Konstantin Chaykin’s ingenious ThinKing is the new thinnest watch in the world, kind of
Borna Bošnjak- With a thickness of just 1.65mm, the ThinKing is the latest brainchild from Konstantin Chaykin, though only in its second prototype stage.
- The key-wound movement uses the proprietary steel case as a baseplate, with an additional module available that adds rigidity, hand and automatic winding, but also crucially, thickness.
- The ThinKing achieves this feat with a redesigned barrel and balance wheel assembly, both with pending patents.
The pursuit of making the thinnest possible watch is one that’s been going for decades, though it has certainly been heating up recently. The three main players thus far have been Piaget (topping out at 2mm), Richard Mille (1.75mm), and Bulgari (1.7mm), with an unprecedented fourth now joining in Konstantin Chaykin. The Russian master watchmaker is best known for his playful Wristmons series and the Joker, but he’s not just about cartoonish dials. During his time as a watchmaker, he’s developed automata, numerous astronomical and calendar complications, as well as unique mechanisms like the single-handed Genius Temporis that shows both the hours and minutes with a single hand, on demand. And this is without mentioning his incredible clocks, like the Moscow Computus that shows the date of Orthodox Easter, or the Lucomorye and its chain graphic hour indicator.
So what does a developer of such unique, ultra-high-end complications want to do with the pursuit of thinness? Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? The thinner the watch is, the more ingenious the watchmaker must get, which gave Chaykin the opportunity to develop two brand-new ways of flattening the barrel and the balance assembly. Talking about the movement development, Chaykin cheekily says: “My original task was to design the entire movement mainly in one, two or at most three levels, no more. To be honest, this task didn’t cause me any major problems. On the contrary, it was a pleasure to put it together like a puzzle. As with any good puzzle, I had to tinker, look for non-trivial solutions, choose the best options and calculate the energy flows.”
The ThinKing is much more clever than its already clever name may suggest, and Chaykin achieved his goal, with the going train and motion works taking up two levels, but the main treat for watch nerds will be the novel escapement and barrel designs.
Starting with the balance wheel, a traditional design normally comprises four main levels: the balance wheel, hairspring, impulse jewel, and safety roller. Chaykin separates this into two meshed balance wheels, each containing one portion of the regular assembly. The thick-rimmed balance contains the hairspring, while the other features the adapted dart/roller assembly and impulse wheel. The secondary toothed balance wheel that doesn’t have a hairspring takes the oscillation from the toothed, sprung balance and transfers the oscillation to the pallet fork. While this system does improve thinness, Chaykin does not mention the increased friction from the toothed balance wheels that is surely created – but again, this is a prototype.
The design of the barrel is perhaps even more genius, and beautifully elegant. A barrel in most watches is usually a multi-level design, basically consisting of a ratchet wheel that’s locked by a click on top, which allows the barrel to unwind in a single direction while allowing hand-winding. The squared pinion in the image above is normally the connection point between the two, while the barrel itself only houses the mainspring. Chaykin recognised that, in any state, the mainspring leaves an opening in its centre, and integrated the pawl mechanism into the barrel arbor.
Though I’m sure the elegant solution was a result of many, many hours of painstaking work and prototyping, the results speak for themselves. 1.65mm in thickness, in a 40mm steel case. Given the ThinKing’s slightness, the watch also measures in at just 13.3 grams, making it one of the lightest watches on the market as well. But this only brought on more challenges. With such thinness, the watch was in great danger of becoming deformed under load. Chaykin considered materials like tungsten carbide (used by the likes of Seiko/Credor for its ultra-thin watches), as well as sapphire or diamond, though these weren’t chosen for the prototyping stage given the difficulty of actually manufacturing the parts in the first place.
Chaykin opted for more common materials, though he doesn’t fully reveal his hand when talking about the type of steel used for the second prototype. The ThinKing Prototype 1 was made from annealed brass, while Prototype 2 is only said to be cased in “special steel”.
The construction itself is similar to what we’ve seen from other ultra-thin watches, where it’s almost inverted. The caseback acts as a support for the components, taking the form of a pseudo-mainplate, while the front clasps over it with two apertures for the Joker-type display, protected by 0.35mm-thick sapphire crystals. This also undoubtedly helped with the design, as setting hands on top of each other for a single dial would be virtually impossible at this thinness.
To remedy any additional stresses that might prove too much for the “special” steel case, Chaykin also developed a new strap, for which he has another pending patent. Comprising of alligator leather with elastic inserts and two titanium supports (read: curved spring bars?), it supposedly transfers unwanted energy away from the case.
Finally, the thing that is the asterisk of the ThinKing: the watch has no crown, meaning that it can only be wound and via key, and actually doesn’t seem to be able to be set without something Chaykin calls the PalanKing. The PalanKing (from palanquin) is an additional movement module that, alongside providing an extra 3.75mm of steel for protection, also adds micro-rotor winding, as well as a crown that can be used to set the ThinKing. While this is impressive mechanically, and will certainly end up being the way many wear their ThinKing if it was ever going to make it into production, I can also see how some will deem it an invalid attempt at the title of thinnest.
Personally, I think it’s important to remember that the ThinKing is still in its prototype stages and that we’re perhaps seeing a stage of its development that we otherwise wouldn’t. Second, the production pieces currently occupying top and runner-up spot are both international powerhouses, using their vast in-house resources and outsourced help (Bulgari and Concepto, RM and APRP), Chaykin developed the ThinKing in his comparably tiny circle of suppliers. With the technological advancements alone, it’s still more than impressive in my books, and I very much look forward to the next update.
Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing Prototype 2 Piece Unique pricing & availability
The Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing Prototype 2 is a prototype, and hence not for sale.
| Brand | Konstantin Chaykin |
| Model | ThinKing Prototype 2 Piece Unique |
| Case Dimensions | 40mm (D) x 1.65mm (T) (ThinKing) 45mm (D) x 5.4mm (T) (external case) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel |
| Water Resistance | N/A |
| Crystal(s) | Two sapphire crystals |
| Dial | Joker display with separate hours and minutes |
| Strap | Black alligator, elastic inserts and titanium support, steel pin buckle |
| Movement | K.23-0, in-house, manual key winding K.23-1, in-house manual and micro-rotor automatic winding |
| Power Reserve | 32 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes |
| Availability | Prototype |
| Price | N/A |