A Konstantin Chaykin piece, which has so far never been made available for purchase, will go under the hammer this month.
Ineichen Auctioneers in Zurich will put the watch up for sale in its La Vie en Rose auction on March 12.
The history of this watch began at the end of 2007, when Konstantin Chaykin began to develop a complicated wristwatch with a mysterious time indication system for the Namfleg project.
Designed in about a year, the Mystery 1000 Jewels watch was equipped with a movement with additional mysterious planisphere and annual calendar complications, unprecedentedly complex for watches of this genre – it was the first watch ever having not only mysterious time indication system, but two additional mysterious complications.
Unfortunately though, the timepiece which was a unique piece, was stolen from a Paris hotel room in 2009 during Sotheby’s a charity ball and an exhibition at the Louvre.
Two years on from that unfortunate incident, Konstantin Chaykin undertook the development of simpler serial production models, redesigning the watch movement based on a different principle of the mysterious indication, this time with a central axis.
He came to this decision not only because of the obvious technical difficulties that arise in the manufacture of watches with several additional functions, but also because of the desire to make the mysterious watch more accessible.
He therefore abandoned the idea of design without a central axis, which demanded extremely complicated ball bearing system to support the smooth rotation of transparent discs and used a scheme with a single rotating transparent disc of a mysterious display and a miniature motion work hidden under a metal cap covering the central axis of a transparent dial.
At the same time, Konstantin Chaykin paid special attention to how his future mysterious watch will be perceived as impressively transparent. Chaykin made it his mission to enlarge as much as possible the transparent area, a task in which he was successful.
With the movement’s diameter of 38 millimetres preserved (compare to Mystery 1000 Jewels watch), the diameter of the transparent area was enlarged, from 24.5 mm in the Mystery 1000 Jewels to 26.5 mm in the newly developed mysterious caliber.
In addition to the 38mm caliber (originally designated as KMR 02-0, then as K.02-0), Konstantin Chaykin undertook the development of a smaller 33mm K.03-0 caliber (initially the movement was marked with the designation KMR 03-1), which he meant to use in the manufacture of watches of a smaller size, both women’s and men’s.
He introduced the Mystery watch with a 42mm case and additional moon phase complication initially at Baselworld in 2012, based on a larger 38mm caliber.
The following year, Chaykin modified the two main versions of the mysterious caliber, in 33mm and 38mm (K.03-0 and K.02-1, respectively) in order to reduce the backlash observed in the early versions of the hour and minute hands and decided to launch the new Levitas collection accordingly.
He had felt that the former name ‘Mystery’ seemed too common.
During this period, he had not yet decided which models and with what complications to include in the Levitas collection.
In addition to the subsequent 44mm men’s watches with moon phase indicator and 40mm women’s watches without, he created a prototype in a 40mm rose gold case.
This was considered as an attempt to produce a mysterious men’s watch with a classic design without additional complications, and in the most laconic appearance.
Chaykin named this pre-production prototype Levitas Luna Nascosta, which in Italian means “hidden moon”. The caliber K.03-0 of this watch provided the opportunity of setting the moon phase indicator, which would have happened had the master decided to follow it up.
However, history led to the fact that he opted for 44mm men’s watches with a moon phase indicator and 40mm women’s models without a moon phase indicator, and the Levitas Luna Nascosta experimental prototype was not prepared for serial production.
Since 2013, the watch has been owned by the Konstantin Chaykin manufactory and has never been sold until now.
You can check out the lot HERE.
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