The Icons – Konstantin Chaykin's Joker

As part of our series on the icons of modern independent watchmaking, we’ve dived into timepieces, one by one, that have contributed significantly to the tradition through mechanics and design. From Vianney Halter’s Antiqua to Urwerk’s UR-103 to MB&F’s Legacy Machine Perpetual, one theme throughout all icons is that time plays a nontrivial role. A watch ages into being an icon by moving against the grain of industry norms. Or, a watch speaks to the time in a way that is culturally specific and important. One way or the other, there is no “icon” in a vacuum. Good finishing and a nice design isn’t enough.

It’s also true that many, now iconic timepieces were much less appreciated during the time of their arrival. History shows us with Halter and Urwerk that it can take nearly a decade for these timepieces to find much recognition beyond a very small niche of collectors. It can also take even longer for an iconic timepiece to inspire later watchmakers to push past existing horizons. 

Today, we’re digging another timepiece to enter the pantheon of icons – Konstantin Chaykin’s Joker, released first in 2017. We’ll get into how this is an unusual icon, one supremely self-aware of the times in mechanical watchmaking. 

Marko who runs SwissWatchGang wearing his Joker on the wrist

The Icon – Unpacking Konstantin Chaykin’s Joker

The watch with a face is the cornerstone of Chaykin’s manufacture in modern independent watchmaking. 

It’s a challenge to find any timepiece in watchmaking that elicits a more emotional response. It radiates playfulness, and often catches the wearer off-guard by the dial’s expressiveness. Certain times, for example 09:15 with its eyes pointed in opposite directions, creates a face that can only be described as insane. Frequently, this watch catches its owner off-guard by these faces – it’s more than simply the time. It taps into something innately human, that we’re excellent at recognizing emotions on faces, so we’re constantly seeing more than the time with every glance at the watch. 

While the dial is the star of the show, the movement of the Joker is no slouch. It’s the ultimate representation of Chaykin’s craftiness as a watchmaker. We’ve gone in depth into some of Chaykin’s most technically astounding watchmaking, especially true considering the arrival of the world’s thinnest ever wristwatch with the ThinKing at Geneva Watch Days 2024. The Joker’s movement is a heavily-modified ETA 2824 with the addition of 61, in-house manufactured components and 6 jewels to meet the requirements of the dial layout and moon phase complication. At 42mm in diameter and 13.7mm thick, it’s a marvel that the Joker isn’t a significantly larger timepiece given all of the required modifications. 49mm lug-to-lug, it’s a comfortable wear on wrists as small as 6 inches in diameter. 

One of the Joker’s limited editions, the Night Joker

Attention to detail on this timepiece, from its movement to the dial to the case, establishes a high level of craftsmanship alongside the timepiece’s creativity. The in-house manufactured bezel is a nice touch with its 10 notches, each showing a playing-card suit or letter “J” for Joker. As a whole, all of these fine details come together to make the Joker a comprehensively thoughtful and well-designed timepiece. 

These are all of the things in the craftsmanship of  the Joker that make it stand out. The question remains, why does it deserve the status as an icon in modern independent watchmaking?

What makes the Joker iconic? 

In the intro, we mentioned that this isn’t your typical icon. The Joker simply doesn’t check any of the typical boxes – chronometric performance, fine finishing, ultra-complicated. It is certainly the only timepiece that we have labeled an icon in modern independent watchmaking with an ETA ébauche movement. For everything that goes against the grain, the Joker’s exceptional, playful design puts it in rarefied air.

One of the many playful, attention-grabbing faces of the Joker’s dial, credit to SwissWatchGang for the image

At the core of modern independent watchmaking is a playfulness, a lightness – something ultra-creative and free. The creations of MB&F, Urwerk, Vianney Halter – all break with established watchmaking and design norms. While they are luxury by nature of their rarity and price, they are far from the austere, classical aesthetics of traditional watchmaking. These are frivolously fun toys for adults – the product of Max Büsser’s axiom that “a creative adult is a child who survived.”  

One of the main things that occurred after the Quartz Crisis is that watches were jettisoned from the realm of practical function. Aviation, medicine, logistics, even the phones in our pockets have pushed watches into another realm. We would argue, the end of watches as practical, functional devices liberated the creativity of watchmaking – we see so many ultra-creative, luxurious, artistic creations all throughout the 90s revitalization of the mechanical watch industry. Many brands and watchmakers still straddle the pre- and post-Quartz Crisis world, paying homage to tradition with indications of time and complications long established in watchmaking history. 

Chaykin’s Joker is an icon specifically for how it’s embraced the modern era of watchmaking. It’s self-aware of the demand for playfulness, that the old rules of functional pragmatism no longer apply. It’s a beautiful, playful, and frivolous creation – a watch that smiles with googly eyes. It’s both a strong assertion of humor and critical self-reflection, found in an industry that can lack both at times.