Russian Clock Maker Konstantin Chaykin Creates Unbelievable Joker Timepiece With Facial Expressions
Soft-spoken and very clever, Russian watch and clock maker Konstantin Chaykin’s creations never fail to intrigue me. For 2017, his newest watch is a limited edition all about whimsy (and Batman villains). The Konstantin Chaykin Joker is a characterful and relatively friendly homage to the famed Batman villain of the same name. The point of the watch isn’t just to remind watch collectors of the Joker character, but to use his theme in order to present a timepiece with a “face” that has about 20,000 distinct “facial expressions.”
Accent colors such as green, purple, and red, as well as the cartoonish visage of the dial with its elongated red smile are what most hearken to the Joker of the Batman universe. Playing card symbols decorate points around the bezel, and the overall watch seems to be themed around the idea of tricksters (whether they are mischievous or benevolent in intention). Concepts like this can go from attractive to ugly very quickly, and from tasteful to cheesy even faster.
To make things more interesting, the Konstantin Chaykin Joker watch has cleverly re-imagined a moon phase indicator to being a mouth with tongue. The lower part of the dial has a mouth which is actually a moon phase indicator that has been visually modified. I think it looks fun and is a very intelligent interpretation of how to use this classic complication. The moon itself is colored red, and is thus the tongue in this mouth which in combination with the eyes allows for an even larger range of facial expressions.
More info: Konstantin Chaykin, Facebook (h/t: ablogtowatch)
