Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Konstantin Chaykin Presents The 1.65mm ThinKing, The Newest World’s Thinnest Mechanical Watch
Besting the likes of Bulgari, Piaget and Richard Mille, Konstantin Chaykin claims the thinness record with a mindbending prototype.
If I asked you to name things that are 1.65mm in height, or less, would you immediately think of a watch? More likely you’d be thinking of credit cards, coins maybe, or even a sheet of cardboard. But a mechanical watch? Surely that can’t be done at such a slim height… Well, it can be done, and it has been done as renowned indie watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin reveals his ThinKing. According to what the indie watchmaker claims (we’re still waiting to see the watch during the Geneva Watch Days), it’ll be besting the likes of Piaget, Bulgari and Richard Mille, as this very cleverly constructed watch brings the record down to a mere 1.65mm in thickness, making it the new world’s thinnest mechanical watch.
Context
Before starting to read and understand all there is to know (so far) about the Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing prototype, we invite you to read this article listing all the records of thinness in watchmaking.
To put things in perspective, we’ve witnessed sort of an ultra-thin arms race between three brands over the past decade or so. Piaget has an extensive history in this specific field of watchmaking dating back decades. Piaget, in 2018, presented the 2mm thin Altiplano Ultimate Concept, back then the thinnest mechanical watch ever made. Now the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon is the current record-holder for the thinnest tourbillon watch at a mere 2mm thickness. Bulgari is another key player, with the fascinating Octo Finissimo line. It previously held the record for the thinnest mechanical watch with the Octo Finissimo Ultra coming in at a wafer-thin 1.80mm, before Richard Mille came in with the credit-card-like RM UP-01 at 1.75mm. Bulgari reclaimed the record earlier this year with the 1.70mm thin Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC – up until now the thinnest mechanical watch.
And today, seemingly out of nowhere, a new contestant enters the arena; Konstantin Chaykin. He’s already made his fame for making some of the most creative and complex watches and clocks available, highlighted by the range of Wristmons (his Joker-style watches), but also by fascinating watches like the Mars Conquerer MK3, the Genius Temporis and the Cinema watch. Just a couple of weeks ago, he made a big impression with the Stargazer, his most complicated watch to date! Now though, Chaykin turns things on its head once more with the ThinKing, a clever play on watchmaking construction (and on words).
The 1.65mm ThinKing, the new record for thinness
Understanding the challenges in such a slim watch means understanding the inner workings of a mechanical watch to such an extent you can re-engineer everything from scratch. To achieve a watch this thin, every component needs to be slimmed down to the lowest possible level. Piaget and Bulgari mounted everything on a single horizontal plain and made the caseback the mainplate of the movement, to push it to under 2mm. The ThinKing uses some clever solutions to further reduce that to 1.65mm, apparently breaking the record Bulgari currently holds.
It starts with a case crafted from a special type of stainless steel for maximum rigidity. The case of the ThinKing is just 1.65mm thin, with a diameter of 40mm. It has no visible crown and displays the hours and minutes through two separate windows. Together with Chaykin’s logo and name serving as a visual ‘nose and mouth’, the ThinKing is thus part of the Wristmon family. Chaykin’s reasoning behind this display is that his record might be bested one day, but his watch will still be recognized by the community and collectors for its striking facial appearance. The sapphire crystals over the hands, which are in turn painted directly onto the spokes of the minutes and hours gears (these are parts from the movement, not additional hands), are just 0.35mm thin.
By using the caseback as the mainplate for the movement, you automatically add a degree of stiffness due to the milled recesses and ribs needed to hold the running gear. This method is used by Piaget and Bulgari for instance, and by Chaykin as well. To circumvent the inevitable risk of bending, Chaykin has constructed something called the PalanKing carrier case (in reference to a Palanquin, a single-seat ‘box’ carried by a pair of bearers). This external case adds a substantial amount of rigidity to the ThinKing and when installed, the width and height are increased to 45mm and 5.4mm respectively. But the PalanKing carrier case does more than add size and rigidity…
The movement of ThinKing is constructed on two horizontal levels, as opposed to the Altiplano Ultimate Concept and the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC. What Chaykin has done to achieve the record-breaking thinness of 1.65mm overall height, is to split the classic balance architecture into two elements which are normally attached one on top of another on the balance’s staff (the balance and the roller), by adding a roller balance wheel. This drastically reduces the height of the balance staff. The balance wheel, still connected to the hairspring, is now teethed and connected to a roller wheel. The toothed gears are connected to a traditional Swiss lever escapement, with a pallet fork and so on. The barrel is also re-engineered and integrates its winding mechanism with pawl and flat mainspring into the barrel-arbor, eliminating the need for any type of cover. The thickness of the spring is reduced as much as possible, yet ensures a power reserve of 32 hours – one of the compromises of such thinness.
