KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN the Genius Temporis

the spirit of our time…

The Russian watch manufacture, Konstantin Chaykin will unveil the Genius Temporis Watch, the peak of single-hand watch evolution. The first time it will presented on November 06, at Salon QP 2014 in London. Thanks to Konstantin Chaykin’s latest invention, this “loner” now also indicates minutes, whilst retaining the minimalist elegance of a classic single handed watch.

A single hour hand engages in a command performance framed by a luxurious face decorated in the style of 17th century pocket watches: first it indicates hours and then minutes, all at the whim of the owner. The change is effected by pressing a button located at 2:00 on the side of the case. The hour hand leaps gracefully and shows the precise minute.

The Genius Temporis Watch runs on the proprietary K01-5 caliber, which was developed especially for this model. The K01-5 caliber is highly complicated in construction, production, assembly and adjustment. It consists of over one hundred details, each of which is finished by hand in the Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture.

Alexey Kutkovoy, the Russian watch expert and journalist suggested the name “Genius Temporis”, which is Latin for ‘The Spirit of Our Time’ because Alexey felt that this name best reflects the evolution of single handed watches as an echo of our perception of time.

Man created his first timepiece in conjunction with Nature: the sundial. The sundial needed the rays of the sun in order for the gnomon to cast a shadow. Hands as we know them today first appeared in tabletop clepsydras and then eventually in tower clocks. When you travel through Europe today, you can still see old towers with strange single handed clocks.

Time passed and people began to watch it more carefully. Timepieces became necessary in everyday life. Clocks appeared in homes, people took them on trips in their pockets and finally on their hands. The first mechanical clocks were not very accurate and had only one hand – the hour hand. As clocks became more accurate, the tempo of life increased. First came the minute hand, then the second hand; then came trains, cars, telephones and electronics. As we try to do everything at once, we have become slaves to Time, with watches to count out tiny increments of our lives – minutes and seconds. Naturally, watch makers began offering their tired and stressed customers a new type of watch – the single handed watch.

Peace descends as we watch the hour hand slowly move around the dial. Single handed watches firmly occupy their niche and attract a certain type of person – the person who can afford to slow down, to stop rushing around. But even such people are unable to ignore minutes completely, and are forced to use other methods to tell time in addition to their beloved single handed watches. The Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture has fulfilled this need with a unique and elegant solution: a single handed watch that can also tell minutes when asked.

Genius Temporis – the spirit of our time. A time of self-awareness and freedom of choice. The Genius Temporis Watch by Konstantin Chaykin demonstrates how easy it is to speed up or slow down our lives – all with one button. Speed up or slow down? The choice is yours.