Genius Temporis

Presented in 2014, the Genius Temporis ("the genius of time," from Latin) was born from Konstantin Chaykin's attempt to reinterpret, with an original mechanical solution, the principle of single-hand watches — a genre historically associated with the approximate time measurement typical of sundials and early tower clocks. The project's stated goal was to reconcile the extreme reading simplicity of a single hand with the precise indication typical of a modern two-hand watch.

The solution adopted is as simple as it is ingenious: the central hand constantly indicates the hour, as in a traditional single-hand watch; pressing a pusher at two o'clock, however, the same hand instantly "jumps" to indicate the current minute on the dial's outer scale, then returns, on release, to showing the hour again. The dial, with an enamel hour ring and a laser-engraved center, is designed to deliberately evoke the aesthetic of an eighteenth-century pocket watch and, more indirectly, the gnomon of a sundial.

The K01-5 caliber, hand-wound with a 48-hour power reserve, was developed in-house by the manufacture specifically for this dual-function hand mechanism. The Genius Temporis is often cited as an example of how Konstantin Chaykin applies his patent-driven approach even to complications that are simple to read but novel in their technical solution.