Normally, this is the part where I would start talking about the movement. For the ThinKing, this is basically split into two, with Calibre K.23-0 powering the main case, and Calibre K.23-1 housed in the PalanKing carrier case. The main movement is constructed out of 204 components, including 51 jewels. It runs at a rate of 18,000vph and indicates the hours on the left and the minutes on the right. Two patents are pending on the construction, for the double balance wheel and the mainspring barrel. To shave off even more height of the case construction, Chaykin opted for exposed jewels, something unprecedented in mechanical watchmaking! Also, according to the press release, this movement can be wound by a key. Its construction seems surprisingly traditional, with classic bridges and no ball bearings or exotic solutions.
One thing to note is the fact it seems the watch cannot be set to time when on the wrist without the PalanKing. To solve this, the PalanKing case comes into the equation, with multiple functions to it. First, thanks to a crown, it allows setting the time and hand-winding the movement – two stems protrude out of this assembly, one connected to the winding train, the other connected to the minutes wheel, to set the time. The other highly clever element is a micro-rotor. Indeed, housed in this PalanKing is an automatic mechanism, bringing much more versatility to this Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing.
Concluding thoughts
The Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing is presented as a unique prototype and comes on a black alligator leather strap with elastic inserts, flexible titanium supports (patent pending) and a stainless steel pin buckle. At the time of writing this, we do not know all the ins and outs of the watch.
For instance, there’s no word on accuracy, friction levels generated by this teethed balance wheel, or the effect on its power reserve. We will come back to this as we learn more after meeting Konstantin Chaykin in Geneva soon. However, from what we do know right now, the Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing is an unexpected yet fascinating lesson in watchmaking, in addition to being the thinnest mechanical watch ever produced. Packing all this in a 1.65mm thin housing, besting the developmental power (and budgets) of Piaget, Bulgari (with Concepto) and Richard Mille (with APRP) is extremely commendable!
For more information, please visit Chaykin.ru.
7 responses
Feels like a cheat to me… if for it to be used you need to actually put it in another box which is almost 3.5 thcker–and larger–than the watch itself.
I commend what Konstantin Chaykin is doing but this isn’t a watch and not even in the same category as Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC imo. If you need a separate tool to wind the watch like this one or Richard Mille’s, that isn’t a watch imo.. Simple as that.
@maciej, did you actually read what the purpose of the box case is?
Lol didn’t best anything. He made an interesting prototype, yes, but the journalist’s job is to avoid misleading titles and comparisons.
When it comes to ultra-thin watches, people always
I remember Swiss brands like RM, Piaget, Blvgari, but so far the thinnest watch from Russia has appeared, created by Chaykin, wow, what a talented independent artisan. Always creating excitement. distinctive
Does anyone remember the first ultrathin watch made by Concord and known as “The Delirium”? To the best of my memory, there were problems when the consumer strapped the watch on the wrist the case back (part of the watch movement) would deform ever so slightly due to the pressure to its super thinness. I wonder if KC researched these drawbacks of the forerunners of his newest breakthrough?
@AK yes,I did. And what I read is: “One thing to note is the fact it seems the watch cannot be set to time when on the wrist without the PalanKing. To solve this, the PalanKing case comes into the equation, with multiple functions to it. First, thanks to a crown, it allows setting the time and hand-winding the movement”.
That means the watch cannot be set or wound without this box. What means it is not functional without it meaning the thinnes contains only a part of a watch, so it is in no way in contest as it is cheating.