How Watches Are Born

Konstantin Chaykin, inventor, watchmaker: "I am holding the famous Mars Conqueror watch. In addition to terrestrial time, they show the Martian time and also positions of Earth and Mars relative to each other. On Mars, the time is 39 minutes longer. While terrestrial day is 24 hours, the Martian day is called sol, it lasts 24 hours 39 minutes and 35 seconds."

The year on the red planet is also a little longer – instead of three hundred sixty five days it lasts 686 terrestrial days. You can see location of planets relative to each other, define when they are at the minimum distance, with the help of the third dial. Every 720 days, the planets approach each other, and it is important for travel forecasting. Russian inventor and watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin created an unusual accessory for such distant trips. Difficult and unique mechanisms are a trademark of the manufactory.

"It is the unique, world’s only night index, when cogs get out at night. Now you see, the cogs get out, they only get out at night."

Some watches show mechanical movies, the hands of others hang in the air, the third display the phases of the Moon. The Earth satellite is made of a real oceanic pearl. By the way, this one, the Moon Rover, is one of the most expensive in the collection – it costs almost 5 million rubles. Most of products are exported.

"The nearest market is Southeast Asia: China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam; the Central Asian region takes the second place: Qatar, the UAE; the third place is the USA, and the fourth is Europe."

Chinese clients order mostly watches with their national symbols, for example, in the Beijing Opera style. But irrespective of the design of accessories, their birth begins with platinum production. At first, details pass the turning line; creation of watches is an exquisite workmanship, that is why many details are made with a help of a microscope; then they get to the grinding department. The processing of one watch case takes the whole day.

Yulia Anancheva, printing artist: "I remove unnecessary paint with an ink knife, now we put a tampon down and transfer it to a detail."

And here we see a timeline for joker’s eyes. Later, these details go to the next shop where they are put together. Watchmakers, like cyborgs, look at their work with the help of an artificial eye, many details simply cannot be seen without it.

Yury Yavorsky, watchwork assembler at a watch factory: "Purified air comes to a special box, respectively, dust cannot get into the mechanism, all this is clean, and there are no odd objects there."

Even a tiny dust particle can complicate operation of all watchwork and even become the reason for the dial stoppage. In spite of the fact that the Moscow manufactory does not pretend to make the most accurate watches, its clients order an elite accessory a year in advance.

The factory produces about two hundred specimen a year. Volumes are small, for all the watches are handmade. The process of designing of an unusual accessory can take up to 8 years. The work of a watchmaker behind the scenes is shown at the manufactory to the curious guests on a Day Without Turnstiles.

Elena Sokolova, visitor of the watch factory: "I came here with my son, he is just very interested in the subject of watches. And here, one of the best Russian masters gives such an opportunity. They have some magic atmosphere here, unbelievably beautiful in such obviously compact conditions, but everything is very interesting."

This is the only Russian manufactory that makes its own watchwork (today the factory has more than one hundred patents for inventions). According to the creator of unusual accessories Konstantin Chaykin, from the whole heritage of the Soviet Union, the country has kept only 2 factories. But he does not compare his own production to theirs. For these shops produce not just any mechanical watches, but the works of art.

Anastasia Shkitina, Ovanes Avetisyan, TV BRICS.