Happy Halloween!

HERE WE ARE AGAIN! TURNING CLOWNERY INTO AN OBJECT OF ART
The story of the Clown watches in the Wristmons collection continued in 2021, when Konstantin Chaykin presented his new watch, Grimaldi the Clown. Connoisseurs of theater history will no doubt recall that the words ‘Grimaldi, the Clown’ appear in the fictional biography of Joseph Grimaldi, Memoirs of Grimaldi, the Clown, edited by Charles Dickens.
Yes, Konstantin Chaykin devotes this watch to Joseph Grimaldi, a great artist and the first clown to turn the genre from a show of somewhat low standards into a true artform. Grimaldi enabled the clown, one of the standard characters of the traditional harlequinade, to come to the fore. In fact, he took centre stage. The image of the clown as created by Grimaldi, with his outrageous costume, face painted in white make-up with red triangles on the cheeks, accentuated black eyebrows and big, red lips in a mischievous grin, was carefully reproduced by Konstantin Chaykin on the dial of his Wristmon.
The design is important as a recognition of the insight of Grimaldi, inventor of the classic image of the clown. However, that’s not the most important thing. Standing above everything else is the incredible emotionality of the first Clown, and his ability to captivate the audience with his subtle acting and quick reactions. It is no wonder that his contemporaries remarked that the only way to appreciate the skill of Grimaldi was to see him live on stage.

Harlequin Ventuno, or Commedia dell’Alta Orologeria
What can we call the Wristmons collection, regularly replenished by Konstantin Chaykin since the first in the series, the Joker watch, was presented in 2017 One possible answer to this question is that it is a comedy of haute horlogerie. Indeed, the mask-like dials of the watches, equipped with Konstantin Chaykin’s Joker-indication, with hour and minute indicator discs and the trademark moon smile, turn the collection, in spite of the will of the master who created it, into a japery, a theatrical performance, a collection of diverse characters. In Italy, this is known as the commedia dell’arte, where the audience is amused, provoked and entertained by Pantalone, Brighella, Pulcinella, Columbina, and of course, among many others, the Harlequin, perhaps the most popular mask of the Venetian comedy theatre.
Without him, without his black half-mask, without his bright suit sewn with multi-coloured diamonds, without his inherent fun and naivety, along with his ability to get himself into difficult situations-and find a way out of course-it would be difficult to imagine a performance in the commedia dell’arte style. One day Konstantin Chaykin decided that without a Wristmon dedicated to this character, his comedy production of haute horlogerie would be incomplete, and so he announces the release of the new, limited edition, Harlequin Ventuno.
Why Ventuno Because we are now in the twenty-first year of the twenty-first century. In Italian, ‘twenty-one’ is ‘ventuno’-a number closely associated with gambling. Konstantin Chaykin believes he has chosen the perfect moment to release this model, since the Harlequin is characterized by precisely such qualities found in gamblers-passion, zeal and enthusiasm. Indeed, it is easy to get enthusiastic about this watch. The big-eyed face of the Harlequin Ventuno observes the world with joyful enthusiasm and a readiness to completely let loose and go for it, even if it is not encouraged in the present circumstances.

The Joker Classic: The Return of a Legend
In April 2024, during the Masters of Horology exhibition in Geneva, Konstantin Chaykin unveiled a new timepiece, the Joker Classic, from the Wristmons collection a line celebrated for its anthropomorphic dials, playfully referred to as “wrist monsters”. This launch has been eagerly awaited by the connoisseurs of both the brand and fine watchmaking for the past seven years.

Let there be light!
Joker ‘Fiat Lux’, a new character in the Wristmons collection, sheds another ray of light on Konstantin Chaykin’s grandiose project. The act of creation brings unpredictability into our lives, which is characteristic of any creative activity. The Joker watch, designed by Konstantin Chaykin as a realization of his idea of the immediate emotional impact of a watch with a face-shaped dial, turned out to be a much more significant event both in the career of the master and in the development of modern watch design than just another experiment by an independent watchmaker. In the first few days after the original Joker was unveiled at the Basel fair in spring 2017, this limited edition sold out, and it turned out that many watch connoisseurs around the world wanted to acquire the same or a similar watch. The usual approach would have been to release a series of slightly different models, for example versions with a different colored dial, or in gold, platinum etc., but Konstantin Chaykin was not very interested in such work, he preferred to create new watches. He therefore began to think about inventing new characters and equipping the watches with other complications, preferably ones that he had invented himself. In 2017, new watches with anthropomorphic dials, Clown and Pumpkin Head, were launched alongside the Joker, creating the Wrismons collection.

JOKER SELFIE-WATCH AS A SELF-PORTRAIT
This is the world’s first mechanical watch with a selfie dial, an invention by Konstantin Chaykin. That’s why the watch was given the name “Selfie” -Joker Selfie Only Watch-2019 Piece Unique. To reinforce the portrait of the Joker watchmaker, Chaykin decided to add a stylized watchmaker’s magnifying glass with real magnifying sapphire crystal above the Joker’s right eye, which serves as the hour indicator-the first in Konstantin Chaykin’s collection and possibly ever.

Dedicated to the great game