Entries by Joshua Munchow

Why Independent Russian Watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin Is A Movie Star

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Konstantin Chaykin, the Wonderboy Russian Watchmaker – my name for him, hopefully he doesn’t mind – is a serious contender for being crowned one of the most progressive and talented watchmakers alive right now.

Previous models like the Levitas, Lunokhod, and his incredible clock creations that feature Jewish and Islamic calendars show that he is both creative and a top-notch complication specialist.

With his most recent creation, the aptly named Cinema watch, he stumped and astounded me with a creative direction that did not leave me wanting. The Cinema features an animation, or more correctly, stop motion recording of a horse at full gallop.

The mechanism used to create said animation? Why that would be his own miniaturized version of Eadweard Muybridge’s Zoopraxiscope. (One of the most awesome names for any machine ever; it even rivals one of my own wordinations!)

The Radio Room: Russian Watches In Action (And How The Titanic Changed Everything)

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Here is something a little different that was sparked by disaster and created a legacy, especially in Russia, with regard to the design of clocks and watches in telegraph and radio rooms ever since.

The year is 1912 and it’s a cold April night as the Titanic speeds its way through iceberg-infested waters in the north Atlantic. I’m sure you all see where this is going so I will spare you further James Cameron-esque imagery and simply remind you that tragedy struck the luxury liner in the form of an iceberg, dooming what was thought to be an “unsinkable” ship.

Thousands of lives were lost needlessly and not simply because the ship sank; many factors aided in making that night a true tragedy instead of simply a failed voyage. One of those factors was communication and the complete lack of regulation over an international system.

That night there were huge amounts of chatter over the radio waves, and as the Titanic sent out its distress signal she found it hard to get through to other ships. The ones that it did get through to were either too far or too late.

Because of the ice, a few ships simply couldn’t come without risking their own hulls. In the aftermath of investigations that followed, it was found that poor (or nonexistent) regulation over the use of radio signals, especially those at sea, were partially to blame.

Rotonde De Cartier Astrocalendaire Perpetual Calendar: A Greek In French Couture?

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Greece. It’s the birthplace of western civilization, democracy, and science. This country lays claim to some of the most brilliant minds in philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and politics that the world has ever seen. All of these wonderful thinkers developed the most advanced ideas of their day, some of which are as true today as they were 2,600 years ago when they first began pondering the big questions.

The Greeks are even credited with inventing the first analog computer in the first century B.C., which they used for predicting astronomical positions and eclipses. Fast forward through 2,000 years and a descendent has been born, one with Greek heritage of astronomical proportions. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

So I would like to continue by nominating the Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendaire Perpetual Calendar as the Greekiest thing to ever be built by a quintessential French house such as Cartier. Some of you might already be agreeing, but for the more stubborn of you I would like to elucidate my thinking and hopefully by the end you will be saying, “opa!”