Levitas

The Levitas belongs to the tradition of "mystery" watches, a genre made famous by Cartier in the early twentieth century and revisited over time by several independent watchmakers: the optical illusion by which the hands appear to move suspended in midair, with no visible connection to the mechanism. Konstantin Chaykin developed his own interpretation of the theme over more than four years, presenting it publicly at the AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants) salon in Shanghai in October 2012.

The Levitas's technical solution differs from Cartier's historical one: the hands are fixed to transparent sapphire discs, which are in turn driven by gears hidden at the edges of the case, while all the movement's components are miniaturized and shifted toward the crown side to leave the center of the dial completely free and transparent. The result is an apparent movement of the hands with no visible anchor point whatsoever, achieved with an in-house caliber developed specifically for this application.

Over the years the Levitas line has grown to include several variants that keep the "mystery" dial principle while applying it to open-worked dials, moon phases or different decorative treatments, establishing itself as one of the most classic and "serious" expressions of the Konstantin Chaykin catalog, in counterpoint to the more ironic register of collections such as the Wristmons.