Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz
Levitas Jazz

Levitas Jazz

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LEVITAS JAZZ

Konstantin Chaykin is famous as the creator of the world’s first complicated mechanical wristwatch with a transparent ‘mysterious’ dial and a caliber with more than a thousand jewels, the Mystery 1000 Jewels Watch, which was mysteriously stolen in Paris, the same city where Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, the inventor of ‘mysterious’ clocks, had organized magic shows. The experience Konstantin Chaykin had gained in designing the Mystery 1000 Jewels watch was incorporated into the development of the Levitas watch collection.

Illusionists make us believe in the impossible, in miracles – that a person can read minds, catch a bullet between their teeth, free themselves from chains at the bottom of the sea and, of course, fly. The levitation trick has baffled children and adults alike for generations, even though we both know that the illusion doesn't happen where we're supposed to be looking.

No one understood this better than the father of modern magic, inventor and watchmaker Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. In his life, he pursued two passions – his love of watchmaking and his love of magic tricks. He transformed magic from a simple entertainment at stalls and fairs into a pleasure for the rich, creating breathtaking illusions that he performed in his own theater in Paris. Robert-Houdin made an orange tree grow and bear fruit in front of the audience, and he even floated on stage!

Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin was born in Blois, the old center of watchmaking in France. His father was a watchmaker, a profession he practiced himself. In 1834, Robert-Houdin invented a ‘mysterious’ clock with a transparent glass dial on which the hour hand magically floats and turns by a movement invisible to the observer. This invention forever etched the name Robert-Houdin in the annals of watchmaking and subsequently inspired other watchmakers. Inspired by Robert-Houdin’s story and his ‘mysterious’ clock, Konstantin Chaykin designed the Levitas collection, which allows you to observe the levitation of the hands on the dial of a wristwatch.

To make the ‘mysterious’ watches look even more spectacular, the transparent dial had to be as large as possible in relation to the movement, which Konstantin Chaykin succeeded in doing. The transparent dial of the male Levitas model is 26.5 mm in size, while the movement has a diameter of 38 mm – currently the best ratio for the mechanical wristwatch.

The transparent glass with the floating hour and minute hands takes up an impressive part of the dial of the Levitas watches and gives them a unique charm. The entire movement is located outside the boundaries of the transparent sapphire disks, so that the driving wheels are not visible when looking at the dial – this is the essence of the art of ‘mysterious’ watches.

HAUTE HORLOGERIE AND MUSIC

The warm, soulful world of jazz music is reflected in every element of the design of the Levitas Jazz Piece Unique watch. It breathes life into the case adorned with the keys of a “tired piano”, the strings of a double bass and a mother-of-pearl drumhead, which is hidden in the contours of the asymmetrical case, in the winding crown, in the lugs and, of course, in the dial, which is made in the shape of an old record.

CASEBACK

The sapphire exhibition caseback of the Levitas Jazz Piece Unique watch draws attention to the ‘mysterious’ dial and the crescent-shaped caliber surrounding the transparent zone.

PRODUCTION

The transparent dial of the Levitas Jazz Piece Unique watch, developed by Konstantin Chaykin, is a challenge even for experienced watchmakers to assemble without leaving a fingerprint or a speck of dust. The “mysterious” caliber is then inserted into a sculptural 18k white, yellow and rose gold, designed by Konstantin Chaykin like a musical fantasy.

There is something special about observing the watch being built. It is not just a mechanical process, but a true art in which the meticulous work of the master craftsman is combined with the precision of technical thinking. Assembling a watch is something that can fascinate, inspire and convey a sense of wonder.

MOVEMENT

The caliber K.02-1 of the Levitas Jazz Piece Unique watch was designed by Konstantin Chaykin and equipped with the ‘mysterious’ time indication system he developed. The movement is made entirely in Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture according to the standards of haute horlogerie, using traditional techniques for finishing the components: Côtes de Genève, perlage, fine straight and circular grinding, hand-polished chamfers, engravings, polished screw, pin and jewel recesses, ball polishing of the pivots and rhodium plating.

Caliber: K.02-1, hand-wound, made by Konstantin Chaykin Manufacture
Power reserve: 33 hours
Functions: – Hours and minutes on the ‘mysterious’ transparent dial; – Moonphase indicator

DESIGN IN THE RHYTHM OF JAZZ

The minute hand is a gold-colored “Mystery of Jazz” inscription that looks like it was printed on the sticker in the middle of a record. On a transparent disc of the dial you can read another inscription: “PG-band performs improvisations on to Konstantin Chaykin selected works”. The hour hand has shape of a wedge-shaped torch, which is normally reflected on a sunny day by a rotating disc bathed in the light of the window.

