project, chosen by him in 2016. Thanks to this project, the Joker watch and the entire collection of Wristmons appeared.

The tiger in Chinese mythology is a dominating, bold, wayward creature, traits clearly manifested in the Smilodon project, which dictates its own rules. The signature lunar smile of the Joker and many other Wristmons has been replaced by a fanged mouth, which is framed by the powerful sabre-shaped fangs which gave the name to the prehistoric predator. When night falls, the movable jaws close on the dial, hiding a stylized image of a petroglyph drawn as an extinct animal – one of those that the smilodon once hunted. In these petroglyphs, Konstantin Chaykin has encoded the names of the days of the week. In the morning, the jaws open to reveal a petroglyph for the new day – the designation of the coming day of the week. Chaykin’s Smilodon swallows a new animal every day, just as in ancient Greek myths the god Uranus, aka Kronos, who at one time became the character of Konstantin Chaykin’s Carpe Diem watch, devoured his children.

Camelops, mammoth, mastodon... The petroglyphs on the dial of the Smilodon watch are completed by a man, depicted by Konstantin Chaykin as the symbol of Sunday, the seventh day of the creation of the world according to the Old Testament (although the owner of the watch is free to decide which petroglyph to start counting the days of the week from). ‘Memento mori’ is the message of the Russian master: all six extinct animals chosen by him can be called the personifications of power, the ability to survive, the successful development of their ecological niche, and yet they all disappeared from the face of the Earth. Is that the fate that awaits the human race? Let there be a version that it was the colonization of America that accelerated the processes that led to the extinction of these and many other species.

Of course, among other things, we need luck. The Smilodon watch is equipped with an automatic caliber, so if you wear it, you do not have to use the crown to start the movement. Felidae, representatives of the cat family, which also – before their extinction – included smilodons, are very fond of having their chin scratched from below. Therefore, the owner of the Smilodon watch will always have the opportunity to please his mechanical petby using the crown set by Konstantin Chaykin at the 6 o’clock position, that is, exactly under the Smilodon’s chin. The master is sure that it will bring good luck, even if, in the morning while putting on the watch, you simply touch its crown.

The image of the Smilodon is complemented by a bronze case, a dial made in bronze tones with a guilloché relief decor – extremely difficult to manufacture and finish – and the crazy pure yellow eyes of a tiger, rotating as they measure time. To get the right yellow tint, the master personally paints the time indication discs, carefully covering them with hundreds of the thinnest layers of varnish. The upper lugs of the case are shaped like the ears of a smilodon, and the lower lugs are made as the front paws of the predator.

The ancient Chinese sages knew that once succumbing to the charm of a tiger, it was very difficult to escape from its sharp claws.

Technical specifications

Konstantin Chaykin Smilodon Special Chinese New Year 2022

Limited edition of 8 pieces

Case

• Material: Iron bronze
• Diameter: 42 mm
• Thickness: 13 mm
• Water-resistant to 30 meters

Dial and hands

• Bronze guilloché dial 
• Yellow hour and minute indicators
• Bezel: Bronze, with Smilodon engraving

Movement

• Caliber K.08-2, self-winding movement
• Functional module: Produced by Konstantin Chaykin manufactory
• Base caliber: Swiss-made Vaucher VMF 3002, modified by Konstantin Chaykin manufactory
• Diameter: 31.5mm
• Thickness: 7.6mm (with module)
• Escapement: Lever escapement
• Number of jewels: 36 (28 jewels in base movement, 8 jewels in module)
• Number of module parts: 67
• Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
• Power reserve 50 hours

Functions/Indications

• Konstantin Chaykin’s Joker-indication with hour and minute discs and day of the week indicator, day/night Smilodon-indication

Strap and buckle

• Strap: Exclusive leather strap
• Buckle: Titanium pin buckle produced by Konstantin Chaykin manufactory

MSRP: EUR 32'000

For more information, please visit chaykin.ru