Back to positives: The little eyes move flawlessly and accurately at every turn of the crown, and you never get the sense that there is a loose or poorly engineered connection among the crown, keyless works, module and time display — fine-tuning such a complex device that is additionally linked to a phase of the moon indication that advances every night is much more difficult than many would imagine. It is in this refinement that the crown feels and the displays operate where Chaykin’s expertise and experience in crafting entirely unique, high-complication watches and absolutely insane clocks can be experienced first-hand.
Wearability
A few words on wearability before it neatly leads us into the emotional element. The Konstantin Chaykin Joker is 42 millimeters-wide and 13.7-millimeters thick. Wearing the Joker is an entirely uncompromising experience, once the strap has broken in and become compliant in following the shape of the wrist. The caseback is slim and unobtrusive, the tang buckle holds the watch secure, and the crown is just high and flat enough to not dig into the wrist painfully.
Proportions in watch design have become a pet peeve of mine. When done well, it’s the best thing in a watch; when done poorly, no technical prowess can outweigh or suppress it. A testament to Chaykin’s gift of the artist’s eye, nothing is too small or too large on the Joker. The facial features from an artistic and functional perspective are perfectly sized. The case, bezel, dial, as well as their small adornments — like the subtle green ring on the periphery of the dial or the aforementioned notches and polished veneers of the bezel — frame the watch beautifully. The balance, in my opinion, is perfectly found between artistic elements and those that make a watch just that: a watch. I roll my eyes — like the Joker does — every time I see super-artistic watches that are completely illegible or unwearable, or both. If it’s an artsy watch that’s done well, I will want to wear it; and if I do wear it, I don’t want to be frustrated by the watch not fulfilling basic requirements, such as legibility, reliability, and wearing comfort that any proper watch should offer.
The Joker Of Horological Emotions
Two thousand words into it, we have circled back to the initial point: the emotions the Konstantin Chaykin Joker evokes. I can’t speak for others, nor would I want to, but I’d love to hear whether you agree with what I am about to say and/or how the Joker makes you feel.
When I first saw the Joker, I burst out laughing, and it was a minute or two before I could control myself again. Part of the story is the fact that this was at one of the last days of BaselWorld 2017, in the wee hours in one of the many unapologetically horrible bars of the city where we ran into Chaykin, who had been wearing an early version of the Joker. When I saw the watch, I suddenly became cheered up, as it reminded me of so many reasons I like watches. However, it was when he took the watch off and started resetting the time on it that I burst out laughing; seeing the eyes rotate and a watch pull the silliest faces and expressions in close succession was something I’d never seen before. And I have seen a fair number of watches labeled as “fun watches” — but nothing on this level.
For one, the Joker helps me connect with my long-hair-don’t-care side in that it fully abandons the box-ticking, top trumps game that other luxury watches play, and that I referenced at the beginning of this article. It’s me and my silly side, brought to light in a clear-cut way by one of those very few personal objects that we can resort to when it comes to silent methods of self-expression.
Secondly, it connects me with Chaykin, a highly creative, gifted, yet humble guy in Moscow — as opposed to some utterly faceless, masked luxury brand so unashamedly involved in playing the smoke and mirrors game that I am genuinely repelled and appalled, at this point. 99% of big-brand luxury watches connect me to a story, a concept, or a technical/engineering achievement, but hardly ever a face. That’s why “ambassadors” and “testimonees” were invented: to give all those faceless brands a face.
Let me put it this way. If you were to create your top 20 list of independents, I’ll go out a a limb and say that the way they range between your #1 and your #20 will beautifully correlate with how easily you can connect a face with the brand. Which one would you rank higher? MB&F or HYT? Philippe Dufour or Ferdinand Berthoud? You see, it’s not just about technical prowess or design, it’s about having a person attached. Because it is watchmakers and individual human effort that most of us appreciate — once we mature beyond chasing status or the ideal of being part of a club.
Third, the Joker connects me with other people through their reactions to it. It underscored our deep-rooted need to socialize in today’s faceless world, full of fake “emotions,” forced and consequently superficial relationships, and less and less time for one another. Surrounding ourselves with things that connect us to our curious, open-minded human side, as well as connect us to each other, is more important than ever. Perhaps not for everyone and certainly not in a conscious way for all, but it’s there. If you can’t quite appreciate this to full extent, I’d suggest watching the 300 Days alone documentary.
The final testament to the Joker’s power to evoke true emotions is that I don’t want to wear it all the time. Some days I’ll just put on something much more traditional — even if it’s a Seiko “Pepsi” PADI diver or a white G-Shock, i.e. what I consider to be fun watches. I am not always in the mood for the Joker — I am yet to be comfortable attaching any bad memories to it. If someone close to me is sick, or I feel low for other serious reasons, I’d rather not wear it, as silly as that may sound.
Summary
The bottom line I keep coming back to, whichever way I look at it, is that the Joker is different from any other watch I have ever worn, as it evokes more powerful, more lasting, and more humane emotions. I’d like to have worn an Alain Silberstein, as I imagine some of his works might come close, and perhaps some of Genta’s more goofy designs. But somehow, even those are too serious, too Swiss, in a way, when compared to the Joker. Silberstein with his geometrics and Genta with his brand chewed up and spat out by an industry giant — things that are difficult for me to unsee.
The main takeaway message here, if there is one, is that we can all applaud and support brands that connect core watchmaking values — legibility, wearability, quality, and value — with their own ways of creative expression. I say this because in this support we will find not only better watches, in every sense of the word, but also hitherto undiscovered wearing experiences. Most all big brands, such as Omega, Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre are the blandest they have ever been, and, in a way, it is on us, the consumer, to vote for watches that are more exciting, more fun, and more creative. We will not regret it, I can promise you that.
I find it deeply ironic and equally telling that one needs to be the Geneva-Moscow distance away from the Swiss watch industry to have a mind free enough to conceive watches like Konstantin Chaykin does. Everyone who wants to break free from and raise above the Swiss games of “superlativeness” and anglage-defined superiority might want to consider moving — at least mentally — as far away from the established industry as possible, taking as much of manufacturing into one’s hands, as possible. Once you need to rely on anyone for anything in the Swiss industry, you are paying with your cost-value ratio, as well as your own creativity, I’m afraid.
Let us not forget, the Konstantin Chaykin Joker is exceptionally well-made for its original price point of €6,990 — a fact its doubled resale value indicates, pricing it comfortably in the mid- to high-$10k range. It’s proportionate, comfortable, legible (I can say that after months of wearing it) and, again, beautifully made. These qualities, all on their own, would make it one of the must-haves for its original price point — but it is its inspired design and unique presentation that turn it, for me at least, into one of the greatest watches produced in the modern era of watchmaking. It really is that good. Although the original Konstantin Chaykin Joker is discontinued, you can hunt for its newer iterations on Konstantin Chaykin’s website here.