In the sculptural overlay of the dial, representing the phonograph of a gramophone, the ‘jazz’ moon slowly changes phase, while the night sky in the background is illuminated by note-shaped stars. The phonograph seems to hang above the dial, with a ‘soundtrack’ in its grooves. At any moment it could touch the dial and the watch will to life – sad with blues chords, crazy with enchanting bebop improvisations and rousing with the calm perfection of cool jazz.

The hour markers of the Levitas Jazz Piece Unique watch are applied and diamond-set gold ‘notes’, while Konstantin Chaykin has chosen to set the hour markers in the form of treble, alto and bass clefs at the cardinal points (6, 9 and 12 o'clock). The diamonds on the indexes are not only an attempt to make the watch precious, but also a desire to convey the weightlessness, purity and transparency of Ella Fitzgerald’s voice.

Case dimensions: Diameter 61 mm


Technical information


Functions

  • Display hours, minutes, moon phase

Сase

  • White gold 18K, rose gold 14K, diamonds, mother-of-perl, agate

Case dimensions

  • Diameter 61 mm

Сrystal

  • Sapphire crystal with antireflective coating

Strap

  • Real leather

Buckle

  • Prong buckle in rose gold

Water resistance

  • З АТМ (30 m)

Movement:

Caliber 

  • K07-0 with hand winding by Konstantin Chaykin manufacture

Basic mechanism 

  • ETA 2824-2 (diameter 25,6 mm, height 4,6 mm)

Movement dimensions

  • Diameter 31,5 mm, height 9,0 mm

Escapement

  • Lever escapement

Material

  • Brass, steel

Half-wave frequency

  • 28,800 vph

Power reserve

  • 33 hours

Jewels 

  • 33 (base mechanism – 25 stones, module-8 stones)

Accuracy

  • +/- 15 seconds per day

 

ABOUT KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN

MANUFACTORY«KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN»

For high-end watch connoisseurs around the world

The Konstantin Chaykin Manufactory, founded in 2003 by Konstantin Chaykin, Russian inventor and watchmaker, is the only luxury watchmaking brand producing timepieces made exclusively in Russia. Konstantin Chaykin and his manufactory are renowned to watch connoisseurs around the world for their watchmaking art. Konstantin Chaykin brand’s is recognised by the global professional watchmaking community as one of the most creative and original in the world.

AUDACITY, SKILL AND INGENUITY

The history of the Russian watch brand “Konstantin Chaykin” began on 23rd October 2003 when a young and ambitious inventor from St. Petersburg discovered his passion for the world of mechanical complications, intending to create the first watch with a tourbillon in Russia for 175 years. Starting with the repair and restoration of table clocks and wristwatches, he thoroughly mastered all the subtleties of creating mechanisms and methods for manufacturing watch parts. He was guided by the desire to create new, unprecedented masterpieces of haute horlogerie. In 2005 Konstantin Chaykin registered his first patent for his Orthodox Easter computus, which automatically calculates and displays the dates of the Orthodox Easter. As of February 2020, the number of patents in his portfolio stands at 79, with a further 62 utility model patents, the most of anybody in the watchmaking industry.

KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN’S WORKSHOP HAS GROWN INTO A MANUFACTORY CAPABLE OF PRODUCING ALMOST ALL THE COMPONENTS REQUIRED IN THE ASSEMBLY OF A WATCH.


His global renown comes from inventions never before seen, such as timepieces with a Muslim calendar, with an Orthodox Easter date indicator, with a spherical moonphase indicator (the largest ever created for a wristwatch), with a moving image projector, and with a single switchable hour-minute hand.

The real breakthrough for Konstantin Chaykin in haute horlogerie was the “Joker” watch he created with the dial as a face, with hours and minutes indicated by rotating eyes along with the now instantly recognisable Konstantin Chaykin trademark, the smiling moonphase indicator.

FROM THESE MASTER CRAFTSMEN COME AMAZING, COMPLEX WATCHES

The rate of production at Konstantin Chaykin Manufactory is around 200-250 pieces per year. The production of one exclusive custom-made timepiece takes from eight months to a few years. We work on each timepiece as an artist works on a painting, therefore each object is unique.

“We are not only reviving Russian haute horlogerie but we are also part of the global watch industry”.

DREAMING OF UNIQUE TIMEPIECES

The myth that Russians do not know how to make watches must be destroyed, as it is not only false but also defames the glorious history of our state and sullies the names of great people who have given their lives to create the most complicated watches and movements.

The idea of giving watches pronounced anthropomorphic features has been with me for a long time. I believe a watch is not just a mechanism, it is a piece of contemporary art, a real objet d’art, which should evoke strong emotions.

This applies to each of my timepieces. For example, the “Lunokhod” watch is unlike any wristwatch in the world, the “Cinema” watch has a unique moving image projector, and the “Carpe Diem” model has a complication giving an allegorical interpretation of how time elapses.

