The Stargazer, Konstantin Chaykin’s Most Complicated Watch To Date

Konstantin Chaykin’s work as an independent watchmaker is probably mostly known by his ever-growing collection of Wristmons. This series of watches, starting out with the playful Joker watch in 2017 but getting more and more creative and complex plays into the Pareidolia effect. This is the tendency for people to see faces or other patterns in ordinary objects. One of the most common examples is the association we have with the headlights and grille of a car, often labelled as the face. But of course, Chaykin’s story goes well and truly beyond the whimsical display of hours, minutes and moon phases depicted in a Clown, Mouse King, Minotaur or Minion watch as he also creates some of the world’s most unique and complicated (often astronomically inspired) clocks and watches. Founding his manufacture in 2003, he’s now celebrating his 20th (plus 1) anniversary with the Stargazer, Konstantin Chaykin’s most complex watch to date!

The Stargazer was initially created as a one-off for the Only Watch 2023 charity auction, however, it has now entered regular production, if you can call it that. The Stargazer, part of the Wristmon collection sits on the very top end of Chaykin’s capabilities, with a movement that’s constructed out of no less than 664 components, a case that has a two-faced design and a whole sleuth of indications, four of which are never-seen-before in a wrist watch.

Let’s start with the basics first, and take a look at the stainless ‘Bulat’ steel case. This unique steel alloy is used only by Konstantin Chaykin, and according to the manufacture, is hard and durable, practically scratchproof and the surface texture is pleasing to the touch. It’s also reserved for Chaykin’s more exclusive pieces, such as this one. The 42mm wide by 15.3mm tall case for the Stargazer consists of 63 parts, with straight rounded lugs, faceted bezels front and back fitted with star-shaped screws and double sapphire crystals. The crowns on either side serve split purposes, as one is used for winding and the other for setting. Along the caseband, several correctors allow for adjustments of some of the indications.

The Stargazer is a genuine split-personality watch, with a dual-faced construction. The Dark Side, finished in ruthenium, is considered to be the front, and this features the signature facial expression to tell time with the hours in the left and minutes in the right eye, and in this case the retrograde days of the week in the smiling mouth. Furthermore, this side also shows you things like the Zodiac signs, the length of day and night, 24-hour mean solar and sidereal times and so on.

Flipping the watch over reveals yet more indications, plus the exposed tourbillon at the bottom. Here, everything is finished in a lighter rhodium plating, hence the designation of this being the Light Side (it’s Luke Skywalker’s struggle between the two, personified!). Everything is indicated either by hands, discs or pointers and if you know which is which, it looks fairly easy to read! As mentioned, it holds 17 different indications and complications in total, some of which count as two (such as the retrograde day of the week);

Dark Side

• Regulator display of mean solar hours and minutes
• Length of day
• Length of night
• Equation of time
• Retrograde day of the week indication
• Zodiac sign indication
• Celestial map of the Northern Hemisphere
• 24-hour mean solar time indication
• 24 hour sidereal time indication

Light Side

• Astronomic precision moonphase & -age with driving & setting differential
• 4-stage discreet moonphase indicator – (world first)
• Solar activity cycle and current cycle duration – (world first)
• Sunrise azimuth indicator – (world first)
• Sunset azimuth indicator – (world first)
• tourbillon escapement

The complex manual wound movement that drives all this is labelled Calibre K.22-1 and is entirely made in-house. In total, it’s built up out of 664 components, including 82 jewels. It’s split between the Dark and Light side, dividing the 17 different indications or complications between the two. It runs at a rate of 19,800vph and despite the demand for energy to drive everything, it still holds 45 hours of power reserve when fully wound.

With the dials being partially openworked, there’s an incredible amount of detail to be discovered, including elements such as the tourbillon escapement, the driving mechanism for the precise moon phase indications, and so on. It goes without saying everything is finished to the highest standards. The Stargazer is a very complicated watch in every aspect, and it definitely shows!

The Konstantin Chaykin Stargazer comes on a double-sided black calfskin leather strap. This is connected to the case with a pair of end-links in stainless ‘Bulat ‘ steel and a matching pin buckle. In order to wear the watch on both sides, the buckle has an integrated 180-degree rotation mechanism. Chaykin doesn’t communicate a price for this one, nor is stated to be a limited or numbered edition. However, with such a complex watch it goes without saying that it takes quite a bit of time to complete, so expect very low production numbers and a rather steep sticker price for this one!

For more information, please visit Chaykin.ru.