This year at the Baselworld watch show in Switzerland (2013), Konstantin Chaykin moved from a small corner of the AHCI booth to the Palace! His setup was nicely done and all of his current pieces were on display, even a few clocks.

Once again, the maestro impressed everyone with a lovely novelty called the Cinema watch inspired by the work of Eadweard Muybridge (whose name appears on a plate at 6:00 on the case).

The Cinema is a special watch thanks to a unique mechanically powered animation feature. It is the very first mechanical timepiece in the world to feature a miniature zoopraxiscope complication.

How does it work?

After being wound up, the animation is then triggered manually with the crown at 9:00. In the future, perhaps Konstantin Chaykin could work an alarm complication into the design and have it triggered by that.

The animation is comprised of 12 different images and also features black shutter to create a defined animation effect and prevent blurriness. Each frame switches every .7 seconds.

The dial is a striking black guilloché with silver accents and “Russia” at 6:00 – Konstantin Chaykin being the world’s most renowned independent Russian watchmaker.

The rectangular case, made from 18K white gold, measures 47.6mm x 37.6mm. It sits 13.8mm tall on the wrist, wrapped with a black leather strap and matching white gold tang buckle.

The handwound mechancial movement in the Cinema is called the Konstantin Chaykin caliber K.06-0. Designed and made in-house, it features a variety of finishing methods including sandblasting, stripes, chamfered edges, polished screw holes, and rhodium plating. The K06-0 has a power reserve of 45 hours and an average accuracy to +/- 15 seconds per day.

“The “Cinema” watch is the first mechanical cinema watch in the world, with a miniature zoopraxiscope built into the movement showing the galloping horse as filmed by Muybridge. With the click of a button on the watch you can see the very film with which the history of the cinema began!” –source

Below, you can see the entrance to the KC booth at Baselworld 2013. History in the making!

With a retail price of 5,500,000 RUB (~$90K USD), the Cinema watch is all sold-out. It is, however, still possible to order a custom piece directly from Konstantin Chaykin.

Additional Resources:

• Follow @kchaykin and join him on Facebook.
• Konstantin Chaykin Cinema official page