These watches are complex and artistic while at the same time also philosophical. From an artistic viewpoint the “Joker” watch seems to be the logical continuation of this theme. I wanted to create a watch that makes a connection with its owner, bringing instant emotion

Konstantin Chaykin

THE COMPLETE REJECTION OF ANONYMOUS MASS PRODUCTION

Over the years Konstantin Chaykin has gathered a team of professionals who share his passion for perfection and beauty in the art of fine watchmaking. That’s how the first manufactory of haute horlogerie in modern Russia was born.

Today under Chaykin’s leadership there is a well-coordinated team of just over 10 people. Together they develop the latest watch masterpieces, reviving the classic traditions of watchmaking based on the values of master craftsmen.

WATCHMAKING HERITAGE

Konstantin Chaykin’s Manufactory building is located in a uniquely historical part of Moscow, next to the picturesque Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve.

Such a place holds great meaning for us, as the bells of the clocktower here ring out the time every hour.

In Kolomenskoye one can find the only exhibition in Russia dedicated to clocktower mechanisms of the 16th – 19th Centuries.

Among the unique displays are the oldest surviving hand-made mechanism of Russian craftsman Semyon Chasovik, which he made in 1539 for the Solovetsky Monastery, as well as an anchor mechanism from the Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery made by Rezantsov. A visit to the Konstantin Chaykin Manufactory is a journey into the world of time. In the modern two-storey mansion one can find a space for engineers, a design department, a department for the design and development of calibres, as well as an assembly and testing workshop. The latest computer-controlled metal-cutting machinery is located on the ground floor, where all components are manufactured.

On the second floor, the inner workings of the watch are assembled before everything is finally put together ready for quality control. With all departments under one roof, specialists from different areas can readily interact and exchange their skills. This also helps create the unique artistic atmosphere of the manufactory.

OUR CRAFTSMEN ARE NOT JUST PROFESSIONAL WATCHMAKERS, THEY PASSIONATELY AIM FOR PERFECTION IN THE ART OF WATCHMAKING

Who could have thought twenty years ago that in Russia, watches would be made that could compete with the finest examples from Switzerland, Germany and Japan? The work of Konstantin Chaykin, Russian inventor and master of haute horlogerie, has become widely regarded and respected globally.

In 2010 Konstantin Chaykin became the first – and to date only – Russian member of the AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, or Academy of Independent Watchmakers), holding the post of president from 2016 to 2019. On November 9th 2018 Konstantin Chaykin and his “Clown” watch were awarded the “Audacity” prize at the Geneva Grand Prix of Horlogerie 2018 (GPHG, Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève), the most highly regarded and prestigious watch competition in the world. Konstantin Chaykin was the first Russian watchmaker in history to take home such an award.

"As the function of a watch as a device for telling the time passes to smartphones and smartwatches, it is emotions that mechanical watches can, and indeed must, give".

Konstantin Chaykin

PROPRIETARY INVENTIONS

The watches of Konstantin Chaykin, a unique representative of the independent watchmakers’ movement, truly stand out from the mass productions of big multinational corporations. They are the embodiment of the desires and skills to create the bravest and most unusual ideas – be they philosophical, design or technical. Konstantin Chaykin doesn’t produce watches which are standardised for the mainstream. His entire collection is based exclusively on his own inventions, including the “Moscow Computus”, invented by Chaykin to calculate the Orthodox Easter dates and the most complex mechanical clock ever made in the history of Russian clockmaking; the “Lunokhod” watch, with a unique spherical moon-phase indicator – the largest of its type ever placed in a wristwatch; the “Cinema” watch, with a built-in miniature projector, able to reproduce moving photographic images, of a design never seen before in a wristwatch; the “Levitas” watch, with its own revised and optimised version of the “mysterious” time display on a transparent dial; the “Russia Time” watch, with a display showing all 11 time zones of Russia; the “Mars Conqueror”, the world’s first complex mechanical watch to show Martian time, as well as other astronomical and cosmic indicators; a table clock and wristwatch with calendar displays created according to Muslim and Jewish traditions, and more…

PHILOSOPHY

It’s Russia time, baby! 

Russia. Natural resources, vast territories, a harmonious blend of people of different backgrounds and cultures, a country full of powerful, intellectual and creative potential. This land has given the world outstanding scientists and genius writers, poets, musicians and artists. To this day, people are born here who are able to look into the future and produce incredible things. Maintaining the traditions of haute horlogerie in Russia, we try to embody the creative spirit of this great country.

For an independent watchmaker there are two paths – to investigate the craft traditions of the past and adorn watches with classic finishes and traditional complications, or to look for uncharted territory, going beyond established frameworks and creating new traditions. Back in 2005, at the beginning of his career, Konstantin Chaykin chose the second path, abandoning the manufacture of traditional clocks with a fusée-and-chain transmission, tourbillon and perpetual calendar for the invention of an Orthodox computus, a device calculating and displaying the dates of the Orthodox Easter, which had never been invented before.

THREE SOURCES AND THREE COMPONENTS OF KONSTANTIN CHAYKIN’S WATCHMAKING ART

When starting a new project, and thinking what his latest timepiece should be, Konstantin Chaykin follows his creative principles: “When I start a new project, I am guided by my three creative principles – first, an idea is born, be it philosophical, technical or artistic, which captures all my thoughts. Then I come up with the design which will most completely and adequately express this idea. Finally, I construct a movement that brings everything to life.

“Every new watch is a huge amount of creative work. From my point of view, inspirations for new watches and projects are everywhere – in museums, books, films and even in conversations with friends. Something interesting can always come to your mind” – Konstantin Chaykin

If you design something well-known, for example a calendar, chronograph or repeater, everything can be done faster as everything is already known, having already been calculated by past masters. But because all our watches are created based on my own inventions, an incredible amount of effort, resources and time is required.

We focus on connoisseurs of the art of watchmaking, who are tired of the mass-produced and mostly impersonal products of famous brands. For real aficionados, it is emotions which are very important, a response which comes from the heart as soon as such a truly extraordinary watch, conceived with ingenuity and made with the highest levels of craftsmanship, is placed on the wrist.

Konstantin Chaykin

TIMEPIECES FOR EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE

Watches by Konstantin Chaykin reveal a part of the character of their owner. They belong to people who are not afraid to think independently, who have the courage to act and who have their own points of view on life.

To be different from everyone else, to do what hasn’t been done before, to amaze, to delight, to lead – that is an extraordinary person. Such are the watch collections which are created for them.

INVENTIONS

“Having decided to test myself in the world of haute horlogerie, in 2003, I began with the creation of a table clock with tourbillon. Why did I start this? Because I had read in a watchmaking magazine that nobody had ever made tourbillons in Russia. I was hooked!” – Konstantin Chaykin

Konstantin Chaykin began his watchmaking career with a tourbillon, the globally-recognised symbol of haute horlogerie, thereby setting a high bar for his future manufactory.

When Konstantin Chaykin mastered tourbillons, the haute horlogerie classic, he realised that he could reproduce any previously-invented watchmaking device. However, this didn’t appeal to him. He immediately understood that it would be much more interesting to invent things himself.

Every watch by Konstantin Chaykin is equipped with complex mechanical calibres, which are made and based exclusively on his own movements, functions and designs. Therefore, a Konstantin Chaykin watch is incomparable in the global watchmaking industry.

Moscow, 29th April. At the plenary session of the XIII International Forum “Intellectual Property – XXI Century”, held by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the ceremony awarding Russian inventor Konstantin Chaykin with the WIPO gold medal took place. The combination of extraordinary creative thinking and the refusal to follow the beaten path is typical of the inventive style of Konstantin Chaykin, characteristics shared with many of his watches.

On October 13, 2022, 9th Temporis International Awards ceremony was held in Zurich. Konstantin Chaykin participated in the ceremony and joined the Temporis Hall of Fame.

The award was established by Dan Vardie, publisher of Temporis watch media. He stood behind the establishment of the Temporis International Awards Jury that selects the winners each year among participating watchmakers. In addition to the award, Dan Vardie created a tradition of an "honour ceremony" for the most outstanding and famous masters of Haute Horlogerie in the world - introduction to the Temporis Hall of Fame. There are currently 27 outstanding people in the Hall, including legendary watchmakers and inventors like Kurt Klaus, Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen, Richard Mille, Michel Parmigiani and Ludwig Oechslin. For the first time in the history of watchmaking, Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin was privileged to join the Temporis Hall of Fame in 2022.

On November 17, 2022, Konstantin Chaykin was awarded the "Distinguished Inventor of Russian Federation" title – the official certificate, recognizing the master's long and successful career as an inventor was signed by the president Vladimir Putin. Many scientists, engineers, experimenters who have contributed significantly to the development of both Russian and global science, were given this award. And now Konstantin Chaykin officially joins them.

The Medal of the Russian Ministry of Finance "For Diligence and Art" was given as an award at the ceremony which was held on 27th of December, 2022. It has a long history: it was presented by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Empire at all national exhibitions in the XIXth and early XXth centuries. In 2022, the traditional award was returned by the Russian Ministry of Finance. The winners are the leading representatives of the jewellery and watchmaking industries, including the famous Russian watchmaker and inventor Konstantin Chaykin.

Konstantin Chaykin – author of 94 patents for his inventions as well as 62 utility model patents (as of April 2023), the most of any watchmaker in the world. In total he has designed over 30 mechanical calibres and functional models.

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